Hi Everybody!
We're well settled here in Newman now and it's high time for an update, wouldn't you say? We were both ready and reluctant to put Perth in the rear view mirror...it was a very cool city, and the third most expensive place in the world to live. Despite what we heard elsewhere about the golden streets, the job market was competitive and it wasn't a great recipe for re-lining the pockets with cash.
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| Road Train on The Great Northern Highway |
So we got a ride share, said goodbye to our new friends, and headed 12 hours north to Newman, rocking out to aussie music hits of the 80's all the way. The drive itself hinted at the isolation of Newman...the Great Northern Highway is a thin, 2 lane strip of asphalt that cuts a lonely path through thousands of miles of vast emptiness. We saw a lot of kangaroos and wallabys along the way, although most were not alive. Apparently they aren't the brightest when it comes to traffic and will often hop right into it. They're a big problem out here and many people don't drive the freeways at dusk or dawn because the chances of hitting one then are really good. Passing the road trains felt pretty dangerous, but we arrived safely all the same.
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| Mt. Whaleback Iron Ore Mine |
We reached Newman in the late afternoon. It is a smallish mining town in the heart of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Mt. Waleback (the largest open cut iron mine in the world) is it's only reason for existing...and it is pretty obvious that there is a lot of iron in the ground here...even the dirt rusts. The closer we got to Newman, the redder everything got. Nothing that was meant to be white (street signs, walls, etc.) stays that way and everything here has a red tint to it. Some days it has a post-apocalyptic feel to it...especially when the dust kicks up and the sky turns red as well. The town is basic and is honestly pretty uninteresting. It is big enough for a full sized grocery store, a Chinese takeaway, a hotel, and of course, The Red Sands Pub / Restaurant where we are now employed.
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| Karijini National Park |
It's only geographically redeeming quality is it's closeness to Karijini national park, which is said to be Australia's most beautiful and unique, so that is high on our list of things to do. It's about 2 hours away by car so we're not sure how were going to get there...we may wind up buying a junker car to get around with and do some exploring. Keeping in mind all the while that we are here to refill the bank and are just going to work as much as we can without going nuts.
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| A Standard Donga ! |
So far the job is going well...the Red Sands is a clever three in one business, with a large pub, restaurant, bottle shop, and soon to be coffee drive through sharing the same location. With so many hats to wear there are a lot of hours to go around, and the pay is good. We work with a great group of people and things are going pretty well. Rent is the reason that people don't come here to find jobs...on average 1,000 to 1,500 a WEEK for a very basic place. Because of that situation, you would wind up earning very little, so the pub has put up dongas (basically a shipping container for people) out back for the staff. So we have a place to stay, a hot meal most nights out of the restaurant, and as long as we don't go nuts, we'll do well here.
It's a very strange and interesting place...a modern frontier really, and the amount of money and opportunity surrounding this town in the desert is incredible...but more on that next time...
