We watched the sunrise filter through the trees at the Dales Campground & cooked breakfast before most other people were up.  Sue had a magnet & the rocks around our campers could be picked up by it, there is that much iron around.  Our first stop was Mt Bruce, the second highest mountain in Western Australia where we took a short walk from the car park & looked over the Marandoo Mine site.  It is an open cut mine & there are massive piles of rocks neatly stacked.  The countryside through the Pilbara is mostly red & black, the red from the mountains of iron ore, the eroded rocks & the black from the after effects of the fires. We left the rich red mountains & sand country.  The ground is covered with sharp little, almost crushed stones & hardly any vegetation at all. Paraburdoo was the refuelling town, another town that revolves around mining & they even have an open air theatre/drive in – don’t know if it is still operational though, we had morning tea in the car park next to it.

Today was a long drive on very good roads, the scenery is constantly changing, flat desert plains, sand hills, mountains that rise straight up out of the plains, dry river & creek beds, bare rock plains with scrubby shrubs, it is very infertile, poor desolate country.  Yet, there are cattle stations & very skinny cattle wandering the roads, it is insane, there shouldn’t be any cattle in country that is as bad as this, it’s cruelty to the animals, no food or water & blazing heat in summer. The cattle should be shot out of kindness & the farmers for neglect, cruelty & destruction of the environment. We stopped for lunch at a lovely shady rest stop at Cheela Plains, it even had toilets.  Our next brief stop was at Nanutarra for a quick stretch & check of the vehicles, 279km from Paraburdo & absolutely nothing between the two – there is tremendous isolation out here.

Barradale Rest Stop on the Yannari River was our final destination, 543km for the day – a lot of driving, dodging some wandering cattle that set the adrenalin rushing.  Our campsite is on the banks of the river next to some white gums, very pretty but sharing it with around 30 other campers.  Tereza made a delicious crumbed chicken with vegies by Sue & this time washed down by a McWilliams Hanwood Merlot.  These bush camps are so much nicer & more peaceful than those fancy resort parks we often camp in towns.  Again the stars are so bright, the night sky is so huge, it is absolutely stunning.