Friday the 28 Th we departed from Broome and headed 365 K's to Eighty Mile Beach. The trip was not that interesting and so gave us time to reflect on our time in Broome. We are determined to return to Broome some time in the future as we think it is a place of great interest. Our first impressions of Eighty Mile Beach was of a Caravan Park nestled between sand dunes with not much shade (we found out later it had been a victim of a cyclone earlier in the year). The tides in this area are massive and low tide revealed thousands of shells along the beach, the first afternoon we walked along the beach and collected a few samples. An early morning walk along the beach the next morning we decided that we would have a veg out day and do nothing, so we watched the footy on T.V and witnessed Collingwood get beaten by Hawthorn (pooh). Our neighbours went fishing for the day and caught 4 massive fish, so I asked a friendly Ken and Beryl about how to rig a surf rod and what to use for bait, they were very helpful. So I dug the rods out of the pod and rigged up for a fish tomorrow. There appeared to be a run of these fish happening because quite a few had been caught on the day, so we prepared for tomorrow. Late in the afternoon we were treated to a concert by people camping in the park, it went for about an hour and a half and was excellent. This Park has many people that come here to fish and stay for the down south winter, so most know each other and are very friendly and helpful.
The next day the high tide was at 1pm, so we drove onto the beach at 11am and drove along the beach for about 2 km and got the rod's into the water. Judy got the first big hit, so big it straightened out the clip on the trace and she lost the complete rig. We were using a treble hook rig and I only had one left, so I very quickly took the snap clip off and re-rigged directly onto the trace. I was the next to get a bite and hooked up, I have never caught a fish as big as this and was pumped pulling it in, my blood pressure soaring as the clutch on the reel screamed and the fish took line off. After an exciting few minutes I managed to get the fish up on the sand and handing the rod to Judy grabbed it by the gills and ran up the beach. I do not know how much it weighed but I reckon it was between 12 to 14 kilo's.
I now understand why so many people spend so much time fishing, catching big fish is a great feeling. Anyway I re-rigged and almost immediately hooked up again, this fish was even bigger and had even more fight, I managed to get him onto the sand and as I was handing the rod to Judy the trace came undone and a wave hit the fish and off it went. I was upset losing the fish but even more upset that I did not have any more treble hooks, we tried different rigs but caught no more. After a lenghty time filleting the "Giant Threadfin Salmon", we found that we had enough fish for 9 meals for the 2 of us.
We went to bed that night trying to decide whether to stay for another day and fish again or to move on. The decision was made the next morning and we decided to move on, I will never know what would have happened if we had of bought some more tackle and fished on, but I am convinced that we could have caught more, but we had no space to store them anyway.
So onwards to Port Headland, we were once again lucky to get a site at Port Headland as many travelers are now heading back down South. Port Headland is impressive for its massive Port facility, the main export being Iron Ore. The loading of the ships goes on around the clock and ships are lined up waiting to be loaded. B.H.P. Billiton bring ore from their Newman mine by train, most trains are 3.5 kilometers long. The ore is stored in stockpiles, then picked up and conveyed to ship loaders. The machinery is huge and impressive to watch in action, the amount of ore moved is massive and increasing, I think there is big money to be made here for young people prepared to work here for five to ten years.
Rio Tinto have a Salt mining facility which is also most impressive, there is a mountain of white salt which is farmed in salt water ponds on the outskirts of town, this is then loaded onto ships and transported mainly to China. The whiteness of the salt is very impressive after the dark red of the iron ore.
Judy suggested a tour of the port facilities so we had to wear long pants and sleeves and closed shoes and then boarded a bus at the tourist center which took us around the B.H.P setup. It is even more impressive up close. It all reeks of big money, no wonder Rio and B.H.P shares are blue chip.
Anyway after two nights we are on the move again, off to Karagini National Park
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