Port Hedland and drive to Punmu

Earlier this year, my friend Carly wrote me an email to see if I wanted to come up to visit her in Punmu, the community in outback WA where she works and lives. I pretty much jumped through the computer in my haste to say yes and now, after two days of travel from Sydney, I'm finally here.

I've never been to WA and was really surprised at just how different this part of Australia is to where I live. The plane from Perth to Port Hedland was at least 90% men, headed up for a week of work in the mines or construction. Having checked in separately to the others, I was lucky enough to be seated between two HUGE men, one of which had a shaved skull that was completely covered in tattoos. They were very pleasant, but I couldn't help but think what would have happened if a man was seated there because I was jammed in shoulder to shoulder between then. 

When we got to Hedland it was the same. Men - big burly men in hi-vis shirts and a much, much, smaller proportion of women that I'm used to. We had a drink in a local pub, but felt a little out of place in our non-fluorescent clothing and didn't stay long. That was ok, because Coach Carly had planned an early morning run for the next day (it was so stinking hot that we had to stop at a pub and beg a glass of water half way through) and we had all our shopping to do before heading off. 

This is what a "small shop" looks like

We couldn't leave Hedland without a trip to the local tourist attraction though - a big pile of salt. I'm sure you'll agree it was well worth the stop

The drive to Punmu was very eventful, with several grass fires that we had to drive through

This was also the first time I'd seen a road train - four trailers on each one, and there there are heaps of them! This section of the road is so narrow that you have to radio ahead to let any other vehicles in the area know that you're coming. We had to pull off the road so this road train could go by - it was an amazingly beautiful stretch of road, made even more exciting by the road train encounter

By the time we reached Marble Bar (Australia's hottest town) we were ready to smash a beer, and so we did. Past Marble Bar, there is actually no fuel or water outside the communities so it was a well deserved stop.

The road turns to red dirt when you're still 300km out of Punmu - amazing

And we went past the rabbit proof fence, which I also thought was quite cool.

We didn't get in to Punmu until 8:30pm and quickly fell in to bed after unloading our mountains of shopping

Today was a 5am start with Coach Carly in the Gym, followed by school until 12 then relaxing and lunch. I think I'm really going to like it here!