Day 72 Point Samson, WA

 Continuing on from me stating that everything is BIG in Port Hedland, this is what we followed out of Port Hedland and, to the right in the parking bay, is another monstrosity.  We eventually passed the eight metre wide truck at a passing lane but not before all oncoming traffic was stopped.

We only travelled along the Great Northern Highway a short distance today before turning south down the North West Coastal Highway.  It was a very scenic drive and more so because of the significant amount of rain that they had in this area just a couple of weeks ago, in fact there was so much rain that it cut the highway in several places.  So consequently everything is green.  Philip commented that the country looks like outback Queensland, particularly driving into Winton and looking out over Ayrshire hills.  There are even Mimosa trees scattered on the plains.

The red iron ore mountains are still sitting proudly in the distance and when our tour guide stated yesterday that there are billions of tonnes of iron ore in Western Australia, I can truly believe it. We passed Whim Creek Pub around 82km from Roeburn and it looked so inviting but sadly closed its doors in 2011. 

We start seeing signs saying "Welcome to the City of Karratha" a very long way from Karratha, but when I google the size of Karratha it says that it is one of the four local government areas in the Pilbara region and covers an area of 15,882 square kilometres.

We stopped at the information bay just outside of Roeburn to get a bit of an insight of what we can expect to see and do in the area.  We are staying at Point Samson so trips to Cossack and Roeburn are definitely on the agenda.  We drive through Roeburn but don't stop as it will better to come back sans caravan, but I'm excited to see the old restored goal on our left.  

We are now ensconced at Point Samson and tonight we wandered down to the local pub for beers and cheers and to await the moon rising for the Staircase to the Moon.  The moon was due to rise at 6.15pm so we walked out to the viewing platform to wait.  There were a lot of people waiting with us and it wasn't long before we could see that initial glow in the East.  There was complete silence as we watched the moon slowly rising and almost miraculously the "staircase" started to form over the water.  Wow. It was beautiful to watch and I'm so pleased we were able to be at the right spot at the right time to enjoy it.