Pearls On Wheels

Exmouth is a quiet little town, the perfect place for a rest day. Some travelers are kttedout with solar panels and satellies dishes..  Some with a house and boat on wheels - overshadowing the motorhome in the background. We went exploring.  This array of tall towers looked like more than trapeze artists' training gear.  At the lighthouse we discovered it was built in the 1960's... The interpretation panels were adjacent to this cross which speaks a message of peace.  This is our last evening with Mark, Radioman. Till we meet again... The following morning we set off south. These scenes are typical of 100's km in the outback.  We decide to drop in to Coral Bay. We are so glad that we did. The fringing reef is accessible from the shore. We decide to take a snorkelling trip. A great decision - execellent coral and many fish. We didn't know about the Ningaloo coral reef until thi...

Tom Price is the township and the mine where Rio Tinto produce huge quantities of iron ore. Most is exported to China. We stayed in a donga at Tom Price caravan park overnight. Accommodation in Westerm Australia costs double what it did in Queensland. Grant kindly took unto the workers' restaurant for dinner.  In the morning we were lucky to get seats on the mine tour bus "Crunchy' with Bas. He was very informative.  The workforce is 40:60 women:men. The wages are high $A100k + p.a.  The trucks are enormous. The truck tyres alone are higher to the bus. The driver gets to the driver's seat via the ladders and stairs. Some mines have autonomous driverless trucks controlled remotely. Our bus driver, Bas, gets his clearance to proceed with the tour from a control centre at Perth airport.  There use to be a mountain here. Now it is a very large hole. Write a caption..... The mining trucks are dwarfed by the scale f the operation. 40...