who names a town ‘tom price’? in true aussie fashion it’s a mining company of course! thomas price was an executive for a mining company – apparently that’s enough to get a ‘mining camp’ named after you. today the mine and the town is owned and operated by rio tinto,

more importantly tom price is located next to karijini national park, one of the most amazing parks in the pilbara.

kris loved the pilbara – she thought the drive to tom price was one of the most interesting so far. and that’s taking into consideration the fact that it was raining pretty much all the way from coral bay.

below a few more pictures from the road. we were lucky – or maybe smart – because we waited another day; on the previous day there would have been a lot more water over the highway.

this was relatively benign and not an issue for the car or the van.

blood is thicker than water? not in the pilbara. the ashburton river just outside the nanutarra roadhouse.

while there was clearly a lot of water around the floodways were all clear. but it made it clear again how quickly a flat bit of road can turn into a stream capable of washing away cars.

the spinifex loves the rain. the mountains looked like they were all fluffy.

we made it to tom price before dark.

unfortunately the guy at the reception told us that the national park is closed … we’ll check that tomorrow. otherwise it may have been a really really long drive for very little benefit.