We left Exmouth this morning on our way to Point Samson and decided to spend a night in a free camp rather than a Roadhouse. The Free Camp was very large with plenty of tracks going off into the bush so that those who wanted to could be alone. We like to stay in reasonable distance to the toilets and have other people in sight, we feel safer that way. I would say there were at least 50 caravans there that night. These camps are places provided by the
state government for travellers. They contain rubbish bins, dump points (chemical toilet waste disposal), toilets and graded road as well as tracks.

We arrived at Point Samson to a very clean and well set out Caravan Park. The ocean could be seen, but not from the camp site. It was very restful. We went for walks along the beach,
shopping at a mining town called Wickham about six kilometers away and read books
and magazines. We also took a trip to Karratha to see a friend we had kept in touch with since our days in Port Hedland ten years ago.

Karratha was established in 1960s due to the tremendous growth of the iron ore industry, taking its name from the local Indigenous word meaning "Good Country" Karratha is the youngest and fastest growing town in the Pilbara.

We left Point Samson and went back to Dampier for three days to the Dampier Transit Caravan Park with a maximum allowable stay of three days. Located just 20 kilometres west of Karratha, the pretty port town of Dampier is named after the English buccaneer William Dampier, who visited in 1688. Built by Hamersley Iron in 1965, it’s the largest tonnage shipping port in Australia and houses the massive export facilities of Hamersley Iron, Dampier Salt and the
North West Gas Shelf Project. The park overlooks the port and it is possible to sit and watch the large ships come in guided by the Port tugs. They then take several days to fill up with iron ore.

The ocean waters here are beautiful colours depending on the time of day. Early in the morning they are a vibrant emerald green, then they turn a sapphire blue and later on a light blue colour. I tried to find out what influences these colour changes, but it seems there are many things which
influence sea colours.

We arrived in Port Hedland yesterday. We have booked for three days. Once a port for the fledgling pearling and pastoral industries today Port Hedland is a thriving center of the Pilbara region. From the modern state-of-the-art technology required to operate the giant BHP
Billiton facilities to the many and varied birds and wildlife that maintain their habitat within the salt and iron ore stock piles, Port Hedland is unique blend of massive resource industrialization and incredible natural wonders. Development of the iron ore deposits resulted in major changes taking place. 1965 was the year when Port Hedland’s massive development program started and the small town of some 1,200 people was thrown into a frenzy of activity and expansion. During this time the satellite community of South Hedland was established and now caters for more than half of the Port Hedland population. The total population today is 20,200. With a lack of timber for building, no roads and only a small quantity of drinkable water few would have imagined that the initial tiny settlement would grow into one of the largest and busiest mineral ports in the world.

It is interesting to see the changes which have taken place in Karratha and Port Hedland since we lived here. Karratha in particular has increased in overall size of housing estates and access roads, but unfortunately the one shopping area has not kept pace with the increase in population so there is a lot of congestion. Karratha Council is working towards improving this situation, but my feeling is the Council should have moved much earlier.

Just as an observation, if this resources boom is over, then we don’t understand why in Karratha there are so many high rise buildings being built for workers, new roads being developed and old roads being enlarged and the shopping centre being doubled in size. In Port Hedland it’s a road building frenzy.

After three restful days, full of nostalgia as we looked at the house we used to live in, the school where I used to teach and the places on the beach where we would take Beeza walking and worst of all looking at the empty place where Ross once worked, building, commissioning and maintaining the BHP Hot Briquetted Iron Plant; this plant was deemed to be untenable and was finally closed and dismantled this year. All that remains is the gas plant stack. It was a sad moment for us as we sat and looked and remembered. We especially remembered an old friend who died on the job there in a terrible accident which partly led to the decision by BHP to decommission the plant. We drove up the coast to a place called Eighty Mile Beach. We had never been there but we both remembered many people talking about this beautiful restful place with the greenest of grass where you could sit and look at the water rolling in. When we arrived this was far from what we had envisioned. Many, many caravans, tall sand dunes so no ocean could be seen, people riding around the park on four wheelers and the fishermen complaining that the noise these things make frighten the fish away. Also we could only get an un-powered site so we stayed the night and left this morning (Sunday 4th August).

We are now in Roebuck Roadhouse on the outskirts of
Broome.

We are not too sure where to go tomorrow. We will visit the
Tourist Centre to see what accommodation is like and then we will decide.