Why many ex-Pilbara workers now call Karratha home
LONG WAY TO THE TOP : Tour Blog
Day one of Millsy’s Long Way to the Top tour began in beautiful sunny Karratha, 15 hours and 1500km from Perth.
Steve Mills and trusty wife Tricia arrived at Karratha Bowls club for a live broadcast of his 12-3pm show in the massive Jayco Outback Journey.
The first show of the five-week tour went off without a hitch or glitch, to the enormous relief of his producer Andrew Murdoch and the techs in the 6PR studios on Monday.
Millsy enjoying some Friday night footy from the Jayco caravan.
What they couldn’t see was possibly the best broadcast view of Millsy’s long and varied career, with a golf club and idyllic stretch of WA’s beautiful coastline in full sight.
“Someone asked me did I bring the vibrating bed with me,” Mills said on air.
“No we haven’t, mainly because I think it might rattle a bit in the caravan park, which could cause people to talk and we don’t want that.”
LISTEN: Karratha mayor Peter Long
But enough pillow talk, Millsy opened the show alongside the man who runs the town, Karratha mayor Peter Long, who arrived in the Pilbara in 1985 after working overseas in the offshore game in the UK.
“There was no work except for in Karratha and worked for a bloke called Alan Bond, I remember my pay used to come out of the brewery, it used to have Swan Brewery on the paycheck,” he told Mills.
Steve Mills with Pilbara mayor Peter Long.
Brendan Grylls: Life after politics
Former WA National Party leader Brendan Grylls moved to the Pilbara as part of his position as leader and has stayed in the region well after his political career ended.
“If you love Coral Bay and you love Exmouth, you’re gonna love the Pilbara,” he said.
LONG WAY TO THE TOP: Official schedule
“It’s a magnificent lifestyle, I’ve got three boys, the oldest is 15 now, and they’ve really had a great base to their future, by living in a remote community and being friends with a whole wide and diverse range of people.
“I love seeing my mates easily make friends with Aboriginal kids now, which I reckon growing up in the western suburbs might’ve been something they wouldn’t have done.”
Day 2 of the Long Way to the Top takes Millsy 31km east to Roeburne, the oldest surviving North West town and first established between Geraldton and Darwin in 1866.
🚍 ENJOY THE RIDE HERE 🎸
Millsy at Midday on 882 6PR
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