Port Hedland is a town on the north coast of Western Australia, home to the world's largest export port! Just over 15,000 people live here, the majority working for the mines and port, which exports vast quantities of iron ore, lithium and salt from Australia to the world.
We're currently living full-time in our campervan, a 2018 Mercedes Sprinter, and exploring Australia, with a plan of "driving the lap" (completing the entire perimeter of the country). I first visited Australia in 2019, following the classic backpacker route, mostly visiting big cities, staying in hostels and traveling by public transport. This time, with the freedom of our campervan, we're trying to hit the lesser known spots and go slower.
We visited Port Hedland after Karijini National Park on our way along the northern coast of Australia.
For thousands of years, the Kariyarra people have lived on this land, long before any Europeans arrived, calling it Marapikurrinya meaning "hand pointing straight location marker" referring to the hand-shaped formations of the tidal creeks from the coast.
The first Europeans to sight this land were the Dutch in 1628 with Captain Gerrit Frederikson De Witt aboard the Vyanan. The first colony was established in 1863 by Captain Peter Hedland, after whom the town is now named, primarily for pearling. Port Hedland became a town in 1896. The port grew in the mid-1900s to support the increase of inland gold and iron mining and is now the world's largest export port.
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Useful Information for Port Hedland
Below is some useful information for preparing for your trip to Port Hedland. In all cases, please be sure to check with the relevant local authorities for the latest and accurate information.
Language: The official language of Australia is English. In Port Hedland, the traditional language of the Kariyarra people is Kariyarra.
→ Learn more about the language of the Kariyarra people.
Currency: The currency used in Australia is the Australian dollar, denoted as AUD $. I use a Wise account when I travel which allows me to have a single, free account with multiple currencies. I only have to pay once to convert my money in the app and then I can pay in AUD $!
→ Check the latest currency conversion between AUD $ and your local currency.
Data/WiFi: Before you arrive, I recommend purchasing an eSim on your phone so that you can access data the moment you land. eSims are much more convenient as it means you don't have to put a separate physical Sim into your phone. AirAlo offers great deals for eSims of various data sizes and time lengths with Optus.
→ Load an international eSim on your phone with AirAlo.
If you are visiting Australia long term, you might wish to put a physical Sim in your phone as AirAlo is geared more towards short term visitors on holiday. This way you can access a local phone plan. There are three main mobile phone network providers in Australia: Telstra, Optus and Vodafone. Telstra has the best coverage across the country whereas Optus and Vodafone are good within cities. I recommend Telstra as it means you have the best coverage while you travel around the country, especially in rural areas.
We travel with a Starlink in our campervan which enables us to have unlimited WiFi wherever we are, even in places without coverage.
Free WiFi is provided by the Port Hedland Visitor Centre as well as at both the Port Hedland and South Hedland Public Libraries.
Visa: All passport holders except New Zealand require a visa to visit Australia. All arrivals must fill out an Australian arrival card before landing.
→ Check which visa you need for Australia.
Time of year to visit: Australia can be visited all year-round. Perth, the capital city of Western Australia, can get very hot and busy in the summer, especially around school holidays, and cool in the winter months. I recommend visiting in spring (September-November) or autumn (March-May) for pleasant, sunny days.
Length of stay: We spent two days exploring Port Hedland which was the perfect amount of time to learn all about the export port and explore the town.
How to Get to Port Hedland
By car: Most tourists visit Port Hedland as part of a roadtrip around Australia. This gives you the freedom to explore at your own pace, stopping whenever and wherever you like.
We drove up the west coast of Australia in our campervan from Perth through Karijini National Park and on to Port Hedland. I can really recommend this scenic drive along Highway 95 as you'll get a chance to spot the longest trucks in the world transporting export goods between the mines and Port Hedland, where the world's largest export port is located. The trucks can have four or five trailers on them and are quite a sight. Next to the road, you'll spot the mining trains which are the longest mining trains in the world often measuring over 6km. We counted one with 265 carriages! The trucks and trains are carrying iron, salt and lithium to Port Hedland for shipping out to the world.
You might want to start in Perth as your base for renting a campervan to explore Australia.
→ Rent a campervan in Perth with Apollo, Camplify, Indie or Juicy.
Spotting the massive mining trucks
Sunset on Highway 95 driving north from Karijini to Port Hedland
By flight: Port Hedland is serviced by its own airport which makes it easy to reach if you're just visiting the town versus on a big roadtrip. There are daily direct flights to Perth, so if traveling from elsewhere, you could fly into Perth and transfer to a smaller flight on to Port Hedland.
Port Hedland also has regular connections to other regional airports around Western Australia including Geraldton, Karratha and Broome.
The airport is just a ten-minute drive south of Port Hedland. There is no public transport available between the airport and Port Hedland, but you can arrange a transfer with Hedland Transfers, H Ride or Rideroo.
→ Rent a car at Port Hedland Airport.
By coach: Integrity Coachlines runs long distance coaches throughout Western Australia which could be a super fun way to explore the state, especially if you don't have a car. A coach journey from Perth to Port Hedland takes just over 29 hours or from Port Hedland to Broome is six and a half hours.
How to Get Around Port Hedland
There are two main areas of Port Hedland: Port Hedland itself which is the northern peninsula right on the coast and South Hedland, the more residential area to the south. Everything I share in this blog post including where to stay, where to eat and things to do are all located in Port Hedland, the northern part of the town.
On foot: Port Hedland is fairly compact and walkable, although it can get extremely hot. The town is located around one main loop road which is Port Hedland Road on the southern part of the loop and Anderson Street on the northern part. It takes about an hour to cross from one end of town to the other on foot.
By car: The easiest and most popular way of getting around is by car so you can park wherever you like and explore. This also means you can get out of the town and down towards South Hedland where you can spot the mining trains.
By ride share: There is no Uber in Port Hedland, but you can arrange a ride through H Ride or Rideroo which functions similarly.
By bus: There is three public bus routes servicing Port Hedland operated by Transhedland making getting around easy and affordable.
By guided tour: There are a few guided tours of interesting areas in Port Hedland available, all of which you can book through the Visitor Centre, including boat tours of the harbour, a bus tour of the port and a bus tour of the Dampier salt operation.
Where to Stay in Port Hedland
Hotel: Not traveling by campervan? Driving in a car? Whatever your reason for needing a place to stay, there are some great accommodation options in Port Hedland.
→ Check out places to stay to suit your budget and accommodation type.
Camping: We are driving "the lap" around Australia, exploring the country in our campervan. As with the rest of Australia, Western Australia permits freedom camping on designated sites. These sites can vary greatly; some offer a variety of facilities such as toilets, trash bins, picnic tables, outdoor cooking stations and others have none of this and might simply be a pull-out on the side of the road.
The best way to find legal freedom camping spots is to use an app. We use Wikicamps Australia, a cheap app that has every single amenity listed (both free and paid) that you might need on the road. This includes things like where to fill up fresh water, where to dump grey water, where to empty toilets, where to stay, gas stations, information points and also has suggestions for things to do as you go.
→ Download the Wikicamps Australia app.
There is a good free camping spot located right in Port Hedland at the Turf Club Campground so you don't need to drive far to be able to camp up for the night. There is a dump point and fresh water available, too. There are no toilets, so you must be self-contained to stay here. It's located on the western side of Port Hedland, steps from the beach and nearby restaurants.
Where to Eat in Port Hedland
Considering how small and remote Port Hedland is, we weren't expecting much, but I can tell you we found two fantastic restaurants in town, both of which we liked so much that we went back multiple times during our three-day visit!
The best breakfast and lunch spot in town is at Dôme, an amazing restaurant built into a pre-First World War building from 1907. It was built to be the magistrates residence who also served as the Medical Officer of Port Hedland. The building has been beautifully restored and now houses this awesome restaurant with a huge menu full of delicious comfort food.
The best dinner spot in Port Hedland is at Rays, a chic waterfront social bar attached to the Hedland Hotel right on the beach looking north to the ocean. The food is delicious, especially their nachos, and the vibe is so chill, especially when you can watch the sun setting right into the ocean as you eat.
Best Things to Do in Port Hedland
To be honest, considering Port Hedland is a small, remote mining town in the far north of Western Australia, we weren't expecting much on the tourism front. We were so pleasantly surprised by just how much there is to see and do here!
Start your visit in Port Hedland with a trip to the Visitor's Centre; the ladies are super helpful and can sort you out with booking local tours and other useful tidbits such as the schedule of arriving ships to the port.
See the harbour from Port Hedland Town Jetty
Port Hedland is home to the world's largest export port, shipping bulk goods such as salt, iron and lithium from the mines of Australia out to the world. Mega ships are arriving and departing constantly from the harbour, loaded up with goods from trucks and trains that have traveled from across the country. You can find the ship schedule at the Visitor Centre just down the road and then spot them from the Port Hedland Town Jetty.
Mega ships waiting to be loaded in the harbour
Watch the trains at FMG Rail Lookout
The world's longest trains arrive from across Australia to Port Hedland from the mines bringing bulk goods such as salt, iron and lithium to be shipped out to the world. One of the best places in Port Hedland to spot the trains is at the FMG Rail Lookout where you can try and count the carriages - the train we watched had a whopping 265!
See the trains from above on the Great Northern Highway
One of the best views looking down over the mining trains is near the Boodarie Rail Workshop from the Great Northern Highway as it crosses over the train tracks. There is no official stopping point here but you can slow down here as you drive across if there is no other traffic around.
See old locomotives from the Iron Ore Railway
The Don Rhodes Mining Museum Park is a free open-air museum home to old locomotives from the Iron Ore Railway. The displays themselves could use a bit of maintenance and repair but it's fascinating nonetheless to see all the historical trains from the past century which contributed to Port Hedland's growth.
Enjoy the beach at Cemetery Beach Park
Cemetery Beach Park is a gorgeous stretch of beach at the edge of Port Hedland and best-known for the chance to spot turtles swimming about in the high tide!
Take in the view from Koombana Lookout
The Koombana Lookout looks over the ocean and is also a great spot from where you can count how many ships are waiting to enter the Port Hedland port!
The lookout is named after the SS Koombana, a ship that went missing in a cyclone in 1912 on its way from Port Hedland to Broome. A sign at the lookout tells the story of the ship.
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Hi! I’m Jana, a Dutch-German-British-Canadian with a dream of seeing every country in the world. I am a storyteller, photographer and adventurer passionate about documenting and sharing my travels.
