We were running out of water and electricity so we headed off to Port Hedland. The others had advised that the best shopping centre was in South Hedland so we went there first to restock.
Alan Ross had noticed that one of my tyres was leaving a strange track in the sand with a largish lump of sand sticking up out of the otherwise flat track. I checked the tyres and found that the nearside inner rear tyre had a lump of tread missing and the steel was poking out. The tyres are close to the end of their useful life so I decided to replace at least two as soon as possible. We had parked outside the K-Mart Tyre shop so I enquired about the cost and availability of replacement tyres. I got the telephone numbers of the other tyre places from the Post Office and rang for other quotes but K-Mart had the best deal so I arranged with the guy to come back tomorrow and have two new ones fitted to the front and one of the old front tyres fitted in place of the damaged rear.
We had seen Undertaking Completed parked in the caravan park by the airport so we drove back there and booked in for a couple of days.
A young woman from a tent on a nearby site joined us for happy hour. She was from Perth and up here looking for work as a dump truck driver! She had found a possible job as TA (Trades Assistant or gopher in the old fashioned lingo) at BHPbilliton who have a plant shut down to do. She doesn't have an offer yet because they are only employing people who have worked for BHP before but the employment agency says they won't get enough people unless they take others so she is hopeful. She doesn't know what a TA does but is confident she can do the job anyway. She has travelled 2000 km (1200 miles) and the job, if she gets it, will only be short term but she needs to work. Such is life for the fit and able young person in this time of such economic prosperity and booming profits.
We dined on the most delightful fillet steak and watched TV until bed time.
We woke up to the sound of rain on the roof, only desultory rain but wet for all that. I had planned to go some laundry but that might just get postponed to another day. The mist cleared and the sun came out so I did the laundry which was dry by one o'clock.
I took the Motley to South Hedland to have the new tyres fitted and Jean drove the Little Motley. We went into Port Hedland to see what there was to see which wasn't a lot. The town is jammed up against the port which handles both bulk iron ore and bulk salt. There are five banks in the town and only four cafes. We chose Bernies Cafe for lunch as it had been recommended by the lady at the Tourist Info Centre. The food would have been good if it had not been cold.
We drove through the residential part of the town which is on the ridge behind the beach. Nothing sprang out and said "Buy me!" despite the fact that house prices here are extraordinarily high - like $300K.
The people who live here are here by necessity rather than desire. It might have the longest, heaviest trains in the world and the biggest salt stack in the world but it doesn't have much in the way of attractiveness. We found the best picnic spot called somewhat ironically "Pretty Pool". This is a bit of a creek estuary with sand hills between it and the ocean but it isn't what anyone else would call "pretty".
We went back to South Hedland to pick up the Motley and do a little shopping. The VCR has been playing up for a while so I went into Retravision. The fellow didn't push any of his normal priced units but insisted I buy the most heavily discounted one he had in the shop.