Hi all from Karratha. Photo is of the Red Dog at Dampier,just up the road out on the peninsula. Have any of you seen the movie?
Arrived into this great modern little town on Thursday and booked into a motor camp which is probably the best we have stayed in so far. Nice big sites, friendly staff and awesome showers with a high flat roof where you can see the sky and trees while showering. Still have not seen any of those big white things that float in the blue sky in over two months now, great! The concrete pads you park on have tie down points on them as the town gets about 5 cyclones a year which the locals tell us are very frightening with heavy rain and very high winds. Most of the buildings here are built to withstand storms but I don't think we will stay here in the cyclone season to find out if our tied down van could survive one !
We phoned our new friends that we met in Darwin as they were to be staying here for a few months with family and we were invited to a family bbq on Friday night where the 10 of us had a really great night. It was in a high rise apartment complex overlooking the town centre which could only be described as a resort with a huge pool and bbq areas for all to use. Anyone who works for a big mining company here with a good job seems to get supplied with a awesome apartment or a new house as part of there already good salary. Rio Tinto purchased the 3 top floors of this modern 8 storey resort in the centre of town and built dozens of new houses to attract staff and their families to the town.There is just so much new building in town which supports 3 off shore gas rigs, iron ore port, ammonia plant and a sea salt company. The town put on a huge festival this weekend which only happens once a year and is supported by all the big companies and people travel from as far as Perth to sell food and have stalls here, it's really massive finishing with a fantastic fireworks display the likes of we have never seen before. Steph had a go driving a 350 tonne dump truck in a simulator which they use to train new drivers. Don't believe her if she tells you that I crashed down a bank and she managed to get it loaded without a problem !!! Sunday night we went to Hearsons Cove at 7 pm to view the Stair Case to the Moon which only happens about six times a year. You will have to google it to understand what it looks like. We joined about 100 others and we all sat in deck chairs on the beach in the darkness to view this very special occasion. The tide goes out about a km exposing sandy mudflats and when the full moon comes up it creates a reflection. A big feed of prawns made this a very enjoyable night in the warm and calm conditions. Today Tuesday we are to be taken on a private behind the scenes tour of the Ports facilities by our friends daughter who works there so looking forward to that. Also Today I found out that Steph is feeling a little home sick even though she keeps in touch by FaceTime and phone but I guess we both miss our friends and family and wish they could be here with us even though we are both having such a great time here. Still with 12 odd weeks to go yet and with a extra kiss and cuddle all is good ! Well tomorrow it's time to head south again so will chat again soon . Bye for now xxx