This morning we left Whim Creek and headed to Roebourne to check out the visitor Centre which is housed in the old jail, now also a museum where you can learn about the town's harsh history.
Originally a gold rush site, the town had a no aboriginal policy for many years, but eventually became largely aboriginal in population and the town was notorious for clashes between local indigenous and police.
As you pass through the town streets with many historical buildings, you can also stop and watch local artists at work in their studios - and purchase an original painting.
After Roebourne we drove through the residential town of Wickham, serving the local Rio Tinto Iron Ore operated Port Lambert facility. This was once a closed community just for Rio Tinto workers but is now managed by the local Roebourne shire.
From here we explored the cute ghost town of Cossack, with its restored buildings open to the public as you self-drive or walk through. Cossack was the first pearling town in Australia before the operation was eventually moved to Broome in the 1880s. In its heyday many aboriginals and Asians including Japanese, Chinese and Malay worked the many pearl luggers. By the 1940s the town was deserted.
Next on our travels today we went to Point Sampson, which is the holiday area for locals, but there wasn't really much to see there so we continued on towards Dampier, where we had luckily booked ahead (as it was totally full when we arrived and they had to turn away several vans after us) at the local caravan park where we plan to spend a couple of nights to check out the local sights around here and Karratha.
From out the front of our caravan we have a great view of Dampier Port, which services iron ore, salt, petrochemical and gas industries.
We watched the sun set quite spectacularly over the port, shadowing the huge ships and tug boats waiting. Then it was time to BBQ (think this is becoming a habit!) dinner on the park BBQ and head inside after a busy day out exploring the Pilbara coast. Tomorrow we get to meet one of Dampier's most well known celebrities!
Good night xx