Western Australia Road Tripping. Exmouth to Broome via Port Hedland and Some Pretty Dodgy Servos

Two big days of driving to get from Exmouth to Broome with nary a stop along the way aside from my one in Port Hedland, which I was really excited about because I was going to see my friend Kirsty and photograph her (and her bump) underwater.

But first we had to get there.

Past the prawn. (I'm scared of prawns. Love to eat them, but they scare me)

and the other scenic diversions.

This road house was the only thing around for hundreds of kilometres, so they charged $36 for a piece of steak.

In a roadhouse.

It was clean enough. But it wasn't the kind of place I would expect to pay a good restaurant price for an average cut of meat fried up next to the burger patties.

The next one, a couple of hours up the road, didn't even try to look pretty.

The miners' donga accommodation out the back looked like some version of hell to me, though this lizard didn't care and was high-tailing it over there just to get away from my camera.

Karratha.

It's really hot out there, and we were there in May. Hard to tell in these photos, but it would be a killer in the summer months.

There is something so cool about a big pile of salt!

This one greeted our arrival in Port Hedland.

We stayed at The Esplanade Hotel, which wasn't too bad. The room was small and the door that opened onto the return verandah (great) didn't have a fly screen so we could have it open at night (not so great). We ate there with Kirst and her man, Clint in the fairy-light illuminated garden and the food was yummy, so the small room was worthwhile for the nice meal.

Kirsty and I used to live together in Bondi.
A long time ago.
She was the best flatmate, because when I used to come home from an all-nighter carving up the dance floor, and she would be on her way out the door to do an early shift at work, she would let me sleep in her oh-so-comfy water bed.
That is a hallmark of a truly awesome flatmate.

Anyway, she is now pregnant and living in Port Hedland, so I just had to see her for an underwater session.

I had visions of a spectacular underwater world off the coast but the water in Port Hedland is not quite as clear and gorgeous as the rest of that oceanside stretch, so we needed to find a pool.

In the morning we met Kirsty at the Port Hedland Leisure Centre, where a lovely lady called Diane let us use the dive pool exclusively, so she is clearly an awesome person as well.

It was so fun having such a huge space to work with!

A few shots of Kirsty and her underwater bump session...