Grey skies and a decidedly cooler temperature have greeted us today so any hope of catching a little sun have evaporated. The weather has given me an opportunity to start preparing for the end of the financial year that looms very close so I spent the majority of the morning doing just that. I had a very fitful sleep last night so I welcomed a "sleep in" while Philip explored the area by foot. We both suffered dearly after our lunch yesterday that included a lot of deep fried seafood and chips with just a hint of salad. It was delicious to eat but I have now firmly placed all deep fried food firmly on the "do not eat" list.
Philip came back with a lot of interesting information about Point Samson's beginnings. The town was named after Michael Samson and Walter Padbury discovered the area in 1863. The town had a very active history as a deep water port, handling the third largest annual tonnage in WA. The port of Point Samson and its deep water jetty were built in 1902/03. The original T head jetty, nearly1,900 feet long, was destroyed by a cyclone in 1925. The remaining part of the jetty was badly damaged by Cyclone orson in 1989 and was completely removed in 1991. A small section was rebuilt as a remind of the jetty's significant role in the town's past and has a great viewing platform that is perfect to spot whales from July to October and also to photograph the "Stairway to the Moon" that I will attest too.
This evening we walked to Johns Creek Wharf on the northern end of Point Samson. We watched three trawlers warming up their engines before heading out to sea for the night and some young teenagers expertly casting their net from the wharf into the water below. There were only catching one or two little fish at a time but they were very excited by their catch.
After our walk we continued along the path towards the Point Samson Tavern where we had one last sundowner as the sun set over the harbour. The tavern was the busiest we had seen in our three days here. We bought raffle tickets for a seafood tray only to find out that it wasn't going to be drawn until 7.00pm so we passed our tickets on to a lady sitting beside us. I hope she wins.
We have enjoyed our time in this lovely area. There is a great deal to see and do and if there is any negative at all it is that telephone coverage is awful but the locals tell us that it is terrible across the whole of the Pilbara region. Come on Telstra. Get your act together and improve coverage in rural and remote areas across Australia!
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