Karratha-Dampier

Hi everyone, we arrived in Karratha on Tuesday, about a 3 hour trip south of Port Hedland. The countryside is quite desolate.  We are still in the Pilbara region & of course  the mining industry dominates everything.  There are stacks of road trains and the caravan parks are full of people working for the mining companies.  We have been paying really high camp fees in the last few weeks! Karratha is on an inlet about 20 kilometres from Dampier which is on the coast. We can't see the inlet here as there is a lot of flat marshy land around the town.  It is a small country town, as opposed to Port Hedland  which was a sprawling industrial mass. We leave here on Sunday & travel to Coral Bay which has been recommended as a beautiful spot.

Thank God for UHF radio- we were warned to get off the road as the trailer on this truck completely covered both lanes.

Some views of the countryside, very few trees.

Roebourne Goal, about 35 kms east of Karratha

Yesterday we visited Dampier, a tiny town with a very busy port. This is a sculpture of Neptune, set in front of the only patch of green in town!

Loading the iron-ore ships

The two white lumps in the distance are huge stockpiles of salt

RED DOG!! Loved the movie, based on his life & travels.  This sculpture was erected by his "friends" long before the movie was made to honour his memory.

Got him now! It is so life like, it looked as if he was about to walk off the rock

Willem Dampier, visited this area twice, about 80 years before Captain Cook sailed the east coast.

Road between Karratha & Dampier- salt flats either side

Some wag did a few "sculptures" beside the Dampier road- this is a miner surrounded by sharks!

The Titanic!

Sea serpent

Broome & Port headland

Hi everyone, a few last photos of Broome.  We are now in Port Headland, a big industrial town with a big port for the iron ore ships. Apart from the mines & port there is little else to see.  The drive from Broome was a long one, just over 600 kms,so we were pretty tired when we got here. Still red dust everywhere & scrubby vegetation.  We leave tomorrow. The weather is still very hot, we have had about 6 weeks of 36 degrees or higher. Below are some pictures of the pearl luggers in Broome.

Views from the caravan park in Broome while enjoying happy hour with friends ( Hi Steve & Chris!)

On the road to PH- a scrub fire burning quite close to the road.  We weren't too worried as traffic was coming through & the local radio had no warnings.

Port headland

Mouth of the port

Massive Chinese iron ore ship

Salt mine

Rig out to sea

The beach area- a bit different to Broome!

More of Broome Willie Creek - Cable Beach - Town

Hi, today we drove to Willie Creek Pearl Farm-as the crow flies only 16 kms from Broome, but by road almost an hour, most of the trip on unsealed roads. They had beautiful pearl jewellery for sale, but I resisted the urge to buy a $16,000 necklace!

Pearl beds

The water  is the most incredibly blue I have ever seen.  Top right corner you can see the waves breaking past the sand bar.

Willie Creek Webcam 

The dark blobs are jellyfish-there has been a bit of an invasion of them in the last few days.  The are called sea tomatoes because of their red colour & shape, and are the size of a clenched fist.

Still at the pearl farm

Gallery & cafe

Good boy!

The road to the pearl farm- this doesn't show how red the dirt  really is, & the corrugations were horrible

Some shots around Broome

We visited the lighthouse out on the point, some photos from there

looking back to Cable Beach

The lighthouse

Path down to the cliffs below the lighthouse

This is a giant birds nest next to the ladder,  it is about 2 metres across & is home to a family of sea eagles.

Anatasia's Pool- a former lighthouse keeper in the old days made this for his wife who suffered from arthritis. Mind you, it took me 10 minutes scrambling over & around rocks to reach it so I'm not sure how the arthritic wife managed!

Cars are allowed to drive on certain sections of the beach, so we gave it a try!

Jelly fish

Self portrait- "Ginny's Foot With Jellyfish"

Looking back from the beach