In and around Derby.

We left Wullare Roadhouse late in the morning.  Most of the truckies have come and gone, except for this cattle truck.  There’s 4 carriages on this one.  Some even come with five.

We contemplated fishing along side of the Fitzroy River, but one) we couldn’t get the vans down there, and two) there’s crocs along the shoreline. (even though we couldn’t see them, they were there!)

The jetty at Derby.  The tide was out so the water was very shallow and brown.  We checked out what kind of fish were here and decided to come back later on when the tide was in.

This hawk, with 5 other ones, were circling above the pier watching the people walking around.

 

 

And as we came back from the jetty we noticed that there was a bush fire just outside of town.  It ended up creating an orange haze in the late afternoon.

And as I write this, I’ve finished washing five loads of laundry and I TRIED to get the “Pilbara” red out of my running shoes.  Now we’re on to the “Kimberley” pink dust.  What’s the difference you ask?…not one thing.  BOTH are red dirt.

Today, we’ll do some domestic touring and more fishing tonight.  Might even get our last sunset over the Indian Ocean.

We’ve turned the corner ……

We had heard so much about Cape Leveque that we thought we would head up there to have a look.  We left the caravans in Broome and set up our tents at a little stopover called Munget Community or Whale Song.

Most of the Dampier Peninsula is owned by Aboriginal Communities, so we need to organize a booking for a camp site and since they didn’t have any spots left at Cape Leveque, (or Kooljaman) we booked in to Munget.  Our site was situated over the top of a cliff overlooking the bay.

Not bad for “multi million dollar” views!!  All from our campsite.  We went fishing along this coast.  I caught a little bream, Col caught a little whiting and he nearly caught a hammerhead shark!  I turned to see, what I thought was a good sized fish, but that was only the dorsal fin of a four foot shark!!  And once we both saw that, we decided that wading out to our waist wasn’t the smartest thing while those sharks were hanging about.

This is our campsite.  The winds came up in the morning and we could swear that Col and Margaret’s tent was going to fold up any moment!

 

And of course the first thing you do, is inspect the amenities.  Here we have the toilet with penthouse views across the campsite.  And there’s a sign at the bottom of the stairs that say “FREE” or “ IN USE”.  The only problem with that is when somebody forgets to turn the sign around.  You could be standing there dancing around for a while waiting. 

And this is a shower that any nature lover would appreciate.  Many people pay to have this kind of shower in their homes.  I do have to tell you though,  that the shower walls are high enough for the average MAN, but if you happen to be a tall WOMAN,..well ..let’s just say, they you might want to squat down a bit, as the walls are a bit short.

Once we got the camp set up, we headed over to the little cafe/office to have some lunch.  It was quite warm the day we arrived, so a nice cold drink and some lunch was needed.

Views from the deck were enjoyed while we waited for our gourmet pizza to arrive.  Chris had a mango smoothie (milk shake) and I had carrot juice.

And we watched people come and go.  And there was a mix of dogs and kids around the yard to keep us entertained.

Chris found a little mate that he wanted to bring home with us.  The pup stayed with us the whole two days we were there.  Even sleeping on top of our clothes bag tucked inside Chris’s jacket.

At first glance you could swear that this was a miniature version of a dingo.  He actually belonged to the local aboriginal group, but he was deemed a ‘free spirit’ as he made his way around the campsites and cafe and the beach.  Col nicknamed him “Ding” …short for …DINGO! of course.

The following day we toured around the area and noted that there were several bush fires in the area.

And with the breezes carrying it across the bush, those that lived here were keeping an eye on it. 

 

Well, we came and saw,.. and decided that while there were some nice spots here, it wasn’t really anything to write home about.  And after a rough nights sleep, we headed back to Broome to pick the vans up and start heading east.  Rough nights’ sleep?..oh yeah,..we have a queen size blow up mattress which normally works really good.  But after being told to make sure you blow it ‘all the way up’,..it started popping it’s gaskets and we ended up with a mattress that looked like it had giant measles.  And then throw in the normal ‘rolling’ over in bed and lumpy bits…(sigh) yep…it was a couple of rough nights.  So now a new mattress is needed.  Did I say mattrESS…make that TWO SINGLE mattresses.  I think that’s going to work out a bit better.

Anyway, we’ve landed here just south of Derby at Wullare Roadhouse.  And after packing all the winter woolies away last week, the night cooled down to around 10 deg/52F and with only two thermal blankets, Chris woke up at 4 this morning snuggling in.  I woke up, threw my extra blanket on him, put the heater on, and he’s back to snoozing again.  I may have to drag that doona back out.

Anyway, we’re sitting on the Fitzroy River, but you can’t go swimming as there’s crocodiles in the water up here, not that you would KNOW that,  as there’s NO SIGNS.   Queensland usually has “Auctung” signs, but not here.  Western Australia doesn’t believe in signs for tourists.  And trying to find the touristy places is hard, as there’s no signs to let you know what’s in the area.  And bitumen roads are few, so it’s more of a challenge to find places to see and visit.  I think the government budget is too small to accommodate the tourist trade.  Who knows?

We’ll be in Derby later this morning and we’ll be there for 5 days.  So more fishing is in order before we take our flight over the Horizontal Waterfalls next Tuesday.  Oh yeah,..and there’s “R n R” as well, before we leave.

Life in the fast lane……at Broome?

Here we are enjoying life in the fast lane.  Well,….maybe not in the fast lane,..just the slow lane, cause it IS Broome.  It’s hot and humid here.  And after being in dry, cool climes, it’s taking some getting used to.  So after a couple of rough nights of sleep, ‘nanny’ naps are par for the course.

Last night we had a sunset dinner overlooking Cable Beach and guess who forgot her camera?  (me)  It was a REALLY nice sunset and I can see why it was a popular place for sunsets.  The meal was fantastic and the company was fun.

Well, we landed a couple of days ago and as per usual, we refuelled, restocked, and got the lay of the land.  And because there was a queue for the laundry facilities yesterday, Chris was up there bright and early this morning. (good husband, that he is)  6am to be precise, putting clothes in the washer.  By the time he was finished putting the clothes IN the washer, there was a queue behind him. 

And now the clothes are done and we did a little touring around the countryside. 

Tonight, we just came back from the picture theatre.  We saw Ice Age 3 in this theatre.  What’s so special about this theatre you ask?

It’s an out door cinema, complete with wooden floors and canvas seats.  And with a quarter moon sitting just above and behind the screen, it was awesome.  I really loved that outdoor environment.  It was a cool balmy night and the moths flashing about, looked more like shooting stars.  Even the occasional plane came in for a landing over head at the nearby airport, but it didn’t detour you from enjoying the film.  This outdoor cinema has been here since around the early 1900’s.  There really should be more of these cinemas, they’re so cool.

This is one of the old pearling luggers getting renovated.  Broome was discovered in 1861.  And once the British realized that they could make money from the pearling industry, they brought in divers from Japan, Indonesia, and the local Aboriginals.  And needless to say,  pearls were abundant in all the local shops.

And we’re not sure if this is the same square rigger that followed us up the coast from Fremantle or not, as it looks a bit brighter than the last ones we’ve seen along the coastline.

We took a trip out to the lighthouse this afternoon. This particular one isn’t made out of stone like the others.  It’s made out of timber and steel.

 

The rocky formations around the lighthouse were beautiful as the reds and ochre, contrasted with the azure blue sea.  At low tide, there’s even some dinosaur foot prints out on the rocks.  But they’re only visible at extremely low tides.

This pool was created for the original lighthouse keeper’s wife, who had severe arthritis.  She would bathe daily in the warm salty water.

 

As we made our way back, we realized that a sea eagle had made it’s nest above in the lighthouse.  Here, she is eating a fresh caught fish, still squirming.

 

We ended the afternoon quickly, as Chris was eager to have a nap.  What with the warm temperatures and humidity, he hasn’t been sleeping well at night.  So he was eager for a lie down this afternoon.

Tomorrow, we head out to Malcolm Douglas’s Alligator farm and then pack for our campout at Cape Leveque.  (Which reminds me, we’ll be out of radio range for a few days.) Well, I’m off to do some catching up on my Facebook games, emails, and general stuff, see ya when we get back!

Hiding out at Eighty Mile Beach.

We headed out of Tom Price and landed in Port Hedland.  There wasn’t a lot to do there.  And in actuality, we stayed at South Hedland because Port Hedland was booked out.  So we stayed at the dubious Black Rocks at South Hedland.  Dubious?..you ask.. yes dubious.

We pulled in and were told there’s ten spaces left, “pick whichever one you want.” HUH?!  okay.  And we picked out a spot, miniscule that it was.  Obviously an older caravan park due to the ‘small’ spaces.  Very cramped it was.  But we made it in and we made it out.  I KNOW that Col and Margaret were EVER so happy to leave that place.  One thing it DID have going for it, was that the washing was only $2 per load.  No dryers,..and if you could find room on the clothes line, it was good.

And here we are now,..hiding out at Eighty Mile Beach.  Sun, Sand, and Surf.  And no reception for computers OR telephones.

Known as Eighty Mile Beach for obvious reasons.  As far as you can see, beach only and little or NO PEOPLE.

We watched the sun go down over the ocean on the first day here.  The second day, we decided to do some fishing.  We did find a spot that was a creek outlet.  Unfortunately, as we waited for the tide to rise and fill the inlet, we came to realize that it would never fill unless it was an EXCEPTIONAL high tide.  So we opted for fishing along the shore which resulted in no fish, no bites, not even a nibble.

But we HAVE been finding some WONDERFUL seashells.  My small collection has grown to a large dish now,  to hold the many beautiful shells.

And today, being the third full day here, Chris has fixed the plumbing problem that we’ve had for the past 4 months, whereby we didn’t have any water in the bathroom vanity bowl.  We do now. Which means we can brush our teeth in the bathroom instead of the kitchen sink.  And we’ve read books and watched DVDs.  We’re off to do some fishing this afternoon, which had the same results as before.  HOWEVER, we DID find a rod and reel.  After leaving a note with the caravan park office, the gentleman who lost it,  picked it up at “happy hour”. 

Tomorrow will bring another leisurely day and now that I’ve finished the Matthew Reilly book,Temple;  it must mean it’s time to work on the crochet.  BUT only after one more day of fishing and if there’s not another queue, I’ll even try washing a couple loads of clothes.

Tom Price.

Tom Price. A small mining town that’s named after a geologist who discovered the rich iron ore in this area.

We hopped onto a bus and headed off to Rio Tinto, where there’s big money and even bigger trucks.  We donned our safety glasses and helmets before leaving the visitor center in town out to a large iron ore mine.

These trucks were HUGE to say the least.  As you can see by comparison to a normal 4WD ute.

The views from the mine are great.  Approximately nine hundred people are employed here.

 

 

This was the result when one of those large trucks ran over this ute.

 

 

These engines total 12,000 hp. which tows ore filled cars to Dampier on the coast.  The length of the average train is about 2.5 to 3 KILOMETRES long!!!

These cars are waiting to be filled.  It takes roughly 3 hours to fill all of the cars.

 

 

The ore gets crushed and sorted here.

 

 

Once we returned to the visitor center, we stopped here at a display truck.  As you can see, these trucks are huge. I feel positively little here!

 

 

The mine tour was an interesting tour, filled with lots of facts and figures.  But lets just suffice it to say, it’s big business and it’s one of our top exports to other countries.

And this morning, we’re up at 5:30 again getting ready for the next tour which leaves at 7:30. 

Continuing through to Tom Price….

Okay,..continuing on….

We landed at Hammersley gorge only to realize that there’s no camping in that part of the park.  But there was a stop for trucks and roadtrains just inside the turnoff.

  So, we stayed there for the night so we could have an early start the next day.

 

 

The gorge was great!  The boys had decided they would go swimming.  We were told that the waters would be freezing I opted out.

 

The rocky walls were something.

 

 

 

So the guys headed down the gorge to parts unknown.  It wasn’t too much later that Chris returned and said, “Kath!  you GOTTA go down there!..It’s GREAT!”

And even after watching Col gasping from the initial shock of cold water, I jumped in.  Later, as the people started coming into the ravine, we decided  that it was time for a quick cup of coffee and heading out to Tom Price.

The beauty of the country once again, is unsurpassing.

 

 

 

Well, after collecting loads of dust, I’ve cleaned everything up and we should be ready for our trip out of the Pilbara by Saturday.  Today, we’re heading off on a tour of the Tom Price mine.  And tomorrow, we’re doing a tour of Karajini National Park.  We were told there was LOTS of people in the Karajini campgrounds and it was practically standing room only, so we opted to stay here and take a tour bus in from here.

From Karratha to Millstream NP,..to Hammersley Gorge.

So many days have passed since Karratha and so many things have happened, that I will only gloss over the bits that stand out the most. 

My computer reception at Karratha was sketchy at the best, so I couldn’t upload anything.  I even thought there was something wrong with my computer because Chris could get reception, but me, with the new “ yew beaut” computer couldn’t get ANYTHING.  But, we’re now at a place called Tom Price, which is a large mining town in the Pilbara range area.  I’ve already uploaded all the photos and processed one blog, so here’s a couple more coming up.

Here we go…

After we left Karratha, this was our first spot that we stopped at.  It was inside a riverbed.  The water left in the river is called a billabong.  There was small fish in it and plenty of birdlife around it.

We had a lot of ground to cover across the plains.  We were heading into a national park called Millstream-Chichester NP.

This hill called Pyramid Hill is the forerunner into the national park.

 

These little Zebra finches were fluttering around the campsite.  It was hard to get a good focus on them as they kept moving too fast for the cameraman.

 

And unbeknownst to us, there was an oasis about 500 mtrs from our campsite.  We discovered it by accident.  And it wasn’t too long ago that a cyclone that came through.  The floods flattened the grass around the area and left debris everywhere. There was a homestead here called Millstream and as with most colonial homes, they parked it right next to the fresh water running creek, not knowing that it spreads out during floods and cyclone season!

The sheer beauty of this lagoon made you want to stay and bask in the serenity of it all.  The water was around 4 to 6 ft deep and crystal clear.  You can even see the fish!

This is also where I had my first canoe trip.  It was awesome.  Where we started off, the corellas were screeching and you can hear the people talking, but as we paddled up river, the noise diminished and then you could hear the wind in the trees and the babbling creeks flowing into the Fortesque River.  We only paddled a couple of times into the banks and went aground on one shallow area.  But it was still fun!

We stopped at the cliff lookout to view the sunset over the valley.  Tomorrow, we head out to Tom Price.

 

On the way to Tom Price, halfway down the dirt road, we came across this.  There had been an accident where a truck overturned.  There were 16 people on board.  6 adults in the cab and 10 kids on the back.  A large bull walked out in front of their convoy and they swerved to miss it.  Three people had to be airlifted out.  I was so surprised to see the fire dept., the police dept., and the helicopter  way out here in the middle of what seemed like nowhere.

The dirt road had been lined with cars and people.  It was so sad for the family.  I think Chris unconsciously slowed down a little after that.  You just never know when a roo or a cow runs in front of you out here in the bush until it’s too late.

We stopped here for lunch.  You’ll notice that the spare wheel covers on the back are red, not black.  Once again, there was a bit of dust in the van. (which I spent yesterday cleaning up) Here, Chris was getting ready to tape the door up.  Most of the dust seemed to be coming in from there.

We headed into the Hammersley Gorge area.

 

 

 

As we wound our way through this small gorge we came out the other side to our turn off and our campsite for the night.

 

 

Next stop, Hammersley Gorge….(too be continued…..)

Karratha, a busy little mining town.

We made our plans to start at 8:30 this morning to do our sight-seeing.  We headed out to check the road to Millstream/Chichester National Park.  Chris wanted to make sure that it would be suitable for the caravan..and it was.

So our next stop was to have morning tea by the river. 

 

But there wasn’t anywhere to stop, so we continued on back to Roebourne to visit the gaol/visitor center.

 

Roebourne gaol is one of those gaols that has a sordid past.  Most of the inmates were aborginals, who were brought out from the scrub to act as slaves for the British colonials.  And when the aboriginals rebelled, many were tortured and executed.  Not exactly a glowing history.

 

 

 

We wandered around the town checking out some of the ruins of the colonial buildings that were left.

 

 

When we travelled around the peninsula to Cossack, we discovered another little historical town and so many wildflowers!

 

The colours caught my eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cossack, once a thriving pearling town has turned into a ghost town of yesteryear.

 

We stopped in to a little area where we thought it would be good to fish and Margaret proved us right!  She caught two yellow-fin bream.  We also caught some more little ones, but kissed ‘em and threw them back.  And once again, I caught 5 or 6 “Rock” fish and lost more hooks.

At the day’s end, we drove to the top of “TV” hill and looked out across the bay.  It was a pleasant end to a pleasant day.

Tomorrow, we head out to Dampier and the southern peninsula.  Maybe even do a little more fishing.  I think I’m getting into the swing of this.