Day 50. A very windy early morning upon departing Eighty Mile Beach and down the Great Northern Highway to the Pilbara town of Port Hedland. Arrived into the Big 4 CP at Cooke Point at lunchtime with our friends Ross and Robyn. Ross and I did a little fishing in the nearby tidal Pretty Pool Inlet. A drive through town and huge port area fascinating. The Port Hedland Cup was in progress at the racecourse, lots of people all dressed up. We noticed lots of very nic...

Day 49. Awoke to a strange fog all through the van park. Everything damp. Big Sunday breakfast of bacon and eggs and then off to the beach fishing just before the big high tide at noon today. Found a spot amongst the dozens of other fishermen all hoping for the big one! Landed four small threadfin salmon but no real keepers. Great experience with the warm surf all around our legs and the endless blue turquoise water. Some dolphins cruising offshore. A quick swim...

Day 48. Ross and I were off to the beach one hour before high tide to go fishing. Today the huge tide came up at 11.00am, we estimate at least 8 metres! We staked our spot on the beach and gradually the beach filled in either direction with other fishermen and 4WD vehicles for as far as our eyes could see. So unusual! We watched east and west down the beach but nothing was being caught by all these fishermen except two small black tipped reef sharks next to us. ...

Day 47. Up early today as we are travelling south west to Eighty Mile Beach. Refuelled at Sandfire Road House on the edge of The Great Sandy Desert which we have been tracking all morning. Big mobs of cattle at the roadside waterholes. Arrived into Eighty Mile Beach CP around noon and met up with our friends Ross and Robyn from Canberra who are next to us on a grassy unpowered site for the next couple of days. After lunch straight down to the beach for a swim, b...

Day 46. A visit to the Pearl Luggers Museum in the old town. The presentation on the history of pearling and the very dangerous job of the early pearl divers fascinating. From the 1850's the lugger masters used 'blackbirding' for collecting pearl shell, then from 1880 to 1973 Japanese divers dressed in extremely heavy dive suits with Malay tenders for collecting mother of pearl and natural pearls. Huge fortunes were made from pearling, mainly by the lugger maste...