The Money Mines

Way, way, away, in the middle of nowhere, there are a couple of strange towns that appear on the horizon, as if out of nowhere. These towns are hot and filthy. They're built on dirt so red, that the walls of the houses and the concrete pavements are permanently stained. They have an average yearly temperature of 30 degrees and when we passed through, the air was a suffocating 40 degrees. But despite all of this, people are flocking to Port Hedland and Karratha. These guys aren't after a sea change. They're after the big bucks.


We rocked into Karratha late, after travelling some 600km from Exmouth (with nothing but two petrol stations in between) and were told that there was only one powered site left at the only caravan park in town (the other park has been transformed into a permanent-only park, cashing in on the accommodation shortage) and it was going to set us back $42. Now, even at the most touristy of places that we have visited over the past few months, the most we have ever paid for a powered site is $35 (at Cradle Mountain in Tasmania). So $42 for a patch of dirt for less than 12 hours at a town where the biggest tourist attraction is a guided tour of an iron ore mine, seemed seriously pricey. But as we found out the following day, it wasn't just accommodation that was a little steep in the mining town of Karratha. A cup of coffee was around $5 and the rent for a very average looking three bedroom house advertised at the local real estate was $1800 a week. Yes, a week! Yikes! Check out the price tag on this average looking three bedroom twenty year old house...



But if you're like the other three out of four people who are employed by BHP or the other mining giants or the gas shelf project in these towns, then money isn't your biggest worry. What to do in a town as small and as isolated as Karratha or Port Hedland when you have your next week off (after working 12 hour days for the past three weeks straight) and what to spend your massive pay check on is what will keep you awake at night.

If you're interested in the W.A resource boom, wondering where China gets all their iron ore from or wanting to know where some pretty heavy duty environmental damage is taking place, then you'll find these two towns (which are about 250km apart) worth a visit, and if you're a tradie of any kind, an engineer, an apprentice or a machinery operator, then the huge pay checks and attractive working conditions - fly in, fly out work, food/ transport/ uniform allowances (as an indication as to what you could be in for, second year electrical apprentices were being paid around $150,000 a year in Karratha) then you may find yourself living in one of the many demountable-type temporary housing options that fill both towns and trying to make your fortune. But unfortunately, for all the guys who return to the east coast and pay for their first home in cash, there are just as many who develop a bit of a taste for gambling, alcohol and other guilty pleasures and finally get sick of the heat and dirt, leaving with not much more than they arrived with.

Luke and I couldn't wait to hit the road as soon as we drove into Karratha and even spent a night out at Point Sansom, a holiday-style town on the outskirts of Karratha, so we didn't have to take out a loan for another night at the Big Four caravan park in town. Port Hedland was a little better but it became clear to us, that we'd never be making our millions out here.

Yours in the great outdoors,
Odette