Day 74, Point Samson, WA

 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!

Day 73 Point Samson, WA

On this journey, before we decide to stay at a particular place, we do quite a bit of research.  Between the Lonely Planet Guide to Australia, WikiCamps, Google and a Hema Map we can make informed decisions about the things we want to see and do.  Of course we can't do it all and I imagine that is why some folk travel around Australia more than once.  Around Point Samson there are three townships; Roeburn, Wickham and the heritage town of Cossack.  These destinations are where our journey took us today.  

Our first stop was Cossack and what an incredible place to visit.  There is so much history surrounding this area and the walls of these beautifully restored buildings could really tell a story or two.  The first thing we did was to navigate the very steep hill to the Tien Tsin Lookout to get a good look at the area we were about to explore.

From the Western Australian Travel Guide 2022:

"Originally known as Tien Tsin after the barque that landed Walter Padbury, his party and his stock at the mouth of the Harding River, Cossack was vital to the early development of the North West. Cossack was the original port of pearls before the luggers moved north to Broome in 1886, an early hub for gold prospectors in the region, and a port for pastoralists in the Pilbara. Following the opening of Point Samson jetty, the town was dissolved in 1910 and abandoned by 1950. The beautifully restored bluestone buildings in the ghost town of Cossack are testament to this small town’s huge importance in 1880’s and 1890’s and offer a fantastic insight to the hardships and successes of the first settlers".

We thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the beautifully restored buildings in Cossack and were greeted by a guide on our walk who was able to fill us in a lot of details.  After our walk it was time for coffee and banana cake that we ordered from the little cafe housed inside one of the heritage buildings. It was one of the best coffees we've enjoyed so far on this journey. Most coffees are too milky for my liking 😩

Our next stop was Roeburne where the old heritage listed Goal is situated, but sadly, it is closed indefinitely.  So instead of visiting the Goal we drove up the very steep road to the lookout and were very impressed with the 360 degrees views from here.  The country surrounding the three towns is flat and tidal and as we crossed one of the flats we noticed the water flowing in rapidly and the fisherman all casting their lines on the changing tide.

After Roeburne it was on to Wickham that is the business hub of the area.  It is here you will find a community hub, grocery store, and sporting facilities.  We didn't stay very long, just a quick drive through town, because  Philip really wanted to try and get to the Rio Tinto iron ore facility at Cape Lambert. Last night we could clearly see the ships being loaded from the viewing platform at the old jetty at Point Samson.  We eventually found a road that took us right to the Rio Tinto facility.  Those machines, up close and personal, are massive, and here are some statistics for you to cast your eye over:

We didn't arrive back to our camp until 1.00pm so rather than preparing a meal we made the unanimous decision to go to the nearby tavern for lunch.  A wise decision as the meal here was fantastic.  I ordered the beer battered locally caught mackerel and Philip ordered the Seafood platter.  We are loving our stay in the sleepy little seaside town of Point Samson and tomorrow we will hang around the area and maybe soak up a bit of Vitamin D at Honeymoon Cove.

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.

Day 71 Port Hedland, WA

 Port Hedland is a pretty amazing place and we have enjoyed our few days here.  As I stated in my first post it is an industrial town and and an extension of the mining industry, but it is also home to 15,000 residents. It has an international airport that sees seventy flights per week that are mostly filled with fly in fly out workers.  Most of the giant drag lines that we see moving the iron ore are automated with somebody sitting in an office (more than likely Perth) operating these massive machines.   Iron Ore is brought in by rail from the majority of the mines and these trains can be up to three kilometres in length. Some of these trains are also fully automated. The train wagons are unloaded two wagons at a time and this is also an automated process that does not require the wagons to be unhooked. These are just some of the facts that we learnt from our tour guide this evening on our Sunset Harbour Tour.

Our tour began around 5.00pm and went for an hour and a half.  It was very interesting, more so because of our knowledgeable guide who was able to answer most of the numerous questions.  We watched as the ships were being filled with ore and we were told it takes more than 24 hours for a ship to be fully loaded. Once a ship is loaded and ready to leave the port there is already another lined up in the harbour to take its place.  The harbour master's job requires meticulous timing.  There is 550,000,000 tonnes of ore exported through the port each year but the port authority intends ramping that up to 640,000,000.  It is a big ask, but as more and more of the harbour becomes automated it does seem possible.

Innovation and forward thinking is the key when it comes to the mining industry and no-one does it better than Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest.  Fortescue's Iron Bridge Project will deliver iron ore as a slurry with the installation of a 135km pipeline to Port Hedland, together with a return water pipeline.  Production is set to commence by the end of 2022.  Although the initial outlay is massive, long time will see great returns.  

Apart from the tour this evening we did a grocery shop and also went for a drive to Finucane Island Tug Haven.  Our journey took us underneath the giant conveyor belts that are are seen everywhere in Port Hedland, in fact there is 500km's of conveyor belt!  As I said in my post yesterday, in Port Hedland everything is big (and red).

Our journey takes us to Point Samson tomorrow where we will be fortunate enough to see the "Staircase to the Moon".  I've always wanted to see this natural phenomenon and I'm so grateful that we will be in the perfect spot to see it.  Hopefully it will be a clear sky......

Day 70 Port Hedland, WA

Day 70.  Ten weeks on the road and we haven't killed each other yet 😂😂😂😂😂

It's been one helluva ride so far and can't wait for the rest.

So, today was our Seafarers Tour of the Port Hedland harbour.  Before we started our tour we were shown a power point presentation showing us the role that the Seafarers Mission plays in the harbour community. The Anglican Chaplain who led the presentation, explained about the primary role of the Seafarers Mission which is to care for the pastoral, practical and spiritual welfare of seafarers of all nationalities and faiths.  The Seafarers building is like a mini supermarket where sailors can purchase items that are highly prized for eg chocolate and wool doonas!  It also has an internet room where the sailors can connect with their loved ones.  As most sailors are at sea for nine months it must certainly feel like a home away from home where they come and enjoy the hospitality of the mission.  

The presentation then shifted to the harbour itself and the way that the ships move in and out of the harbour.  It then detailed the quantity and monetary value of the goods shipped out of this port.  I can't remember all the figures but BHP alone shifted $90,000,000,000 of iron ore through their facility last year.  The main players at the port are BHP and FMG (Fortescue Minerals).  We were told that apart from having their own ships they also have their own tugs. 

Our tour transport.  A little damaged.

We boarded our little ship for the harbour tour and we also had onboard an engineer who we dropped off at one of the ships.  We also watched the Pilot Helicopter land and then take off again, delivering the Pilot to the waiting ships. The tour was very interesting and the harbour is huge but coming alongside those massive ships is awesome.  I noticed that everything within the harbour area is covered in a layer of red dust, and I can understand why the "satellite" city of South Hedland was established some 11kms from the Port. It would have been to get away from that red dust.  The tour went for around 2 hours and the $50 we paid to go on this tour goes straight back to the Seafarers Mission so it was dollars well spent.

We arrived home in time for lunch that had been cooking in the slow cooker.  Beef Stew with mashed potato and greens.  It felt good to have a feed of vegetables and we made real pigs of ourselves!

This evening we drove to the Redbank Bridge Lookout that is a prime location for a little "train spotting".  It also looks out onto BHP's salt mine where there are massive hills of salt waiting to be shipped to goodness know where in the world.  We were told that those mountains of salt turn pink at sunset but we waited and didn't see any change in colour.  One thing we can say about Port Hedland is that everything here is the biggest.  The biggest harbour, the biggest exporter, the biggest ships, the biggest mounds of salt and most certainly the biggest trains.

Tomorrow evening we are embarking on a Sunset Tour of the harbour where we will get to see everything in a totally different light (excuse the pun).  From where our caravan is parked we can see the glittering lights of the harbour and it is absolutely beautiful so I can't wait to see it a little more "up close and personal" tomorrow evening.

Day 69, Port Hedland, WA

Eighty Mile Beach to Port Hedland is 255 kilometres, and that is todays destination.  The scenery was a little different to what we have been used to seeing.  Certainly we still have the red soil, but to our left are  sand dunes that have replaced the rocky outcrops that we have seen for most of our journey through the Kimberleys.  The scenery changed back to rocky outcrops after we passed through Pardoo and there was a sign saying "Welcome to the Pilbara".  This is mining country and if we didn't know that already, we would have been alerted quite quickly by the dozens of mining trucks, towing four trailers, that are heading in both directions, once we have passed the turnoff to Marble Bar.

Surprisingly there is also a lot of irrigation schemes underway between Broome and Port Hedland and I have read that it is the largest area of pivot irrigation in Australia.  The pivot irrigation can be seen in the distance along with bales of Rhodes Grass already waiting to be trucked out.  The scheme has been set up to "drought proof" the northern cattle industry and because of the plentiful supply of artesian water it is almost a guaranteed scheme.

We stopped at De Grey River "free camp" for a morning tea break and already at 10.00am there were caravans pulling up at the 24hr stopover.  Just over the De Grey River to our right we can see the De Grey Gold Mine.  It is a large scale, high value, near surface, gold mine.  We continued our journey along the Great Northern Highway and eventually we could see Port Hedland in the distance.

Port Hedland is an industrial town and they do not make any other claim.  It is the worlds largest bulk export port, exporting iron ore, lithium and salt. It also has the largest deep water port in the world.  One of the first things we see as we make our way to our caravan park is the huge mountains of pure white salt that apparently turn pink as the sun sets.  This afternoon we drove to Koombana Lookout and then on to Cemetery Beach Park to watch the sun set over the port.  We counted twenty three ships off shore, all waiting for their turn to be loaded and we watched a massive cargo ship make its way into port with three tugs guiding it through the channel.  

We have a couple of tours booked for our stay here, all involving the port area.  Philip is in seventh heaven.  He loves industrial ports.  Over the years we have done quite a few cruises and whenever we are docking at a port, you will always find Philip right at the very front of the ship watching the action.

Day 68 Eighty Mile Beach, WA

Sometimes when I sit down to write my blog my mind goes blank, like today.  It's the days where you are doing nothing more than lazing around that are the hardest to write about, and today was just that kind of day.  But having said that, we achieved a lot today.  After our morning walk, we sat down with the WikiCamps app and we have booked all our accomodation right through until the 14th July. It's not easy, let me tell you.  Western Australia is buzzing with tourists after the rest of Australia was denied entry to the state for such a long time.  I'm not blaming them at all for closing their borders because Queensland did the same thing. But it is heartening to now be able to travel wherever we like in Australia without any restrictions.  

We don't like to travel with dates in mind as it is so restrictive when you find a place that you really want to spend more time at or vice versa where you don't find much at all to see and do in a certain place.  But the fact of the matter is that June, July and August are peak season and we have found many places to be very difficult to book.  For example Ningaloo.  Exmouth has only two caravan parks and it was just sheer luck that we got into one of the parks as they had received a cancellation just before I rang.  More good luck than good management. Coral Bay is another place that is very difficult to get into and we really wanted to stay here as it came from a recommendation by my friend Lynn.  But, luck again, we have managed to score six nights here.

I've just got to think about what else we did today.  Philip took the Toyota to the wash down area and gave it a good bath, concentrating on the underneath as it has been on the beach two days in a row now and we need to get rid of that salty water.  He also re-inflated the tyres so we are now set to travel again tomorrow.  While Philip was doing that I made a cake, my Five Ingredient Orange Almond Cake.  It is such an easy cake to make but the baking of it was a little tricky with my "oven".  It is delicious and we enjoyed it for afternoon smoko.

The last thing for us to do today was to say goodbye to Eighty Mile Beach by watching the sun go down over this beautiful place.  Eighty Mile Beach really is a treasure find and I can't recommend it enough if you are ever in this area.  The caravan park is one of the best we have stayed in and considering the isolation they have to contend with, the staff do an amazing job.  Philip was talking to another camper this morning who has been coming here for ten weeks every year for ten years.  He has seen nearly all the trees at the park ripped out of the ground due to cyclones that frequent this area, but looking around the park you would never know that it has been through any sort of devastation.  I don't know that we will ever get back here......probably not, but we are sure to take some amazing memories with us (and the odd shell 🐚)

Day 67 Eighty Mile Beach, WA

Today was almost a repeat of yesterday.  A little exercise in the morning, this time yoga, and then we packed another picnic lunch to take with us for another drive along Eighty Mile Beach.  I had a go at making bread rolls yesterday, just by using the dough function in my bread maker and even though they are a bit rustic looking, they turned out pretty darn good.  My oven is not an oven at all, just a glorified grill but I still managed to get enough heat to bake the rolls.  I filled them with Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato and Mayonnaise and they were perfect for our lunch today.

We drove a bit further along Eighty Mile Beach today, around 20km, and came across a creek that we presume is tidal.  There were tracks running along the sand dunes towards the creek and we saw signs that fisherman had been there, so we presume there is a good fishing spot in this area. 

But today it was all about collecting the cake urchin shells.  Philip picked one up yesterday and we almost thought it was artificial.  It is so intricately patterned.  The shells are super fine and crush very easily so they are relatively hard to find as they simply crumble into the sand.  But we managed to find six and I am going to bring then home with us as they are so light.  I will pack them in lots of bubble wrap to protect them and hopefully they will survive the journey.  

Philip found another magnificent shell this morning.  It is very large and so pretty. I'm thinking of bringing it home too.  You just don't find many shells that size, but then again we may leave it for the kids.......

We can't seem to get enough of Eighty Mile Beach and just want to bottle it and take it with us. While we were eating our lunch a pod of dolphins swam by.  They were fairly close to the shoreline and we watched us they jumped and dived through the shallow water. The pod was heading south so we will undoubtably catch up with them at Exmouth or Monkey Mia. 😂  After lunch we walked down to the waters edge.  From where we parked the car to the edge of the water would have been well over 200 metres.  This beach is so wide!  It is also pristine.  White sand meets turquoise water.  The water was not as blue today because of the winds that have come up and there are even little waves that were not there yesterday.

(You can only just see our vehicle in the centre of the screen)

By the time we made our return journey the fishermen were out in full force.  Not being fishing people, we are guessing that they read the tides and fish on a changing tide because that seems to be when the most people are out.  We did bring a fishing line and tackle box with us on this trip but so far it has stayed tucked away in the hatch.  Neither of us like to handle bait and that is what you need to do if you want to fish the ocean.

We have one more day here and then we head south to Port Hedland.  We are really dawdling as we don't have to be at Exmouth until the 8th July, the only date I could get to swim with the Whale Sharks.  The beauty of dawdling is you get to really experience the places that you stop at so that's a win.

Day 66, Eighty Mile Beach, WA

It was decidedly cooler again this morning but that was mostly to the overcast conditions.  The BOM is not predicting any rain, but one thing we can be sure of is that the BOM is unpredictable!

The lovely cool morning made our morning walk along the beach very comfortable and it was worth it to just get this photo......

 Our hour long walk gave us a good appetite so we had a good old fry up with Sausages, Eggs and Grilled Tomato.  We haven't had that for awhile and gee it was lip smacking good.  After breakfast we walked up to the park office to book ourselves in for an extra night at this beautiful place.  It really is a find and I'm grateful, again, to the WikiCamps app that gives us a heads up on these places. While I was at the office I picked up the brochure that showed us just some of the shells that we can find on Eighty Mile Beach.  As I said yesterday I am absolutely astounded at the quantity and quality of shells along his stretch of coastline.  

With the day being so pleasant, we decided that we would pack a picnic lunch and go for a drive along the beach and pull up when we got hungry.  The tide is well and truly out and we pass many fisherman scattered along the length of the beach.  As we were driving along we saw someone hauling in quite a large fish and we know it must be great fishing here because there seems to be always someone cleaning their catch at the designated area.

We drove south for around 3 kms but the beach became scattered with some large rocks that were hard to navigate around so we turned the vehicle north and drove around 15kms until hunger once again got the better of us.  This beach really is 80 miles long and tomorrow we would like to go even further north because Philip climbed a sand dune after lunch and he could see some really big sand dunes to the north.

Lunch was just so very pleasant with not a single person insight and the small waves making a gentle swooshing sound in the background.  We had a few seagulls for company that would gladly have eaten our meal if we let them and commented that they seem to be the same no matter where we go.  We strolled along the beach after lunch collecting a few more shells. We will admire them for the next few days and then take them back down to the beach for someone else to collect.

Here is a little GoPro footage of our day.