Mon 22 Aug 2011 Tom Price

0915 (12047 km) Breakfast of toast.
0930 (12051 km) Tom Price Visitor Centre. Went on Iron Ore Mine Tour. Took us around Tom Price. Started as a single men town and grown to a family town of 5000 as of last census. At the mine, we saw huge dump trucks with tyres the height of the tour bus and costing $60,000 each and 3.7 metres in diameter. We were shown the mine where the ore came from. The mine was a huge pit in the ground, 1 km wide and 3 km long. The ore is taken to the crushers where it is crushed to "lump" form or "fine" form. It is then filtered to improve the quality and then sent by train to the port. The trains have 3 locomotives and 230 wagons. That is a long train. The mine produces 25 million tonnes of ore a year.
1200 (12051 km) Shopping. Checked out the local library while HM got some fresh food from Coles. We were at the stage where we judge the size of the town by whether it's got a Coles or Woolies.
1300 (12056 km) Caravan park for lunch. Had roast chicken rolls.
1430 (12056 km) Went for a drive. Drove around Kings Lake. Nothing much. Went on a 4WD track up to Mt Nameless.


Mt Namesless - see the tiny posts on the right top of mountain - well, they are huge tall towers of 30 m

 1515 (12070 km) After a real low range 4WD drive across rocky steep terrain, we got to the top of Mt Nameless and had an amazing scenic view of Tom Price and the mine. It is also the highest vehicular access point in Western Australia. Slowly drove down the mountain again. Went to take some pictures in front of the big dump truck.
1615 (12080 km) Filled up.
1645 (12085 km) Caravan park. Had sausages, falafel and hash brown for dinner.