Pt Hedland

Submitted: Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 15:16
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We are thinking of going to Pt Hedland during the winter but have recently heard some very bad stories about the area, specifically Sth Hedland. Can any-one confirm or deny problems up there, is the problem only in Sth Hedland or does it carry through to Pt Hedland.

Thanks in advance

D


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Reply By: Member - Lionel A (WA) - Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 15:39

Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 15:39
Hi D,
Was up there about 10 months ago, only for a 2 week stint.
In my opinion Sth Hedland is the place to go if your looking for TROUBLE. hehehe.
Depending on what you consider"problems" to be, climatic, work related, social or racial problems???
IMHO if you dont mind the heat, have a well paid job, make sure everything you own is well bolted down, and are solid enough [ ie; 120kg or more] and can defend yourself against roaming packs of "locals" then there are no problems what so ever.

Im sure there will be those that disagree, but I am only talking from my own personal experience.

Cheers

Lionel.
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Follow Up By: Member - Dunworkin (WA) - Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 22:38

Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 22:38
Thanks for reply Lionel A, It was the social problems that I was referring to and it was the "locals" that I had heard about, quite bad in fact.
Will take all advice on board and make our decision from that.

Cheers

D


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Reply By: Pilbara2 - Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 16:04

Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 16:04
Dunworkin if your towing a van or c/t for the annual granny season move to the north i would suggest avoiding Hedland (Port & South). Point Samson may be already booked out (if so look at Cleaverville, but will need to be more self sufficient) but is a much nicer area and has more friendly locals. Access to plenty of scenic day trips from Samson including Python Pool, Green Pool, Millstream, Burrup etc. I have rellies living up in South Hedland and they report that it is a SH@T Hole but the money is good! I used to live there many years ago and it was fairly rough then but has reportedly deteriorated since then.
Maybe someone living up there will report differently, most of the reports are based on individual experiences so can vary greatly.
Hope you have a great holiday.
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Follow Up By: Member - Dunworkin (WA) - Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 22:42

Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 22:42
Thanks Pilbara2, that was exactly as we heard it, family of people who are up there, but we were wondering if it may have been slightly exagerated which has been known to happen at times.

Cheers

D


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Reply By: Member - Phillip S (WA) - Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 16:29

Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 16:29
Been up there recently and felt that it had grown a lot for the good since my last visits, particularly south hedland....like everywhere else they have there problems and I have been to worse places.....go ahead I think you will enjoy it...I did.
There is lots to see and do...The secret is to discover the the good and focus less on the negatives.......and dont allow the opinion of others to determine wether you will have a good time or not...cheers Phil.
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Follow Up By: Member - Doug T (W.A) - Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 19:33

Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 19:33
Spot on mate , well said
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Follow Up By: Member - Dunworkin (WA) - Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 22:47

Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 22:47
Thanks for that Phil, We don't usually allow opinions of others to stop us from doing what we want to do, however our information came from a family who has rellies living up there and it seems they are living in pure hell where they are, it may well be their attitude to the place hence my query.

Cheers

D



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Follow Up By: Russ n Sue - Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 at 07:18

Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 at 07:18
Nice sentiments Phil, but from someone who has been there for work and play more times than I care to remember, I can confirm that the only good thing about Port and South Hedland is looking at them in your rear view mirror.

On one occasion that I was there, the locals went through the car park of an accommodation place, known as The Lodge, and smashed their way into 16 vehicles. Most people up there take everything out of their car and leave it unlocked!

We stayed at a caravan park at South Hedland once. The locals wander through during the day while everyone is at work and just take whatever they want. It was a pain having to try and secure everything each day.

Point Samson, Cleaverville, 40 mile, Dampier, Millstream, Cape Keraudren, anywhere but Hedland would be better.
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Follow Up By: Member - Phillip S (WA) - Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 at 10:29

Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 at 10:29
I know that there will be people who will have had bad expiriences.....so have I with some too and carnarvon comes to mind, but I still visit these places from time to time, for the good parts, because I did have good times at those places and it wasn't all bad and I appreciate that it may well different if you had to live there for some time that you were glad to escape to go to better places.(80 mile beach and exmouth come to mind).
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Reply By: Troopy22 - Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 16:33

Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 16:33
D

I live in South Hedland and have done so for 6 months. Your reasons for being in Hedland - work or liesure; where you live - house or donga; your general attitude to life - laid back or a bit aggro, will determine how you find the place.

I can say that I have found South Hedland as easy a place to live as Cairns where I spent 3 years before coming here. Just like Cairns, the local people like to hang around in public places and will generally say g'day. I've certainly never had any trouble with them but neither would I tempt fate by going to the pub on pension night or leaving my car unlocked with an MP3 player on the dash.

It's a bit hotter here but not as humid as Cairns. I have lived in Broome and Derby and I'm looking forward to some great camping weather over the next few months. Hedland is a great base - like Derby is for the West Kimberley - to go visiting places and seeing the countryside. For instance we went camping out around Coppin Gap over Easter - magic country.

At the end of the day, you'll have a pretty good idea of what kinds of places you like living /staying in and how you get on with other people, so I'd just come up and give it a go and then you won't have to depend on second or third hand advice.

We might see you around, eh.

Troopy
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Follow Up By: Member - Dunworkin (WA) - Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 23:27

Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 23:27
Hi Troopy2, thanks for the info, the information that we got was pretty bad, we are going up there for leisure, (maybe) so if it is too bad for us we will just move on. All that you have said is pretty basic for those places so I think that we would be OK, we spent a couple nights in Fitzroy Crossing in the 80s so and we had no problems then.

Cheers

D


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Reply By: coll964 - Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 17:00

Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 17:00
Lived in South Hedland for a couple of years until recently and couldn't wait to get out of there - there are so many better places to go than there, so don't waste your time. Fill up with fuel and then drive on out to Broome, Karratha, Dampier, Point Samson, Onslow or where ever.
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Follow Up By: Member - Dunworkin (WA) - Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 23:36

Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 23:36
It sounds like you had a couple of bad years, maybe there are some bad pockets and some not so bad pockets up there from my understanding of the posts received.

Thanks for your input,

Cheers

D


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Reply By: Rob from Cairns Offroad Training & Tours - Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 17:28

Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 17:28
Pt Hedland and Wyndam are great places to send ppl you dislike intensly for a holiday. Cheers Rob
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Follow Up By: Member - Dunworkin (WA) - Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 23:44

Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 23:44
Thanks for your input Rob, we will weigh up the pros and cons and make a dicision from there, It may well be that we drive straight through or we may stay and check the place out a bit, we'll see how we go.

Cheers

D


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Reply By: Wayne-o - Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 18:16

Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 18:16
i live in karratha, its nicer than hedland....com stay here...well not here cause im in paris at the moment....but my missis makes a good cuppa....lol oh and if you wouldnt mind taking the patrol round the block, and give the boat a run, that would be great!
cheers
Wayne-o
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Follow Up By: Member - Dunworkin (WA) - Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 23:30

Saturday, Apr 28, 2007 at 23:30
Thanks for the offer Wayne-O, if ever we are in Karratha we will keep it in mind.

Cheers

D


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Reply By: fisho64 - Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 at 02:14

Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 at 02:14
Just out of curiousity, why Hedland in particular? Quite a few tourists stop there but in my experience very few go there specifically to holiday as opposed to passing by on the great circle trip?
Having worked in Karratha/Dampier for a few years now and fished out of Exmouth, Onslow, Pt Hedland and Broome on the NW coast previously, I probably get to see the best and worst of the towns. I enjoyed working out of Hedland, but we had the luxury of staying on board the boat and venturing into town for a beer or meal. But I must say it was nice to get back to the security controlled environment of the harbour.
The region is lovely at the right time of year but it is not a tourist town, fullstop.
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Follow Up By: Member - Dunworkin (WA) - Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 at 15:19

Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 at 15:19
Our reason for going to Pt Hedland is for leisure, our daughter is starting a new job up there and we thought that we may spend some time there whilst she was up there, It would be on the end of our big trip end of July.

Cheers

D


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Reply By: V8Diesel - Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 at 11:55

Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 at 11:55
If you're in town it's worth having a look at the $4 BILLION white elephant called Boodarrie too. Buhbowwww.

To teel you the truth I've had some good times in Port but they tended to revolve around being sweaty, smelly, drunk and watching the peelers after a long stint in a con camp. Not the best family activity. Mistys is a charming venue too for the late night reveller and as mentioned, the traditional landowners are a 'spirited' lot.

At the flash motel on the water you can see turtles at night. There's a little Thai restaurant which was OK. When I was last there the Port hotel was rough and the 'Nard was trying to be more mainstream but I don't know if that plan paid dividends. In Wedgfield someone's stuck a BEER Contracting sticker on a haulpak which is funny. The tip is called K-Mart because it has everything. The BP near the airport has Grumpy George who smokes near you when you're fuelling up. Dampier Salt stockpiles are worth a look at sunset from the big bridge.

That's about it.
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Follow Up By: Member - Dunworkin (WA) - Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 at 15:26

Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 at 15:26
Thanks V8diesel, would that $4billion white elephant be the Briquette plant? I actually have one of the bricks out of that plant!!!!! so definitely worth a look.

The night life we would probably give a big miss, too old for that these days! !! !!

I think we will make sure Grumpy George is busy before we go to fill up. lol

Cheers

D


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Reply By: spazchew - Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 at 12:18

Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 at 12:18
I live in Port Hedland - and love it. It is a great base to go camping from as there are many great areas around the place and it is fairly central (most trips are 2-3hrs away at most). If you are in a caravan then the Cooke Point caravan park would be your best bet - right on the beach. During the winter Hedland would be a much quieter plave than say Broome or Karratha. It has everything you need for a relaxing break I say!
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Follow Up By: Member - Dunworkin (WA) - Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 at 15:29

Sunday, Apr 29, 2007 at 15:29
spazchew, it is great to hear that there are a couple of good replies about the place because there has to be some good up there, lets face it, it is Australia and out there there is always some good to see.

We are not planning staying a long time and if it does get too bad will just move on.

Thanks for your input

Cheers

D


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Reply By: Brooka27 - Tuesday, May 01, 2007 at 22:14

Tuesday, May 01, 2007 at 22:14
I have lived here for 29 years and have had some of the best times of my life here.
Everyone has had a bad experience in Hedland at some stage, but tell me of a place that doesnt have some issues.

Great place for bring up the kids in their younger years, also a great start to a new career for yourself and some awesome money opportunities.
Come and have a look and form your own opinion, we have a great community and friendly people that are willing to help.

Regards Brooka27

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