Nowhere are road trains more impressive than on the great Northern highway.
Extending from Perth in south-west Western Australia to the Northern Territory border 3,000 kilometres away, the Great Northern Highway is one of the nation’s busiest trucking routes. The 1,000-kilometre stretch between Mount Magnet and Port Hedland carries hundreds of trucks a day, servicing the huge mining industries of the Murchison Goldfields and the Pilbara – hauling gold, iron ore, lithium, copper and other precious metals.
Supplementing the region’s large rail networks, the Great Northern is plied by huge numbers of road trains up to 60 metres long, as well as many other trucks carrying loads ranging from iron ore and building materials, to large mining machinery and road maintenance equipment.
Then there are the huge oversized monstrosities accompanied by pilot vehicles and sometimes even police escorts.
One particularly scenic section of the highway cuts through the Hamersley Range and Munjina Gorge, near Karijini National Park. Carved through 77 kilometres of rugged landscape in an engineering feat completed in 1987, this steep, winding road – with its brilliant red cliffs skirting significant Aboriginal sites – has to be one of the most scenic escarpment highways anywhere in the country. And the sight of huge road trains barrelling through is a magnificent spectacle. RVers hold their breath when two wide loads travelling in opposite directions try to pass!
Here are scenes along the Great Northern Highway captured during our recent travels.
