Point Samson, Millstream Chichester NP, Dampier, Murujuga NP, Karratha & Perth

Our preferred route from Tom Price to Point Samson was via the Rio Tinto Rail Access Road that follows the line for around 200km through the Pilbara outback. To get permission to use the road it is necessary to obtain a permit from the Visitor Centre, which requires watching a 20 min safety video warning of all the potential dangers en route, especially when the weather is poor, so that Rio Tinto is not liable for any accidents, such as: 

It was another great experience to drive alongside the track and see the immensely long iron ore trains transporting their valuable cargo to Dampier, as well see the countryside that would not otherwise be accessible.

Fortunately, the conditions were kind and no disasters befell us!
 

After we left the Rail Access Road, we briefly visited Millstream Chichester NP, which contains more extraordinary landscapes stretching to the horizon and a beautiful spot called Python Pond

where we had our most enjoyable picnic of the whole trip, entirely alone, consisting of smoked salmon sandwiches, cream cheese and lemon, followed by strawberries, all watched down with Bundaberg ginger beer. If there is a resident snake, he didn’t show up during lunch.
 

Our 2 days at Point Samson on the coast were fabulous, constant blue sky with no clouds and a temperature around 28C, and we were upgraded at the superbly appointed Samson Beach Chalets. It was the best weather of the trip, which continued as we stayed in Dampier and Karratha, before flying to the cooler and stormier climate of Perth for 2 days at Cottesloe Beach prior to our UK return on Monday.

This is one of our favourite places in Australia and a wonderful place to celebrate Mary’s birthday on Sunday, but so different to be here in the winter with the waves crashing onto the beach and a wild and windy night!

The day was memorable for taking advantage of an impromptu opportunity. We had seen an Outback art exhibition advertised in Subiaco, a Perth suburb, which turned out to be excellent and then we came across the Regal theatre, a beautiful old art deco building. We explored inside and found a small café then realised that an Argentinian Tango show, featuring the famous Tango Fire was starting in 25 minutes and tickets were available. They were absolutely outstanding so Mary was delighted with her surprise birthday treat.

Dampier,

named after the British explorer William Dampier who visited in 1699, thrived during the mining boom in Western Australia but that is over now and the town has a tired feel, with lots of worker accommodation no longer being used. We visited the IGA in the shopping mall at lunchtime and we were the only customers and the guests at the 65 room motel numbered about a dozen, so quite sad, although the locals we met seem to be happy living there. One peculiar fact is that all the houses face north, presumably to benefit from the warmth and all are low rise to counter the regular cyclones in the wet season. 

On the plus side, the nearby Burrup Peninsula has the North West Shelf Project Oil & Gas Plant which is the largest in Australia and is exploiting the vast resources of the Carnarvon Basin, employing hundreds of people and providing a significant boost to the economy, with huge exports of gas to China, Japan & Korea and oil to various countries. It is a highly successful 30 year story which we learnt from the impressive visitor centre overlooking the vast site on the coast.

The Pilbara red rock landscape is spectacular and the Murujuga NP on the Burrup Peninsula contains thousands of petroglyphs dating back 30,000 years.

We had to clamber over the rocks of a dry creek in Deep Gorge to find the rock art. At least we had reasonable footwear, many of the Aussies were wearing “Aussie walking shoes”, what we call flip flops and they call thongs. We also saw our first 2 kangaroos of the whole trip! The Peninsula also contains a couple of lovely coves and almost deserted coastline which we explored.

Karratha (Aboriginal word for “good country”) is 21km from Dampier, a modern city established in 1968 to cope with the expansion of the mining industries, now has a population of over 25,000 and every other property seems to possess at least one boat – wealth that accumulated during the mining boom, also indicative of an Aussie hobby which includes fishing of course! On the other side of the coin, at the airport we met a couple of women who the previous day had been laid off by the closing of a magnetite mine at Marble Bar in the Pilbara, which brought economic realities to life.

To finish on a lighter note, more examples of Aussie straightforward terms for their shops and products, with no fancy branding; the Bad Back Store in Perth and this sting relief, called Sandfly and Mozzie Stuff!