Marble Bar

The decision to come to Marble Bar was an excellent one, as we have been blown away by the rugged beauty of this place. We’d always imagined a flat hot and dry place - but at this time of the year it’s around a pleasant 28degrees - and the evenings saw us with our jumpers and coats on! Mind you, their summers are ferocious, hence its title of the hottest town in Australia. At the museum we saw the records of the hottest spell from 31st October 1923 to 7th April 1924 which was 160 consecutive days of 100+ degrees. 

On our way here we had another lovely free camp stay just south of Port Hedland. 

Dennis had his caravan tyres realigned in Port Hedland and we had a look around the town and the Port area. I’d hate to live in this town as being the fussy cleaner as I am, I’d spend all day fruitlessly cleaning! Everything is reddish brown. We watched an iron ore carrier coming into port and marvelled at how such a large ship can  manoeuvre in such a tight area. 

As at Onslow and Dampier, salt is a huge export business and these piles of salt looked spectacular, glistening in the sunshine.

It was a 200km trip to here and the scenery changed as we neared, and we loved the magnificent mountain ranges with gorgeous colours. The number of mining road trains were amazing and we’ve learned that we are in the heart of Gina Rheinhart and Twiggy Forrest mines, and all around are iron ore, gold, manganese, lithium and mineral sands mines. 

The little town of Marble Bar is steeped in history, being established initially during a gold rush in the 1890’s. A second boom was in 1936 and there are still operations at present. The beautiful jasper rocks which are everywhere, have such lovely colours and when polished are quite beautiful. 

The town is quite pretty and the museum and police station are housed in a beautiful stone building, whilst opposite is the iron clad hotel - which is still open.

Driving around the area, we were amazed to see the beautiful Chinaman’s Pool and the spectacular lookout view.

Unfortunately, photos don’t do the scenery justice.

So to sum it up, this detour has been an excellent one and we’ve loved learning more about this beautiful part of the country. From here we head to Karrajini and Tom Price - two places we’ve heard so much about and can’t wait to see it for ourselves. Our next instalments will be about these iconic places. Till then, love from the happy travellers. ❌❌❌❌