It was time to leave Karijini National Park and head to Newman… a couple of last-minute pics of the rustic amenities and grounds to remind us of our stay….

We got on the road at 0900 and drove out….

Mount Bruce made an imposing sight as it came closer – storm clouds gathering as the forecast rain seemed imminent…

The hills along Karijini Drive were a beautiful picture of your typical outback mountains – red rock ridges jutting out in layered intervals with the tufts of green spinifex dotting the hillside… and the white trunked gums standing out in the otherwise darker coloured landscape…. Everything was looking greener than usual due to the rain they had had…. And more was expected!

We reached the highway and drove south towards Newman stopping for a quick stretch and drink at Mt Robinson rest area.

We passed many entrance sites to mines – the whole area is full of mining – and as we approached Newman, Mt Whaleback Mine came in to view – the largest open cut iron ore mine in the world….

The Yurlu Caravan Park was our accommodation for the next 2 days – we arrived and set up as the rain started to come down.

We went into town and grabbed some lunch and a coffee at “Chill Cafe”….. not related to the Chill Cafe in Engadine 🙂

A visit to the Newman Visitor Centre was interesting – the huge mine haul truck outside made Trev look like a dwarf no matter what angle the pic was taken!!

There was a rock weighing 35 tonnes outside the centre that was an exhibit of the high-grade ore that comes from Mt Whaleback Mine here in Newman.

“The Newman Hub” sculpture created by locals was there as a representative of the stockpiles of iron ore at the mine site…

Inside we grabbed some info, checked on the mine tour we were booked into the next day and had a look around.

They had the old truck on exhibit that belonged to Stan Hilditch, the prospector who in 1957 explored the area looking for manganese and discovered the seam of iron ore that was 68.8% iron in an unnamed hill – today known as Mt Whaleback due to the fact it looks like a humpback whale from the air.

So far more than 760 million tonnes of iron ore have been mined from it by BHP so far contributing significantly to the Australian economy.

On the advice of the helpful visitor centre volunteer, we drove up to the Radio Hill Lookout at sundown to watch the mine lights come on all around Newman.

There was no sunset per se due to the cloud cover, and the wind was blowing a gale, however it was a great view over the town of Newman…. And the number of mine lights out in the distant hills gave a good perspective of just how many mine sites were close by…

Mt Whaleback Mine was lit up like a Christmas Tree….

We drove back and had dinner in the vans… hoping it would not rain too much overnight as the mine tour can be cancelled due to rain….