North for the Winter

Headed north for warmth during a winter vacation--that's southern hemisphere talk for you. Headed to the Pilbara, where the romance--and grit--of the outback starts to come alive. It takes about ten hours of driving through nothing to start seeing widening in the roads that are/could-be ghost towns, endless brown dirt turns to endless red dirt, medium brush turns into small brush and lonely roadhouses are prominently marked on maps.

Pretend for a moment that you are Jed Clampitt aiming your gun at a critter, pull the trigger and discover gold. Red gold. Iron ore and jasper rock.

This part of the state-containing little more than kangaroo and a few "black fellas"-- could have been sold off for a few bucks and some bright beads had not a couple of geologists come through and found their idea of a playground. Iron ore makes big bucks and madmen of all who toil in the hot sun (one area had 160 consecutive days over 100F in the 20s) in the industry that keeps this state financially viable. The LARGE earth moving equipment and vehicles seem to fit in with the sharp spinifex brush. Good thing, too, as it is quite a fact of life here, even usurping generals-on-horseback statues as a favorite piece of community art at the visitor centers. We toured an open pit mine and gawked in amazement. We posed for photos by 10 foot tall ($30K) Goodyears like all good tourists.

And we collected some of the rocks that make this land unique.

You can't help yourself, its much like collecting pretty shells at the beach. Marble Bar is unbelievably exotic in the way it plainly and precisely demonstrates how strata developed on the Earth's surface. It's actually jasper rock, but throw water on it and indeed it looks like a marble worthy of any fancy palace. But look, don't touch. The extreme age of

this rock and Aboriginal importance of the place make it a protected

aspect of the area, so deemeth the federal government.

Oh, that red dust is fine and insidious. Who knew there was enough gap around the door handle to allow this earthy powder to spread out like a bouquet around it? Our clothes and hair appear to be permanently recolored, I don't even bother changing. And other than the windshields, the car won't get cleaned either. You and I need to visit a few national parks yet, as well as take an ocean drive, before real life and rain change the vision.