I wanted to stop in Dampier first as there were a few things there to see, plus we needed to look at repairing the water tanks. The only place there is the Dampier Transit Park, set up by the local community for tourists as there is a 72 hour limit on staying there. Many of the other caravan parks in Karratha are full of workers, although the caretaker here told me the bubble has burst and many parks have had to reduce their prices, one from $54 down to $44. The Transit Park is only small and because of its low price, very popular. Although we arrived late morning, there were no sites left. However, I just happened to be there waiting when someone came back and said they were able to fit in with a friend, so we managed to grab what he wasn't taking. It was really an overflow site as it is actually the driveway to her own van, but it had power and water handy, and the best view in the park out to the water.
What I hadn't realised was that Dampier really has no real infrastructure and to find somewhere for our water repairs we needed to drive 20 k's to Karratha. This we did, and found what we needed for under $5. We got back in time for a latish lunch while a load of washing was being done, and then headed out to explore the area. First stop was the visitor centre at the North West Shelf Project. This is an enormous gas plant, piping gas from 130 k's out at sea and after processing it is then piped the enormous distance to Perth and further south. It was a very interesting display with an informative short video.
Photo of a photo of the gas complex
From here we back tracked to Hearson Bay somewhere we imagine would be exceptionally popular at weekends, but nearly empty when we were there. Just a short distance from this is Deep Gorge with its thousands of ancient petroglyphs. This area just seems to be nothing but hills of tumbled red rocks, an amazing sight.
Some of the petroglyphs
Heading back towards the caravan park we had to make a stop at the Red Dog statue. Who didn't love this movie about the Pilabara wandering dog. He's become quite a tourist attraction in his own right. After a drive around the water's edge at Dampier it was back for Jim to fix the water tanks with just enough light left in the day.
Red Dog statue
It's a bit of a noisy place at Dampier as those huge trains we saw unload at this point, and you could hear them in the distance for what seemed most of the night.
View looking down from the caravan park at Dampier
Thursday morning we were off to our next destination, Cleaverville. This is a large bush camping site right on the beach between Warwick and Karratha and of course very popular at $10 a car a night. Just a drop loo and rubbish bins, but a great spot. The camping spots stretch for a number of kilometres along the beach, but we are at the main area but still have lots of room around us. There were some great spots that were very private but with the van it was a bit difficult to drive in to find the spot already taken and then having to find a way out. Later in the afternoon when he van was all set up, we took the car for a better look at the other spots in the area. There are a lot of people here, but a lot is very spread out.
Our view at Cleaverville
Looking down the beach
Octopus taking aim at Jim
Friday it was time to head out and explore a little more east. This was some of the are we missed by heading south at Port Hedland and then coming out at Karratha. The first stop was Roebourne and the tourist information centre which is housed in the historic gaol. It was a gold coin donation to see the building and museum and this was well worth while. It is a very impressive building, but a terrible past when you read it was used mostly for aboriginals and the way they were treated. There was a transcript of a royal enquiry held early in the last century where it was revealed that aborigines were always held in neck chains when other prisoners were not. The rings that these were chained to are right through the gaol, even one in the ladies loo.
Roebourne gaol
Our next stop was full of history, the near ghost town of Cossack which began its existance with the name of Tien Tsin. It was originally established in 1863 and had a varied history as a port and a pearl diving centre. However once the pearl diving was moved to Broome and the river silted up making the port virtually unusable, it suffered a rapid decline and by 1912 very few people were left. It has some beautiful buildings still standing, in particular the court house as well as the police complex. Interestingly these were built not long before the town's decline, so had little use. It was a very picturesque area and we easily spent a couple of hours there. It is also quite famous for its art show held for about a fortnight each year, boasting the highest cash awards in rural Australia. We were lucky to be there near the end of this year's fortnight. There were some interesting pieces and one I particularly liked. I looked up the price - $5500, it seems I have good taste. No wonder it didn't have a sold sticker.
View looking down on the river at Cossack
The police complex
Beautiful courthouse
The courthouse from rear
We drove on further to Point Samson, a popular holiday spot. It was quite nice but mainly seemed to be two caravan parks and a very pricy tavern. Over $30 for fish and chips for lunch we thought a bit much. So we drove back to the town of Wickham. This is really a mine service town with lots of miners accommodation and the major services including a Woolworths. We found a nice little coffee shop for lunch.
It was then back to the Roebourne Information Centre who actually had washing machines. As we hadn't had time to get the towels and sheets washed in Dampier, we made use of these.
It was low tide when we got back and we spent quite a bit of time walking along he reef system marvelling at all the marine life. We saw two octopus that made us laugh as they tried to shoot sea water at us when we came near.
Saturday was one of those will we/won't we as we hadn't decided whether to move on or not. In the end the tides were high mid morning, so we decided to stay on. Unfortunately this didn't lead to any fish being caught, but we did have a lovely time walking through the pools when the tide was out again late afternoon.
Sunday morning it was time to pack up and head off, but not too far. After refilling at Karratha on the way through it was only another 40 k's to our turn off to 40 Mile Beach. But before travelling the extra 11 k's we stopped to fill our water tanks. There is a gas plant at the corner and they have put in a tap for the campers to fill their water. There is already a man there, who we discovered was from Mildura. He tells us that this water is about the best you can get as it has gone through reverse osmosis. We chatted for quite a while as he refilled all his containers, then let us use his hose rather than get ours out. We discovered he had been there for three months, as had many others camping there. Once we arrived, he also found a great spot for us. Another long termer had had to take his motorhome to Perth for repairs, so we were able to put the van where his motorhome would have been. He is apparently a retired soldier and we now have his Australian flag flying near our front door.
It was high tide and Jim was all ready to head fishing, and as he was putting everything together, up came this very strong wind. So strong in fact that we opted to move the van around to get out of it. It was too strong to do anything including fishing, and by the time it abated at around 3.00 pm, the tide had well and truly turned and we were looking at lots of rock instead of water. So another long walk on the beach to explore the rock pools.
When the caretaker came around to collect the fees, we asked him how many long termers were here, and were told around 30. He also told us that the busiest night he has had was around 115 vans.
We had only planned to have the one night there, but thought we would leave late, around lunchtime after Jim had done some fishing. But the wind foiled us again. Jim went down early to fish, but by 8.30 the wind was starting to get up. I walked down to tell him that we should think about bringing the awning in, but he was already starting to pack up. It was so still when we had breakfast and it was such a short time later that it was blowing so hard.
So in the end we were packed and heading out around 9.30. I had been quite generous with water usage allowing that we would top up again on the way out. Unfortunately three others were there before us, and the one filling when we arrived took about another half hour. I don't know how much his Bushtracker held or whether he was dribbling it in. In the end we probably lost about an hour.
Although quite a bit further than my original plan, we ended up travelling to Onslow. This is a detour of the highway of 80 kilometres and I had heard messages about whether it was worth it or not, so decided to make up our own minds.
Onslow is one of those mining places that have got beyond themselves with the speed things have happened. We could see a lot of mining things happening as we drove on the road in. For now though, we were turning of 18 kilometre before the town and going to Old Onslow. Onslow was established in the late 1800's as a port, but after numerous cyclones and other weather conditions, the river silted up and the port was unusable, so the town was shifted to its current site. From about 5 kilometres from the old town site, and running back for about another 5 kilometres is free camping along the Ashburton River. Again our luck with good spots held out and after nearly taking three others, we found our eventual camp. It was right on the water, but a lot further back from the road than the majority of others. A beautiful spot.
Camped on the river
After setting up, we drove up to explore the old town site. There is very little left, but going by the plaques spread over great distances, it was obviously of some size. The only buildings left are the police complex and gaol. These were quite substantial buildings and we were quite impressed wih the river stone bricks the buildings were made from. The exercise area was unroofed and still has the embedded broken glass to deter any attempts to get over the top.
Rings are still attached to the floor
Exposed brickwork
Welcome Rest Stops. They pop up in the least expected places, such as Old Onslow. They normally have a toilet, dump point and shelter with free wifi. Only it often doesn't work very fast if at all.
All that is left of Old Onslow
We also drove down to the old jetty area, and it was hard to imagine there had once been a river there.
The jetty
It was getting on dark when we got back to camp, and we enjoyed our camp fire by the river.
View from the caravan
Tuesday morning we drove the 35 k's into Exmouth. We had opted not to stay at the overpriced caravan park. That's what happens when the mining industry takes over. There is a second caravan park, but that now has only permanents. On the way past the airport we were amazed to see a sign offering contractors accommodation at $290 a night! We thought that was bad enough until we found a notice board advertising a 2 bedroom unit at $1900 a week. Talking later to the girl at the info centre, she was telling us how expensive everything is. I asked about a hairdresser, and discovered they work from home as rent is too high here. She also told us she orders her groceries from Perth (nearly 1500 kilometres) and the $80 freight still comes out cheaper than the supermarket here. And it arrives on the same truck as the supermarket supplies. I can understand where she is coming from when I went in and discovered broccoli at nearly $10 a kilo and bananas $7.50.
War memorial in the shape of the digger's hat band. Designed so the sun shines through on Anzac morning
A seat at the memorial, very well done with the bronzed hats
From one of the lookouts at Exmouth
I hadn't expected to spend long in Exmouth, and hadn't taken any lunch with us. We went to the lookout area, admiring the impressive war memorial, and took the 2 kilometre board walk. There was also an interesting museum attached to the information centre. We drove out to Four Mile Beach where Jim got lots of bites but no fish. So by the time we got back to the caravan it was a late lunch, and unfortunately the horrible strong wind had returned. We ate inside which is very unusual for us. After a short while of being cooped up, we decided to put up with the wind and do some more exploring. About 3 k's down the road is a causeway across the river. Right next to it a major gas pipeline has been put in, and we could still see some of the 4 metre deep trench. There were also new roads going everywhere, so it took a little looking to find the existing one that followed the river down the other side. We had stopped and talked to another camping before crossing, who told us it was almost impossible to get to the river mouth, so we didn't attempt this, but found a spot on the river that looked promising. Lots and lots of good bites but only one small fish. I guess we will be back to give it another go.
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