You do meet some interesting (and some downright odd) people as you travel around. I had just arrived at the caravan park in Carnarvon and was admiring the artwork on a campervan nearby which depicted a man that resembled Bob the Builder but instead of tools, this Bob had a beer can in his hand. The caption below the cartoon said "Bob the Boozer". Bob the Boozer noticed me looking at the artwork and told me (in great detail) how he got the artwork done. I had been chatting to Bob the Boozer for a short while when he mentioned he was going to sell his campervan and get an automatic. It was after I had asked him why that I noticed he had one leg. After putting my foot in it (so to speak) I further compounded things by saying why sell now if he had been successfully driving his van around with one leg. Bob the Boozer then explained he had only just lost his leg 2 weeks ago. I had assumed he had lost his pin some time ago and was used to having only one. Oops.

Bob the Boozer had some sort of accident but he didn't remember exactly what happened. I said at least he still had one leg left but Bob the Boozer said he should get somewhere between $500 and $1 million in compensation out of the accident. I said I'd rather have 2 legs but Bob the Boozer seemed more interested in the money. This man is hard core. He says he'll do some travelling later with the new vehicle. I do hope Bob the Boozer spends his money wisely and doesn't just spend his time getting legless (sorry).

Approximately 40 kms South of Coral bay, a road sign announces you are crossing the Tropic of Capricorn (about 23o 30'S). This means you are now in the Tropics and it also means warm humid weather (Good!). Not far past the sign the termite mounds suddenly appear too.

Coral bay is another tourist village with a couple of caravan parks and a few shops collected beside the bay. Coral bay is near the southern end of Ningaloo Marine Park. The Park is a collection of reefs that lie close to shore starting in the south near the Tropic of Capricorn and ending further North at the tip of Northwest Cape near Exmouth. The reef has colourful fish and coral with the major difference to the Great Barrier Reef (apart from the much smaller length) is that the reef is close to the mainland shore. At Coral bay you can step off the beach with your snorkel and goggles and be amongst the reef straight away. If you wish to dive on the Barrier reef, you have to take a long boat ride out to the reef. The proximity of the reef to the shore at Coral bay, however, may also possibly be the reefs undoing down the track. With all the tourists being able to so freely access the reef, this greatly increases the possibility of damage to the reef too.

Winter is the peak holiday season on Ningaloo reef and it is also the time when people can take tours offering a swim with a Whale shark. This tour is probably the biggest drawcard at the moment but I'm not so sure I want to be swimming next to a shark. Plus it's expensive of course. I heard from someone that a swim with the whale shark lasted 2 or 3 minutes and that small pleasure will set you back around $360.

Some days things don't seem to want to work for you. I had run out of gas (LPG) and went to get a refill at the supermarket in Coral bay. I found outthe cost of the refill was going to be nearly double what I had paid everywhere else I had been and I duly informed this to the lady behind the counter. She informed me "Well that's what it costs 'ere!" and I then stomped out of the store. I had a spare bottle was headed to Exmouth later and could try getting a refill there.

I had decided to travel along the coastal track to some campgrounds in the National park to the south of Exmouth (Cape Range National Park). The track was fairly rough and the average speed I could maintain was about 30-40 kph for the 55km section to Ningaloo station, which was a bit under halfway to the campgrounds. Beside the track at this point was a sign saying "Yardie creek crossing closed". I checked at the Ningaloo station house and spoke to some other people travelling and they said the creek should only be crossed at low water and the current low waters levels were considered still too much water to make the crossing. I had terrible visions of getting stuck halfway over the crossing and then the tide coming in.

I then had to take the road East out to the main highway, travel North to Exmouth, and then travel south to the campgrounds. All up this added about another 100km to my journey for the day. Not amused. Upon reaching Exmouth I tried to get my gas bottle refilled but it being a Sunday and quite late in the day, no one would fill my bottle. I then continued on out of town towards the National park. I had bought a months National Parks pass at Kalbarri and was quite pleased at the value this pass got over a single entry pass. At the Park entry station however, I noticed a sign saying "No campsites available". I didn't think this could be right as there are about 8 separate camping areas spread out over about 40kms.The campsites couldn't all be taken? I tried ringing the Parks number that was written on the sign but of course I didn't have any mobile reception.

As I'd already driven about 20km from Exmouth, and I wanted to make use of my park pass, I decided to push on and find out for myself. After arriving at the first campground and finding the host, I was informed the sign I had seen was correct and all the campgrounds were full. If I wanted to stay there, I would have to stake the place out early in the morning and wait for someone to leave. I asked one of the campers there what was the great attraction to these campgrounds. His answer was it was only $5 a night at the campground and $28 at a caravan park. I could see his point.

I then had to backtrack into Exmouth after driving about 60km for nothing. You can't have everything go your way all the time I suppose. At least my footy team (North Melbourne) had a win today.

The next day I drove up to the Lighthouse (Vlaming Head) lookout above the caravan park. From this height I was able to spy out some surf with a couple of people surfing. The surf turned out to be quite mellow so I broke out the board and paddled out. I was out for about two hours and managed to stand up a few times. The waves were smallish and infrequent but enjoyable. When I had had enough, I rode my board into the beach and when I was about 15 metres from the beach I happened to glance down and there about a foot under the water was a 3 to 4 foot Shark!! I clearly saw it for about 3 seconds before it disappeared under my board. There was a gutter about 10 metres from the beach hence the wave I was on petered out before I got to the beach and I was still out of my depth AND a shark was just behind me. Needless to say the paddle over to the beach was very quick!

I'm not exactly how big a Shark has to be before it can worry a human? This Shark certainly couldn't have eaten me whole but maybe it could have taken a few chunks out of me? Certainly a scary experience. It was even more eerie as I'd had a dream a week or so earlier that I'd seen a Shark while surfing. The fear in the dream was as intense and vivid as only it can be in a dream.

I'm not so naïve as to believe there aren't plenty of sharks in the ocean but it was still a shock to see one so close to the beach (and me) in the middle of the day. The place I was surfing is at the northern tip of Ningaloo reef; the surf comes in through gaps in the reef. There are plenty of fish for Sharks to feed on in Ningaloo reef. Maybe that's why the only people surfing were tourists? At least I'd had my swim with a shark at Ningaloo reef (for free!)

At the tip of Northwest cape is a VLF station used for communicating with submarines. This station was built by (or for) the Yanks in 1967 and I believe it's still owned by the US? The aerials are right beside the road and are impressively high (the highest is 367m).There was a road block with sentries at the road going into the place whom didn't look much like tourist guides so I didn't bother asking them for a guided tour of the place. I have spied these aerials out numerous times from a ship heading to or from Port Hedland so it was interesting to see them from the land and up close.

The next day I started on my way to Karijini National Park. The Park is inland and about 700km from Exmouth. I wasn't going to do this in one day so I stopped about halfway at a roadside camp. The camp was beside a dry river that had some nice white coloured gums growing on the banks of the river. A large flock of Budgerigars seemed to like the gums too and they hung around for a while making a racket. The camp spot is in the middle of nowhere but I still didn't get the place to myself with four other caravans close by me. One of the campers had lit a large fire and later at night was playing some Didgeridoo music on their stereo. I didn't join in the corroboree but the firelight lighting up the gumtrees and the didgeridoos was an interesting mixture of sensations. Thankfully it didn't go on all night though.

The pricing of fuel is something I can't figure out in this part of the world. I would say most people elsewhere in (regional and metro) Australia would have a fair idea, to within 10 cents a litre say, of what the price of the fuel will be when they pull up to a bowser. The price seems to vary a lot more than that here. The roadhouses seem to have the highest prices. Nanutarra roadhouse is about 300km south of Karratha on the main highway and the price of Diesel was $2.22 a litre. I decided I would not fill up and try my luck at Tom Price. The price of Diesel at Tom Price turned out to be $1.61 a litre. Tom Price only has one petrol station, is further away from any major town and isn't on a major highway. Go figure that out.

The town of Tom Price turned out to be quite a pleasant place. Tom Price has the distinction of being the most elevated town in WA at 747m. Tom Price is the name of the bloke whom first urged mining companies to look for Iron Ore in the area. The story goes he had returned to the U.S. (where he was from) and two hours after he found out that there had been a massive Ore find near Tom Price, he had a heart attack and died. The town was set up more or less by Hamersley Iron (now a part of Rio Tinto) as a place for the mine workers to live. The place is compact but with a lot of greenery contrasting with the rugged red mountains in the background. There are mine tours available daily which would have been good to do but I had already made plans to head into Karijini National park that afternoon.

I had heard a lot of people say good things about Karijini National Park and I was hoping my expectations weren't going to be too high of the place. The camp ground at Dales Gorge is simple but well organised with big private sites. And the price is a very reasonable $6.50 a night.

The next day I walked down into the gorge to Circular pool. This is pool is located under a waterfall that wasn't flowing but it is a very pleasant scene all the same. The water looks very inviting and clear but is very cold. It got surprisingly cold overnight with the air temperature at 5 degrees inside the van when I got up. I had all my clothes on (including beanie), my doona and bushwalking sleeping bag and I still kept on waking up during the night as I was cold. Not really what I was expecting in the Tropics however, Karijini is inland and quite elevated.

The walk down the gorge is also very pleasant. I met up with a Graeme and Colleen from Toowoomba along the way whom were good company. At the far end of the track in the gorge is Fortescue falls and a little further on is Fern pool. This last pool had a wooden deck beside the water and was very inviting. The water was still rather chilly but Colleen wasn't worried and hopped straight in. Rather than be shown up as a wuss by slowly climbing down the ladder into water, I also plunged straight in. It was very pleasant swimming around in the pool and I was also in need of a wash too.

I spent two nights at Dale's campground then another night in Karijini National Park at the Savannah Eco tourist lodge campgrounds 40km to the West. This lodge is owned and run by the Gumala Aboriginal Corporation which apparently is a company that represents the local Aboriginal tribes from the surrounding area. There is some flash accommodation available but I took the cheapest option of a spot in the campground. They do have power at the lodge but not for the campground. There is a solar and battery plant (with diesel backup) which is good for many reasons including not having to listen to a noisy diesel all night.

The gorge trails at this end of the park pass through much narrower sections of gorges with some pools and creeks having to be waded. It was actually quite tricky in some sections as the rocks are mostly shiny, smooth and very slippery. It was good to get into the narrow sections wading (ankle deep) in the water. The water was very cold so I wasn't to keen on slipping and going right in.

The rocks have a lot of dark red (maroon?) colouring which make it all interesting to look at. There are some superb lookouts scattered throughout the park. I'm not sure my photos really do it justice.

The next day I headed north towards Roebourne and the coast. On the way I stopped in at Hamersley gorge for a look. I was feeling a bit crook for some reason but the swim in the cold water made me feel much better.

The roads from Karijini were gravel but I thought it was in pretty good condition. I had let about 10psi out of the tires and was travelling fairly slowly at about 70km/h along the road to try and avoid punctures. As I was driving along I started noticing some more road noises and a little later it felt like the car was getting a bit sluggish. I have noticed this before and it turned out to be nothing. However, I did stop after a little while just to check and unfortunately I did indeed have a puncture. I should have stopped straight away as this may have prevented some of the tire damage and I suspect it won't be possible to repair the old tyre and a new tyre while be required.(Yes I did have to buy a new tyre.)

After changing the tyre (I have two spare with me) and getting underway again, I was driving along a road which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere when I noticed a rail crossing in the distance. I had only just thought to myself that knowing my luck a train will come through when the lights started flashing, the boom gates came down and the biggest train you have ever seen came rolling through. This is the Iron ore rail line from Tom Price out to the port of Dampier. I didn't count, but I was later told the trains typically have about 230 wagons coupled together. I must have waited a good 5 minutes for the whole train to pass and it was moving at a reasonable speed too. With all that weight onboard, the trains require a lot of distance to stop so, needless to say, you would not want to get stuck on a level crossing.

Just before sundown I pulled into the campsite at Snake creek, which is close by Python pool, in Millstream National park. I didn't see any serpents, nor did I see anyone collecting money for the campsite. This was a nice surprise as the Camps Australia Wide 4 (just about everyone I've met has this book) indicated there would be a fee. I ended up staying for two nights as it was a nice uncrowded spot with some good scenery. Oh, and it was free too!

The Python pool is another gorge pool which is deep, cold and surrounded by large rocks. Python pool turned out to be a popular spot for locals from nearby Karratha. They call 130km "nearby" in this part of the world. Whilst I was there, a bloke decided he would jump from the top of the gorge into the pool (about 30m). Unfortunately for him it was an ugly looking entry into the water and he looked to be in some pain when he came to the surface. It took some time for the group he was with to take him seriously but eventually they did and after a while they decided to take him to Karratha hospital with a suspected dislocated shoulder and maybe rib damage. He was a silly b***** but I had to feel sorry for him, having to make the trip back to Karratha over such a rough road.

Karratha is a town built in the late 1960's for the considerable mining and petroleum industries in the area. It is a functional place in a harsh environment so doesn't have a huge amount of history or beauty to the place. There are about 12000 people living here but I would guess there are considerably more people having temporary residence here or on a fly in, fly out basis. Karratha is also the place where they do the crew changes for the LNG ships on the North West shelf project. I have been here several times in the past but only briefly overnight waiting to join the ship or go home. I always had the impression then that my brief time spent at Karratha was more than long enough.

Accommodation seems fairly scarce as I was told rents for a quite ordinary house can be around $1600/ week. The caravan parks are also full of workers rather than tourists. The first place I pulled into was marked on the map as a Caravan park but in fact had been turned into a workers accommodation area. I decided I didn't want to go to the Big 4 caravan park in town so I went to the caravan park in an industrial estate just out of town. I thought this would be a bit cheaper but was in fact the most expensive caravan park I've been to ($35 a night). The park was actually mostly full of workers staying here on a longer term basis but the park did keep a few sites free for the passing tourist trade. The Big 4 turned out to be $42 a night so I felt my decision was still vindicated.

It was a long weekend in WA to celebrate "Foundation day" which was the anniversary of Stirling and his party settling on the Swan River in Perth. It was a bit of a pain to me as I couldn't get my flat tyre fixed but I did spend the afternoon doing some spring cleaning getting rid of some of the red dirt I had collected.

The next day, after handing over $290 for a new tyre, I drove out to Dampier for a look-see. It turned out to be quite a green pleasant looking small place. From Dampier I drove up the Burrup peninsular and had a look at the Woodside visitors centre. The visitors centre is near the entrance to Woodsides' onshore gas processing plant. This is the place where the LNG ships come to load their cargo and where the Australian ships do their crew changes. The joining crew are generally all on the same bus on joining day and usually a hush comes over the bus passengers when the Woodside facility comes into view. This is not an awed hush but rather an anguished hush as everyone is faced with losing their freedom for another 9 weeks. I couldn't help but get that same anguished feeling when I saw the LNG plant this time which was rather odd. I was very glad that I wasn't joining a ship and was positively joyful to pull into the visitors centre instead.

The visitors centre turned out to be very interesting and well done. There is another very well made model of a ship I've worked on-the Northwest Snipe. There was a theatrette there which had a film running on the background, history and making of the Northwest Shelf project which I thought put things into perspective quite well.

From the visitors I drove into Withnell bay boat ramp and had a walk up the hill to look at the view. Not far back down the Burrup peninsular is Hearson's cove which is a pleasant swimming and BBQ spot. I was there to find some Aboriginal rock art (these are called Petroglyphs apparently) but even though I spent an hour or so climbing the sides of the rocky hills I couldn't find any. Later that night I discovered I took a wrong turn and should have gone into Deep gorge to find the rock art - D'oh!

The next day I drove then walked up the lookout behind the visitors centre and I did indeed find some rocks with drawings that appeared to be Aboriginal. The pictures I saw weren't all that distinct which is hardly surprising considering the very harsh weather conditions the paintings have to endure. All the other examples of Aboriginal art I have seen in other places have been barricaded off to prevent anyone causing damage to the paintings. The rock paintings on the hills behind Karratha don't have any such barricades or much signage. Apparently there are hundreds of paintings and Aboriginal tools scattered amongst the rocks here and on the Burrup peninsular. The sign beside the track says the paintings and tools belonged to the Jaburara tribe whom were all massacred in 1868 (I think this was the Flying foam massacre?). Hence these paintings and tools are the only remaining proof that they ever existed.

I wouldn't say the paintings were overwhelmingly good however I find the extreme old age of the paintings interesting. I also find it interesting to think that someone sat here well before any mining, gas plants or farming was present and decided to draw on the rocks. How the Aboriginals survived basically on their wits in this harsh area I also find interesting. I don't seem to be able to do something as basic as having a crap without first being armed with special paper (one piece of paper to wipe, two pieces to polish as my father would say) and going to a room specially constructed for the purpose. The Aboriginals seemed to get by with extremely little. Nowadays people seem to go into a semi panic if they don't have mobile phone reception.

Prior to leaving Karratha I took the time to get a few more supplies. I also did a few laps the pleasant (but cold) local pool.

It's certainly been good to see places such as Karratha at a time when I'm not on a ship. I have an almost surreal impression of some of the ports I've been to and they have only become "real" since I've driven to them on my leave. It's also been good to have the time and the transport to actually see much more of the places other than the wharf, airport and hotels.

That night's camp was about 25km out of Karratha at Cleaverville "Nature based camping" area. Nature based camping I discovered means absolutely no facilities which made me wonder why I had to pay $7.00 to stay the night when nothing is being provided? The sign also said if you don't have your own chemical toilet you couldn't stay here. I don't have a chemical toilet but I figured I was only there for the night so I could hang on till after I had left. There were quite a few people camped at Cleaverville on a long term basis (up to 3 months) and so I supposed they must all have a chemical toilet with them. If they didn't they'd be in trouble-I don't think trying to hang on for 3 months would be such a good plan.

Not much further along the coast is Roebourne. Roebourne used to be the main centre for the area however Karratha has now taken over that role. The town has a few shops but not many. The pub and bottleshop have also closed down. The old gaol now houses the local museum which has some interesting displays on the history of the town and how the prisoners were treated. As usual, the Aboriginal (the "Natives") prisoners were treated the worst and were kept chained up at all times.

The town of Cossack used to be the port for Roebourne from about 1868 to 1910 when Point Samson became the port for Roebourne. Cossack is all but abandoned these days but there are still some fine old stone buildings still standing. The area around Cossack was first settled by pastoralist. A pearling boom followed later and a gold rush also occurred in the area. The cemetery in Cossack has a separate section for the Japanese whom dominated the pearling industry.

Not far from Cossack is the town of Wickham which was built by the major mining company in the area to house and service their workers. The town seems to be a functional yet characterless place. This is in contrast to Point Samson which lies on the coast and has less facilities and services, but is a much more pleasant place. I had come to Point Samson to visit MB again. MB is a Marine Pilot for the nearby port and he was able to arrange for me to go along with him on one of his jobs. The pilot transfers for the port are carried out using a helicopter. Helicopter Pilot transfers are becoming more common place in ports around the world particularly when the pilot has to get on the ship a large distance out to sea. The alternative is to use a launch which would add hours on to the length of time the marine pilot would need to complete each shipping movement.

The day I was there, the inbound ship "Mellow Wind" was to be brought into the Iron Ore loading facility. After going through my safety briefing for the Helicopter trip, we took off out to meet the ship. "Mellow Wind" is a large ship at about 170 000 tonnes deadweight but apparently is considerably smaller than some of the ships that visit the port (over 300 000 tonnes). The view up from the helicopter as we circled then landed on the deck of the ship was pretty impressive. After we landed we were escorted up to the bridge and introduced to the ships Master. After an exchange of information and berthing plans, it was up to MB to do his stuff and get the ship alongside the berth. I was happy to be able to just sit back and observe the proceedings without having any responsibilities. It was interesting to observe the similarities and differences to how things were done on this ship to the ships that I have sailed on.

Just about every port around the world has compulsory marine pilotage in place to protect the ports infrastructure and environment. A pilot brings his intimate knowledge of the port and his shiphandling skills to get the ship in and out of the port safely. This task wasn't made any easier by the strong winds present on the day and the berth we were going to be being fully exposed to the elements.

The "Mellow Wind" was manned by Indian Nationals with two lone Bangladeshis. I was able to have a brief chat to the Master and 3rd Mate during the berthing whilst trying not to distract them from their various jobs. The 3rd Mate was 5 MONTHS into a 6 month contract. He said after the contract was complete he would probably have 2 months off before getting another 6 month contract. Not really much of a life when you consider the chances to get off a ship in port is quite limited and most of the time the ship is in areas without any mobile phone reception or other contact with outside world (don't know if they had e-mail but they probably did). The Master did have his wife and little boy onboard for the majority of his contract which would make the long contracts much more bearable (if you had a family). Unfortunately this luxury was only extended to the Master, Chief Officer, Chief and First Engineer onboard. I've never sailed on an Australian ship where family are allowed to sail on the ship.

The berthing operation was made longer by the additional mooring lines that were required to be run and the difficulty of getting the mooring lines ashore. The operation took about 3 hours on this occasion and it was good to be able to walk off the ship and let the ships crew continue on with the Iron Ore loading. Iron Ore is a very dusty and dirty cargo which seems to get into everything even inside the ships accommodation. I can't say I really miss being on this type of ship. It was good to be able to get back to Point Samson and have a bite to eat then go for a walk around the town.

The next day I said farewell to Point Samson and headed to Port Hedland about 200km along the coast. I have been to Port Hedland several times on a ship but not for about 13 years. I can't say I've really been missing out on that much. At least the parts of Port Hedland I remember that is. My main memory is the Esplanade Hotel which has now been bought by a trucking company and turned into workers accommodation. My other memory was of the Pier Hotel which had had a significant proportion of Aboriginal clientele when I was last here. I had a beer there for old time's sake but didn't see any Aboriginals in the pub this time? I was told later the reason for this is probably because the mining (and related) companies have been buying up properties in the Port Hedland area which has out priced most Aboriginals from living in the town. I believe land prices are a bit cheaper in South Hedland which is where most of the Aboriginals in the area now live. I (sadly) remember the Aboriginal fights in the Esplanade hotel used to provide some entertainment for the rest of the pub patrons. The "Raunchy girls" were the main act up on the stage.

There has been some attempt to upkeep some of the historic buildings in the town and there are a few small park areas. The older buildings aren't your impressive colonial type buildings but are more humble and mostly made of hardwood and iron. I dropped into Dalgetty house which was built in 1903 and is a single story wood and iron building that was used to store goods brought in by ship then on sell it to the various stations and businesses in the area.

I was curious to find out how Dalgetty house had managed to survive the numerous cyclones that had gone through the town over the century the building has been standing. There is a perspex section of interior wall which displays the cyclone rods which are attached to the roof of the building and extend down through the wall cavity into the foundations. However, this cyclone proof construction method was not made part of the building code by the local council until after a destructive cyclone hit the town in 1975. The new building code also disallowed large non-freestanding verandas in the town. This meant several shady verandas had to be removed including the veranda on the Esplanade hotel.

I've never had my own transport before on my previous visits to Port Hedland so I was able to have a much better look around this time. I was able to find some much more pleasant areas along the seafront which I had never had a chance to have a good look at before. The houses and buildings in this area must be out of range of the BHP Iron Ore plant as the buildings here didn't have the red tinge to them that the buildings closer to the port have.

Port Hedland is also about the end of the Pilbara area of WA. It's also a good point at which to end this novel. It's about 600km to Broome from here and a long way to go after that before I end this trip. I hope reading this hasn't taken up too much of your time and that it's of interest to you all.

Bye until next time…