Karratha & Dampier

Iron Ore Train.

Dampier Salt

We escaped Onslow and headed for Karratha and Dampier. These two towns are like sister towns, only 15 kilometres apart. Dampier, named after William Dampier, (pirate or explorer?) is where all the port facilities are, whilst Karratha is where all the population lives. It is heavy industry, Iron Ore, Salt and Gas (Liquid Natural Gas or LNG). The drive up, is through flat country with small mountain ranges of red rock. Everywhere you look, the landscape is green, red or blue! We had planned to stay at Dampier, but the caravan park looked very ordinary. It is only a transit caravan park with a maximum stay of 3

The colours of the Pilbara.

Woodside Gas.

days. So we headed off to Karratha and found the Pilbara Tourist Park, which was big and spacious, and not very busy. Then they told me it was $55.00 a night and I understood why it wasn't busy! Will someone tell these people not everyone is on a miner's salary! The lady then told me they had a Seniors deal, where if you paid for 3 nights you could stay 4, so we grabbed the deal! 

This is the Pilbara, and just as BHP "owns" Port Hedland, Rio Tinto "owns" Karratha/Dampier in respect of the iron ore and salt, whilst the gas is Woodside. The size and scope of the operations have to be seen to be believed. It is mind boggling!! The iron ore trains run continuously, bringing the ore from the inland mines to the port of Dampier. Each train is 2.4 kilometres long. That is a lot of iron ore!!

Karratha Town Centre.

Which one's mine???

As we drive around Karratha, we are struck by how new everything is! This is a brand new town built by, and for the miners. There are huge camps. These are gated communities with central dining and recreation facilities. There are dozens of these communities around Karratha, and some of the newer ones are very nice. As families have arrived, large subdivisions have emerged and there are hundreds of homes under construction. House and land packages from

Waterfront park at Dampier.

Gated community with High Rise
at back.

$700,000!!!! The Town Centre is also new, with high rise apartments and a shopping centre. The other thing you notice is the age of the people in town, they are all young! There are kids and strollers everywhere! The High Visibility Uniform is worn by everyone, male and female, and everyone drives a 4WD Ute. Everything is expensive, even McDonald's! We went into Maccas for a cheap lunch, had a meal deal each and it cost us $24.50!! I had a twenty out ready to pay and expected change! 

Woodside's LNG Plant.

More of Woodside's Plant.

Everyone told us we had to visit the Burrup Peninsula, so off we drove. Out along this road is the monster Woodside LNG Plant. The Visitor Centre was closed, so we just parked and looked in amazement at the sheer size of the operation. How on earth did someone put all that together. There are just miles of pipes and tanks, that result in you being able to cook dinner tonight on your Smeg gas stove! Out to sea, was one of the giant LNG Tankers, heading off to somewhere in Asia loaded

Withnell Bay.

Gas Tanker.

with gas. They are an unbelievable ship with their bulging tanks. There is one huge pipeline that brings the gas in from the gas fields of the North West Shelf. The drive takes us out along a 4WD track to Withnell Bay, which is a popular beach and fishing spot. Seems strange with all that infrastructure looming over the scene. It is really quite pretty, until you turn around! Heading back to town, we took a detour along a dirt road, to Hearson Cove, another 

Red rocks and green trees.

Hearson Cove.

favoured beach spot. Here at least, the gas works are out of sight. Didn't look that great to us with dirty water and shell grit beach! Driving back, you just keep pinching yourself, because if you look one way, you could be miles from anywhere, with the red rocks strewn across the landscape, then you go over a hill, and it is industrial everything! We were amused by a sign proclaiming this way to The Intercourse Islands. We had to check them out. Turned out it wasn't Lover's Lane, but a number of islands off the coast of Dampier, so named by William Dampier's crew following a discourse with the local Aboriginals back in 1689. Enough said about that!

Red Dog's Statue.

Says it all.

Dampier was also home to a very famous canine, called Red Dog. If you haven't seen the movie of the same name, you should. This famous little guy used to get on the Hammersley Mining buses that transferred the worker around the Pilbara. He would just go from mine site to mine site, all on the bus! He was owned by no one, and loved by everyone, except some mongrel person who poisoned poor old Red Dog. There is a bronze statue of Red Dog as you come into Dampier, and every year they hold the Red Dog Relay and Festival.

Who brings a pig to a dog festival??

Red Dog Festival.

It was on over the weekend we were there. It was held at the Dampier sports ground, and finished with market stalls, music and lots of fun. The last event of the relay, a swim, happens off the local beach, and there are lots of Red Dog's wandering around. There was even a pig! Come on! Who on earth brings a pig to a dog festival!!! The pig was driving the dogs crazy!! Carolyn purchased a Red Dog T Shirt as a souvenir. We each bought a delicious cup cake from a lady at a stall, and had a lovely time walking among the people and their puppies.

We will probably come back this way end of July. We need to leave, as we have a booking in Broome that can't be changed without forfeiting our deposit. As it has been a long weekend here, much has been closed, and we thought it might be interesting to do a tour of the mines and harbour. We'll see how the schedule works out.

Morning tea at Robe River.

Crossing De Grey River.

The drive north from Karratha to Broome is long and boring. The country is flat and monotonous. We have decided to by pass Port Hedland, and free camp overnight, along the way to Broome. There are a number of good overnight spots along the highway, and our wallet can do with a free night! For morning tea, we found a lovely spot at Robe River. Would you believe that this stop even had WiFi!! First one we found. There was a huge flock of Corellas in the trees kicking up a great noise, and hanging from the trees at all angles.
We refuelled at Port Hedland, stopped at a roadside rest area near Spitfire Roadhouse,

Back at Cable Beach.

where 

Sun starts to set at Stanley Camp.

Carolyn made sandwiches for lunch, and then we finally made our way to the Stanley Camp about 220 kms south of Broome. It was a big area, with covered picnic tables, toilets and plenty of sites. There were already around 20 other caravans and campers settled in for the night. We found our spot, got out a couple of chairs, a glass of wine, and settled back to watch one of those amazing outback sunsets. There is something very special about these camps in the middle of nowhere. We will never tire of seeing the sun disappear from a cloudless sky in a huge red ball, turning the horizon yellow and orange, and giving way to a zillion stars. Very, very special.

In the morning we are up early and on the road to Broome, which will be home for the next several weeks. Niece, Jillian, is coming up for a holiday, which will be great. The rest of the time will be R & R in the warm winter sun.