Betten On Bike: DAY 46 - 25TH MAY 2013 - PORT HEDLAND SOUTH TO INDEE STATION

Day 46- 25^th May 2013 - Port Hedland South to Indee Station

Aaah a nice sleep-in this morning as today is a short journey. It was time to update our blog as we had had very limited internet so that kept me busy for a few hours. Then off to Port Hedland (as we stayed in South Port Hedland last night) for a look at the port where we saw a huge freighter coming in and a visit to a local café for a coffee.

On the drive from Port Hedland South we passed the huge white salt mine piles and countless numbers of road trains heading to and from this busy port. A quick stroll over the harbour and a visit to the information centre as Walter was keen to find out about Indee Station where we would be staying the night and the road ahead for the next couple of days.

Afterwards we drove Walter to South Port Hedland so that he could begin today’s short ride.

Cycling Stats: 52 kms

Cycling Average: 31.2 km per hour

The industrial nature of this road meant that we saw road train after road train after road train and we also passed a iron ore mining site where mining was taking place and huge water sprayer trucks were spraying the red dusty mining site roads.

We had a quick lunch stop then the final 20kms to the Indee Station turn-off where we would wait for Walter. At the gate we met a woman who asked if we were Ok. She was on her way to the station where she had worked for the past year and she told us that there was still water over the off road track down to the cattle station because heavy rain had fallen. Apparently 2 days ago it would have been impossible for us to get to the station. She said we would be fine. The road was indeed covered in water in many sections but it was only around ankle deep. The corrugated sections were once again present so a very slow 9 kms to the station – so that makes at least 3 dirt access tracks to our nights’ lodgings in the last four accommodation stops. This is indicative of the isolation and remoteness of this area of the Pilbara that we are currently travelling through.

We had a great chat with the 3 ladies we met when we arrived at the station. The property runs 3,000 cattle which apparently isn’t enough to make a living. Six years ago they had been badly affected by a cyclone that roared through. They said that everything had been blown away but at their age they didn’t want to start all over again.

We were offered tea & home made biscuits and sat around one of the long timber tables. We were shown to the camping area and we could choose a site. We briefly met two young Irish girls who are here working on the station.

We were invited to come to happy hour at 5.30pm to 6.30pm. BYO drinks, and nibbles are provided so yes we thought it would be fun to meet the locals. So just before we did this Walter & I walked up to Indee Hill and the view over the new mining camp was interesting. We meet Florence a French back packer half way up – she said yes there is telephone coverage up here but not in the mining camp we could see below us. She said the sunsets were magnificent from up here but today was a bit cloudy but I think she enjoyed this quiet place away from the camp with its views over the landscape. She told us that she is assistant cook for up to 50 miners who live in the camp. This is a newly set up camp which was established 6 months. Ago. From our elevated position we could see all the white demountables and mining workers’ utes parked there. We walked a bit further up Indee Hill to capture the wonderful sunset (the clouds cleared for a moment or so) and then down to the station for drinks and it was wonderful to chat with Col and Betty, the station owners. We learnt that at least 3 severe cyclones had devastated the region over the last 10 years. One of the long term residents Sid had tragically died in a cyclone around 7 years ago. He was in a donga and had tried to get to the station during the cyclone and a building had fallen on him. We had seen the remains of the ruined dongas from Indee Hill earlier on our walk. Sid had a huge collection of bottles which his relatives said they would throw away but Col, the station owner unwrapped all the boxes containing this life long collection and has them displayed in two large cabinets in the large living room of the station. There were also 2 Irish girls currently working on the station. I spoke to one of them and she said she had been working as a tutor for a 7 year old boy at a neighbouring station for the past four months and was here at Indee for 2 weeks to help build mustering pens for the cattle. I had watched earlier as they went in to feed the geese and there was heaps of laughter as the geese chased them. These girls told me that they love Australia and especially the outback. We really enjoyed our overnight stay at Indee and the warm hospitality of Col and Betty. They had given us free accommodation and a generous donation was added to our collection bucket.