Port Hedland.  It's 1730 and already getting slightly chilly ( google weather says it is 28 degrees, but here on the beach front it must be chillier).  It was 31 when we landed and felt decidedly tropical.

See?  Tropical.

The Ibis Styles hotel is probably one of the best in this rural township, but definitely not one of the better ones that I have stayed in.  The room has a distinct scent to it, the floor is a tacky 'wooden' linoleum, and all of the decor is a bit '90's.

The first introduction to Port Hedland was the sparkley runway.  Well I suppose we saw the place from the air too, but being that there is literally nothing here to see... there was nothing to take a photo of either.  I don't know what sort of stone they have over here, but all of the roads (and runway) appear to have glittery mica in them, which is interesting.

The dirt is a rich full red, strangely fascinating how the grass still grows green and in fact all the vegetation looks pretty normal (well, here Eucalyptus and Palm trees are normal, OK?).

We pass signs on the way from the airport such as 'Cyclone Alert Level ----' and 'Fire Hazard Warning' which thankfully pointed to the green low risk sector.  

All of the buildings are low to the ground with low hanging roofs, unlike the Queenlanders I'm used to by now.  The hotel itself is more like a motel, a run of shambly (I don't care if that's not a word, I like it, so it is) buildings and right on the beach front.  It is however quite run down, as I mentioned earlier.

...

It is now Saturday morning, as dinner and sleep got in the way of my finishing this blog post.  It is now time for breakfast and then off we head on the last leg, so I will leave you with a few random pictures of salt lakes and rocky terrain out of Alice.

First pic is some US military spy station thing, second is a salt lake, third is terrain out of Alice, and fourth is a gold mine called Telfer