Robyn's birthday!
We spent three nights here enjoying the pool and shade and relaxing and reading.
Weipa is a mining town. Owned by Rio Tinto, the town exists solely to support the Bauxite mine.
So glad we decided to come here... we nearly skipped it given it meant an additional 500km of dirt roads.
We went on a town and mine tour. I know, sounds pretty daggy, especially as we weren't allowed to leave the 20 seater 4WD bus but it was fascinating. 80% of employed people work directly for Rio Tinto and their strip mining operation, the other 20% support them.
There's no council at Weipa. It really is a company town and a small group of executives from Rio, local indigenous community representatives and employees make all the decisions.
The only actual government involvement are police, health (but there's no dental whatsoever in town) and education (to year 10 only).
Weipa has a population of 4000 but that will double this weekend because of a huge fishing tournament that sees people coming from all over Australia to participate.
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| Nice camping by the water |
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| A swim in the pool... #crocsintheocean |
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| Birthday dinner. |
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| Sunset over the water at Weipa camping |
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| Huge scale of equipment |
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| New bridge at Archer River |
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