The Oz Jeff Banks

26/03/2024

This is a company I am involved and have been for quite some time. Anyone who has been to our place is always offered drinking water from the machine and to a person exclaim to how good it tastes

They are not that expensive either when compared to buying bottled water either as a convenience or those "natural spring water" dispensers

04/09/2023

04/09/2023

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Chapter 105 - Tom Price Day 3

A good morning brings no respite to the unexpected temperatures being experienced. The thermometer suggests it's only 12 degrees outside as I venture out for my morning walk. Me and my little friend, my camera, head out in search of things to capture. With Mount Nameless looming close, an itch of sorts begin to develop surrounding traversing to the top for what must be spectacular views.

Before we get too carried away I'm sure the solar panel is out charging the auxiliary battery in the cruiser . If we are going trekking then we are going to need refreshments aren't we? And beverages can't be consumed if they are hot when they should be cold.

But before any thought of trekking the nameless Mountain can be undertaken the festivities of the day must be observed for it is Father's Day. Because we are in Western Australia, several time zones behind the Eastern states, the calls from the family start early.

Breakfast and more wandering lead up to a Father's Day lunch. We have booked the local pub for a meal and festivities. Silver Leader and Rose are joining us as we join locals in the beer garden where children run between their tables, the play equipment and the bar, where if they see their parents purchasing a beverage are apt to join them to add in their order before racing back to their games.

I often feel as the bones creak from time to time that youth is wasted on the young! We have seen so many home schooled students as we travel. What with lockdowns and illness about, the chance to sweep them up and wander this great and will provide them with so much more than simply looking at pictures in a text book.

One wonders what our childhood may have missed, but then I was brought up on a farm 10 kilometres from the nearest settlement and more than 30 from any town with real shops etc, our “outside of school” education was far different from the urban child. Chores and the farm way of life, competing at shows for pocket money and some of the adventures we had chasing vermin or building forts atop the rugged terrain of home might suggest we had it pretty good.

But appearances can be deceiving. All we can do as parents is our best within the confines of our means,

Being on the other side of the country the only way the family can join us is via social media. Wifi setup the laptops has a joke at one setting just to add them in. Its a little saddening that we are away from our families for celebrations, but we are on a “trip of a lifetime”, the second in fact, and not to take advantage of the splendour in front of us would be a travesty

Unlike yesterday, lunch doesnt turn us into a food comatose state, requiring significant napping and, with the call of Mount Nameless wrenching us to take advantage of the vehicles we possess to explore the track to the top, we are soon looking to lock in the hubs and take on the road upwards.

The first part of the track is OK, running along the railway tracks for a while then diverting into the bush. A sign suggests the travelling is going to get tougher very quickly but for now we are coping without any issue. All of a sudden though we are confronted with a steep incline. Not overly difficult, just steep. The Cruiser handles it well, unlike Robyn who appears to be holding on a little tighter.

The road meanders around the side of the mountain belying the expected view from the top, wandering in and out of valleys formed by countless years of erosion, now scarred by this track allowing access to the top.

Robyn might suggest otherwise but the drive to the top is not hard. Yes we needed the 4WD capabilities of the Cruiser but only in one place and the view from the top quickly extinguishes any regrets at the traverse along the track to get there.

From here you can see the true effect of mining here. What was Mt Tom Price is now Lake Tom Price but not only the commercial scars already in place, the dust lines from vehicles travelling unsealed roads pollutes the vista. We are truly gobsmacked at the sheer enormity of the view.

The Pilbara is just as spectacular in its own way as the Kimberly. Man here though is making changes as he extracts thousands of tonnes of ore every year until as suggested Mt Tom Price has become Lake Tom Price and it is only one of the many mines in the area. The expectation is this carving of great amounts of ore from the ground will go on for many many years to come.

There have been times where we have needed to force ourselves to “sit and smell the roses” so to speak, doing as we were accused in Marble Bar - being tourists of the worst kind, but here. Like so many places we have visited on this trip, you feel the need to sit and take it in. Yes pictures are taken, but they are an afterthought as the grandeur of the place unfolds itself to you. With our first “lap” around Oz being a three month sprint, we missed the one thing you must have when you are wandering, and that is time. Time to just sit and listen to the land speaking to you, and its not because of my Indigenous heritage, although it helps me understand there is something to hear, if you don't see, rather than just look, there is so much you may miss.

Mt Nameless is one thing but the Nameless Valley, its sprawling remoteness, traversed by unseen roads, only evident by the rising dust of vehicles on one side is the real prize here. Until you actually experience places like this, be it standing atop Mt Kosciuszko or the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Kata Juta etc, the true nature of the land is lost. Standing here in the afternoon sun, we realise we are in a place not everyone will ever experience. Silver Leader and Rose did not make the trip, not trusting their 4WD skills, although if the truth be known we probably could have done it in 2WD.

We would love to catch a sunset from here but the white knuckles of my wife rendered from the trip up the mountain would not survive a night trip back down. We head off away from the not so setting sun and back to the caravan park. The trip down is not anywhere near as “adventurous” as the trip up. Probably because we knew what to expect and the one place where “an issue” was encountered on the way up is tempered by gravity on the way down.

Whilst the food coma did not eventuate from today’s lunch, the evening repast is not required. We have another big day planned for tomorrow and an early night is on the cards

29/08/2023

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Chapter 104 - Tom Price Day 2

There is no rest for the wicked and whilst we maybe on holiday there's still work to be done. I have another webinar coming up and I need to prepare a marketing video for it. Early I go for a wander to collect my thoughts and perhaps shoot video in the early morning sun.

It must be change of shift because although it is very early the traffic is significant. Any chance of just standing beside the road and creating a video you started by the ever annoying traffic. Everyone seems to be friendly, acknowledging a wave or tooting a horn the latter of which seems to be always when the video is recording.

The street between the main road and the caravan park is littered with suitable spots to do a video. Any places that are elevated have the majestic mountain behind us to create a magic view. Jarndunmunha or Mt Nameless is a beacon of red earth shadowing the Park and the town. It looks like something that should be driven up and the view experienced first hand. But that is a job for tomorrow for today we have plan to do the mine tour.

Video draft in the can, I wander back to the van for breakfast.

We have to make it to the front of the caravan park to catch the bus in order to catch the real bus that will take us on our tour from the Tourist Information Centre. It reminds me of my school days, firstly driving in a car to catch the first bus, which would then ferry us to the main bus stop, for the major part of the trip to school. Someone like tributaries starting with little streamlets coming together to form bigger streams and then the river but opened up into your final destination.

Before we can head off on our tour we first have to collect our safety gear and have the obligatory safety discussion. Hard hats and safety glasses are collected from the tourist information centre and after being drafted into the bus, the safety discussion is had before we move. The driver as you might expect, is quite stern about the “rules”. His voice and demeanour carry the authority someone expecting “no s**t from noone”.

We are going to places where Big Boys Toys to make for very big incidents, and he's very proud to suggest that under his watch they have been none of these incidents but hastens to add, if anything were to happen, touring may very well be cancelled for the foreseeable future. He finishes the discussion continuing in his turn voice suggesting that photography (and here we are expecting for him to say it's prohibited) is absolutely allowed. The overall feel of the trip participants lightens significantly and approaches the jovial mood as we head off into the red mountains what's the Pilbara.

At school we learnt about Mount Tom Price being one of the major iron ore mines in the Pilbara. I remember the opening to a TV show of the 70s called Mr Terrific where the narrator suggested “and what they found them squeamish…”. As we wandered through the checkpoints in past what appeared to be idle machinery we are a little disappointed at the lack of movement.

Our first “stop” is a parking area looking over what appears to be a large lake. This lake is apparently what is left of Mount Tom Price. Apparently a significant amount of the 504 million tonnes of iron ore exported from The Pilbara every year just out of Port Hedland came from this very spot.

We see a large ore truck in the distance dwarfed by the landscape. It is travelling up the hill behind what is now Lake Tom Price. Has it winds it's way around the side of the hill the enormity of its size becomes more and more evident Is it comes towards us. Our guide suggest there is every chance the driver is a female given the 40% female workforce.

At our rear a water tanker is not just settling the dust but also serving a very important safety role ensuring perfect demarcation of the road lines. Everything is big here. At the end of the parking area the machinery that we are allowed to photograph ourselves under supervision. Everyone is dwarfed relative to the size of the huge machine. Our guide suggests, that's only a small one.

Funnelling back into the bus, our guide suggests there may be significantly more movement at our entry point and we should look forward to be able to take plenty of photographs. He is keen to point out the almost symbiotic relationship between gold and iron ore. This he highlights in a story about a recent find, where an operator caught a glimpse something shining in the rubble in front of him where upon investigation had found himself a 6.8kg gold nugget.

Now if my maths are correct, that find at $1,800 per ounce, of 6.8kg which then extrapolates, equates to 240 ounces netted him around $430,000. Not a bad days work. Given the land the worker was on, 1 wonders whether said employer might have had some lien at least over find from a legal standpoint. But according to our guide The Employee got to keep the entire amount.

Heading back into what seems to be the central area our guide's suggestion that things might be moving more than when we first arrived are absolutely correct. The area is alive with machinery moving ore onto conveyor belts. The big ore trucks are bringing more and more of the precious red ore, continually dumping it in one area, the dirt being analysed, segregated and transferred to the conveyor belts for transport to port.

Much of what we see here is actually controlled from offices in Perth. The trains are driverless and travel from mine similar to this one on track laid by the big mining companies to areas adjacent to the port where they await final transfer to the mining company owned docks and onto the freighters for distribution throughout the world.

Its funny we're out here in the West, it's supposed to be hot yet the T-shirts we buy at the information centre are unable to be worn on their own. The temperatures in the morning are more than mild and we're still looking for jumpers and cardigans before we head out. The movement of the air keeps the temperature down. Not for the first time doing busy trip without a crossing of the Nullarbor.

We are looking forward to catching up with Matt and Sarah in Fremantle and given Matt who's a fly in fly out manager at Mt Newman we contact them to check if he is presently on site or in Fremantle. At the moment he's in Fremantle so any chance of catching up with him at Mt Newman might very well be on the way back.

Touring done for the day it's back to the van for lunch. Even that will be have done is Saturday bus and wandered around for some reason we're quite tired and lunch turns into an afternoon nanna nap. It doesn't help that a migraine onset and back pain fuel the need not to move.

What was supposedly a nap turns into quite the afternoon rest period. When finally we arise it's actually time for dinner and we pull out some steak from the freezer and defrost it ready for an even more relaxing lay front of the TV and watch an AFL final. This won between the Bulldogs and the Lions he's very close heading up in a 1 point lead for the former team at the final siren.

Even with the afternoon rest period sleep becomes an easy answer to the long day.

24/08/2023

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Chapter 103 - Port Hedland to Tom Price

The night saw a breakage. A clip on the C-Pap machine has come adrift of the machine and is irreparable. After the incident, I managed to suffer my way to morning OK but before we leave Port Hedland I would hope I have an alternative.

The 777 Pharmacies are open from 8.00 am and promote their ability to assist sleep aponea sufferers. I am on their doorstep as they open and the staff member most versed in this area of concern is on duty. It is not a cheap outcome, they don't have the exactly required pieces of stock on hand and have to mix and match. Whilst they reduce the overall price of the destroyed stock to make what I need, it is still an expensive exercise.

In and out quickly enough I divert on the way back to take close up pictures of one of the salt mine mountains. The vantage point has many explanatory signs (as do all the “attractions'' it seems here in WA) and I shoot all of them. It’s cold and another group is also taking in the sights. We agree it’s too cold to stay for long and we are both off back in the traffic and to our individual destinations quite quickly.

Back at the van park, I have plenty of time to do my side of the bug out, although Robyn is far more advanced on her duties. Well before the 10.00 am curfew we are out the front gate and off east towards Tom Price. But wait there is a conflict between the TomTom and the GPS as to the route. Given Silver Leader is in front and Robyn is taking another turn at the wheel, I leave it to them to sort out, while I take photos of super long trains and printing railway tracks.

We turn toward Tom Price and are almost immediately ushered to the side of the road. Another of those super large transport vehicles is approaching. Much like the encounter at Darwin we are effectively run off the road for our safety by the second marshalling es**rt after the first got our attention by driving straight at us with lights flashing.

This unnerves Robyn a little but they pass. The vehicles (there are two of them) are obviously big enough to have transported one of those large ore trucks capable of carrying many tonnes of ore from the mine face to the ore transfer station and onto one of those monster trains.

We are travelling directly into the wind. Fuel consumption is at almost 29 litres per 100 kilometres. A far cry for normal which is in the low 21s. But coming directly at us means Robyn is easily able to handle the van and Cruiser as it is not fighting a crosswind. We resort to 4th gear and 90kph.

There is a roadhouse at the turnoff. Given our late start, it is close enough to lunchtime to enjoy something reasonably substantial. Robyn and I settle for gravy lashed roast lamb rolls whilst our fellow travellers are into pies and chips.

Whilst we eat the wind abates significantly and when we get back on the road we are able to travel at what one might suggest are “normal” speeds with corresponding fuel consumption. The road takes us through Karijini National Park, a place we hope to visit while we are here. Dales Gorge, probably it's the most famous landmark is well signposted, and thoughts of what might lie ahead fill our minds.

Clearly, as we get closer to our destination the effects of mining are clear with what seem like flattened or shaved hills, topped by the excavation machinery.

All of a sudden Silver Leader is on the wrong side of the road. An oncoming driver has to take drastic evasive action to avoid a collision. The correction by Silver Leader is violent but the safety gear on his rig, takes over and they are soon back on our side of the road. The oncoming vehicle is off the road and stopped. I radio through to Silver Leader to see if they are OK. He suggests his attention was taken off the road for a moment. To me, it looked more like he had nodded off.

No damage other than the potential need for a significant amount of toilet paper. Rose was also not engaged in looking forward at the time and only realised something was amiss when the violent recovery started. I suggest we stop and take stock, but he assures us they are OK and we are only a few kilometres from our destination. I suspect they, as well as Robyn for that matter, have a few more grey hairs after the incident. I am not sure what the other driver would have thought but seemed to get back on the road in due course.

The dashcam will have picked up the entire incident. It can be checked, if we really want to relive the incident, upon our arrival at Tom Price.

The caravan park is quite a distance out of the township in the shadow of Mt Nameless. We get in, set up and soon have the barbeque on and listen to Silver Leader suggest over and over again he simply lost concentration not nodded off.

Tomorrow we are off to look at mines and mining on a vast scale.

24/08/2023

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Chapter 102 - Port Hedland Day 2

The night has not treated my back well. I am stiff and sore this morning and require significant time with the deep tissue massager to even arise.

Overnight we have gained a neighbour. We didn't hear them come in, and because they are a motorhome they did not need to make much noise. As they were not there when we retired the night before we had actually spread ourselves well into their site. Apologetically I move the Cruiser but they are already packing to go.

It’s a funny sort of day, might be the source of much of my aches and pains. It’s trying to be overcast, but the heat is wearing that option thin. With the cloud cover has come some wind, a “change” is upon us.

But there are places to go and things to see and the weather, for now, will not be stopping us. The Visitor Information Centre is always a good start. Along with all the good tour advice and booking availability, there are always knick-knacks to tempt the would-be shopper, even the window shopper. Time is one thing we have plenty of, having booked afternoon and early evening tours.

Let’s get in an early lunch. There are rumours of a good meal at the yacht club. It’s not far from the centre of town, so we head out. The Club is in the middle of a massive foreshore redevelopment. There are big pieces of construction equipment everywhere. You can see the yacht club and a “road” that seems to head towards it. We venture in halting for some of the large equipment to passing before being ushered past by a roller driver.

Having made it all the way to the Club we are disappointed to find that although it is open, it doesn't do lunch, so we climb back into the Cruisers and dodge the construction machinery again and get back to the main road. We regroup in a car park just out on the road and marvel at the vastness of the redevelopment.

Behind us is the old hospital and it has been repurposed into a Dove Cafe. With time dwindling before our first tour we wander in. There is a pleasant surprise at the fare. Lots of treats are displayed and the menu is more than adequate for our needs.

We order testing plates and the meals come in due course. Certainly enough to fill us and at a very reasonable price. A good catch.

Now time for our first tour. Starting in the Seafarers Centre we are treated to a discussion about Port Hedland and the seafaring operations. We are also told of what to expect in the second half of the tour, a cruise around the harbour.

Clambering onto a large coach we have ferried the short distance to the wharf where our cruiser awaits. It’s a large vessel, but nothing like the size of some of the monsters docked here at present. Whilst most are wanting to be outside for an uninterrupted view, I seek the warmth of the wheelhouse where I am able to converse with the skipper as we wander the port.

He talks of the three big players here - BHP, Rio Tinto and Gina Reinhart, all having their own wharves. We pass one ship that has been overloaded and will sit until the next king tide which will allow enough water under its keel for it to leave without the chance of blocking the port. The entrance to the harbour is only just deep enough for traffic. To block it would cost millions of dollars in lost exports. Better for one ship to wait for that hold up the entire fleet.

Not only does iron ore leave here, salt and manganese also are exported out of Port Hedland but they are done from a purpose-built jetty. Most of the ships here are being filled with iron ore.

They cannot simply dump the ore into the ship's holds either. There is careful loading procedures to ensure stresses on bulkheads remain within tolerances. It is possible to sink one of these giants of the sea with an improperly weighted load. The skipper talks of empty tankers being brought in, spun on their axis in the middle of the harbour and shunted into place so that when filled are already pointing in the correct direction. One dock, rather than having a roping system to tie off the ship actually has large suction cups to hold it in place as it is a mooring.

When our present mode of transportation is not doing tours, it is often used to transfer grocery items and mail to the ships. The skipper lets me in on a number of stories about his travels around the port. The overloaded ship waiting for a large high tide is not the first, nor will it be the last one in that predicament. He laughs at the costs the ship’s owners must be incurring holding up that wharf.

The tour is over too soon and we deposited back at the wharf. There are fishermen here now. It’s getting towards the top of the tide. The skipper suggests it might be worth a watch as trevally and sharks are often taken here. For now, though the fisherman has to wait for us to alight before they can go back to their recreational pursuits.

Walking past some of them, their catches are indeed trevally but no sharks.

Robyn and I are booked for an evening tour of the port facilities but Silver Leader and Rose are going back to the vans. We have enough time to grab a quick afternoon tea in the Seafarers Centre and walk into people we met at Barn Hill Station. Pleasant conversation accompanies the afternoon tea.

The evening tour is much different. We are going on a bus tour around the Port. There are huge repositories of iron ore, trucked and trained in from Tom Price, Marble Bar and various other mines in the area owned by the three big miners. The elongated hills of ore stretch on along the foreshore. The large bucket excavators load it from the mounds to conveyor belts and onto the ships.

These machines, like the ships that transfer the ore, are monstrous. Each bucket moves many tonnes of ore at a time. The level of the pounds of ore on either side of the excavator is a testament to the ability of the machine to move ore.

The bus calls through to the port operator to get permission for us to proceed. Something the ordinary tourist cannot achieve. Inside the contained area we are taken to a place where two trains are racing each other, moving a carriage at a time past us. Unloading the ore is a fascinating process of the trains, kilometres in length, travelling through a shed where the trucks are rotated along the long axis of the truck, whilst still attached to the train, dumping their 240 tonne loads into hoppers below to be transported to the mounds we had just passed.

The trains where we presently sit, are unmanned. Here they are controlled by the “shed” grabbing 2 trucks at a time and unloading the ore. The process takes only seconds and the train moves again as the next trucks are aligned. The “race” between the two-mile long plus monsters will continue until both are unloaded, then, controlled from a room in Perth, they will be returned to the mines for reloading.

While the ore trains race past us, our guide breaks out the libations, cheese and bikkies and a container of rocks, all samples of the wares of the Pilbara. As the sun sets and we enjoy the repast, he discusses each of the rocks, their importance to the steelmaking industry and or the export dollars they produce as well as the mind-numbing numbers associated with this port.

The sun has set, all the boxes are back in the bus and we are off to see the port at night. Being a 24/7 operation all the machinery that glistened and shon in the sun, covered in red oxide as they are, is now working under lights. The massive structures are awash with powerful lighting.

As we drive by, it is impossible not to marvel at the sheer size of everything here. Then you are filled with the sobering thought that this is only one of many such ports exporting the red dirt to the world.

With the tour done, it’s back to the park to unload our experience on our fellow travellers. Silver Leader has the barby ready and we throw some meat and potatoes on it and they potentially kick themselves that they did not come, especially when the pictures start to come out.

Bed and the sleep come quickly.

20/08/2023

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Chapter 101 - Marble Bar to Port Hedland

Our trip today is not long. There is no great urgency to get ready to drive from the park.

There have been issues. Our plans have fallen apart with preferred caravan parks full of nomads and other travelers. We are not yet into the WA school holidays. They will impact us soon enough, but Silver Leader has gotten most of that covered.

Port Hedland is a large centre with several suburbs. In days gone by we have stayed overnight at the racecourse in an almost free camp. This time though we are staying a few days and a free camp simply wont do, especially for Rose. The close down for the wet season is starting already. Some apparently cashing in the cashflow generated by the Covid travelling Australians, unable to head overseas, with upgrades to their parks.

Others pulling the plug early because staffing limitations have placed such strains on staff, they are burnt out, but basically getting ready for the wet season, should it come early.

Before we leave we are set and have a destination suitable for our purposes.

Robyn is driving today which gives me a chance to “play” with the camera. I take shots of the landscape and the oncoming traffic. There are videos of the endless highway I play with. They will be used in marketing for later to promote the blogs.

As far as the plans have been going, I have been charged with getting us booked into Bullara Station Shearing Shed dinner. My attempts all morning have me with the busy signal on my phone. Every now and then we wander into the service of a Telstra tower. Trying again, I manage to get through and book us in for the parmi night. 2 courses and a glass of wine and/or a beer for $45. Not bad really

There is a call over the UHF. Silver Leader has a “one job” thought. He feels he has left something unsecured and needs to pull over. He hasn't but is still embarrassed at the calling of the issue.

Blackrock Caravan Park is in South Hedland some 10 kilometres from Port Hedland. There is very little grass in the park. Where they place us, at the southern end, there is plenty of room for our vans. We set up with our vans with the draw bars all but on the road to fit within the space available. The park is not full by any means making a mockery of the issues we had booking.

It appears bookings are made “just in case” and as many “nomads” have stopped travelling or haven been able to escape germ infested jurisdictions or been able to upgrade to other parks where the same thing has happened, we have been able to benefit.

The wind is stiff, so the awnings remain unfurled. Set up now, its time to explore as far as shopping centres are concerned and provisioning. A little down the road we find what we need. Shopping takes a short time before we are back and putting our purchases away.

We are devotees of Woolworths roast chickens and this coupled with fresh bread rolls make for a very late lunch.

We need a nanna nap, and when we wake, it is dark. Lunch was enough to slow us for the day.

An early night will allow us to be fresh for a big day of tours and the other delights Port Hedland has to offer. In the distance the sound of ore trains drones as the 24/7 operation taking the millions of tonnes of ore to port and off to the world happens around us.

As we came into Port, there were bridges across privately owned railway tracks, some with monster trains travelling along them. More than 2 kilometres long, needing 4 engines to move them, and trucks carrying more than 24 tonnes of ore, these along with the road trains freight the brown gold to port.

As we drive into town with follow the highway past a myriad of statues and commemorative cairns. Wandering passed at speed we see something that looks like a giant o'ring. At another place what looks like a big fish hook. We are travelling with a purpose at the moment and that is to get to the Black Rock caravan park so pulling off and investigating these points of interest is not in a game plan for the moment.

We are now well and truly in the middle of the Pilbara area and here it's mining. Every second vehicle is either roadtrain carrying tons of or for a vehicle that is clearly part of the mining circus. Every vehicle has a large antenna with flags on top, they're tiny pennons waving in the wind as the vehicle in question screams past. The jiggling of the flag in the wind seems to amplify the significance of the vehicle in its place in the hierarchy.

It's flat here, very flat. There are no apparent mounds of iron ore. The only mounds a white. As well as the precious red ore salt is mined here as well. The large white mountains can be seen from afar.

We make it to Blackrock and check-in. The park is not particularly full at the moment and negotiating into a spot is quite easy.

While setting up I trip over a wire rope it appears to be randomly stuck in the ground. Upon investigation appears there is four of these ropes at about each corner of the van. Then the penny drops, it has to do with all those large danger signs we saw as we drove into town. Port Hedland is in the middle of what the West Australians might call Cyclone Aliey. In those months of the year when impending storms mean high winds tying your van down could be the difference between saving it and losing it.

The wind is only a zephyr today compared to how it can be when the full fury of Mother Nature is let loose with a tropical low.

Settled in it's now time to do a little bit of Investigation. Robyn and I head out to find a shop and check out the salt mines. We don't have far to go before we find one of the major mines in the area. Rather large dozer appears dwarf hasn't moved salt at the top of one of the huge mountains of the white substance. The best vantage point to view this operation is an overpass bridge which has a large commemorative notice area adjacent.

We pull in, read the notice boards, what's the dozer ply its trade and marvel at the sheer length of an ore train that travels by in the interim.

Tomorrow we will learn more about this place as Robyn and I are keen to adventure into the mining areas and the port to see the huge vessels that transport all the ore mined here off to the world.

Some quick supply shopping including something nice for dinner and we are back and settling in ready for tomorrows adventures.