In so many ways almost everything about the great Australian Outback is big. The landscape is big with an endless horizon. The distances to just about anywhere are big. Stand in the middle of the Australian Outback and it is thousands of kilometres to the ocean in every direction. Even for the Bazflyers travelling at 300 km/hr in a Piper Comanche airplane, going from one place to the next can require hours of flying in a straight line.
After taking off at Ayres Rock Airport where early morning temperatures were already well into the 30’s, (that’s Centigrade) and levelled off heading West at a slightly cooler flight altitude, the next place ahead of any consequence was four hours away. It was Newman.
Now being in the great Australian Outback there just had to be something big about Newman. Yes, it’s Mount Whaleback mine, the largest single open-cut Iron Ore Mine in the World. It sure is an impressive big hole in the ground, currently 5.5km long and 2km wide. The ore mined at Mt Whaleback is transported 426km by rail from Newman to Port Headland on the West Coast. Not unsurprisingly, this is also big. It is the longest privately owned railroad in the Southern Hemisphere. The average train is nearly 3km in length, consisting of 4 locomotives, 268 Ore cars and 1 driver. Reputedly a train driver on the Newman to Port Headland line enjoys pampered working conditions and is paid $280,000 a year. Even that is big.
Four hour flight to Newman
Finals to land at Newman
Mt Whaleback Iron Ore open-cut mine
Even wheels are big
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