Nick also spotted (and picked) a stunning Desert Pea with crimson/red centre.
Made it to Dampier, where Red Dog is big business thankyou very much.
We went for a lovely walk down the foreshore, and noticed a few stingrays in the water very close to the rocks at the waters edge. We decided against going for a swim. BUT we did manage to find the showers in the public loo's they even had the hot water connected, it was so hot though, having a hot showers wasn't a priority.
Had a blast chilling under the palm trees on the foreshore anyways, and then took the girls to meet Red dog.
Was very cute as Delta, who isn't a fan of other dogs became very aggressive and started growling and running up the statue. There were other people around who also found this quite funny and after she had realized that it was actually a brass statue she became quite embarrassed, while we all had a good laugh.
You can still see Delta 'sussing out this brass dog in this shot
We went to the Woodside North Shelf gas and oil information centre, but found it hard to concentrate as they had turned off the air conditioning, and the place was fronted by huge glass windows, so it was basically like on oven.
This is an Ariel shot of the North West Shelf project...
These "burn off's (or what ever you call them)" where everywhere and made a really eerie environment, particularly at night.
We than went for a drive to the Burrup Penninsula which was located in the middle of mining country, in search of the Yaburarra Aboriginal people's 40,000 year old Art. This site is famous being one of the largest in the world with hundreds of rock art to view. After going on a trek we met some people who met had previously met at Quobba, who said they couldn't see any. We continued on, and when we got back to our car they had left us a note, and were just leaving; to say we had walked down the wrong track.
As the sun was setting we walked through this magnificent gorge and spotted some stunning art. We then walked to the other side an managed to glimpse some more as the sun set. What a stunning place to be in at the end of the day. Not only was it powerful in spirit, but the red rocks practically glowed while the sun was going down. Then there were the rock wallabies, or Kangaroos (they were bigger than I imagined a wallaby to be)
The Gorge was a really special spot to be, and was great to be able to explore this area. We were a bit disappointed that there wasn't good signage, or "protective" barriers in place. As this is the worlds oldest outdoor art gallery.
Not sure if you can see it, but in the middle of the picture with all the red rocks, kind of underneath that green shrub is a white rock. That's a massive Kangaroo.
We decided to check out Hearson cove), and after cooking dinner and watching the starts come out.,we were to lazy to move on and decided to try and spin some story if the rangers came to move us on, as there were big no camping signs.
This would be an amazing place to watch the stairway to the moon, and the actual beach was all shells too, stunning.
After a lovely night we got up early, packed up (incase an early morning ranger came) then took the dogs for a big walk along the tidal flats. The tide was way out and we could stroll out for nearly a km before there was much water, while out we met another fella camped up tucked away in the dunes from France. We think that every 3rd person we meet in from France. Lucky we did as there was an early morning visit from a ranger, who didn't bother us or him at all.
We headed into Karratha next and noticed it to be a central hub, for all the nearby towns. After we both stocked up on our assorted bits and pieces we spent the arvo at a lovely park with the girls.
We then found a great little spot to spend the night just between Karratha and Roebourne, called Cleaverville. The lovely people who we had met again at the rock art suggested it. We parked at the top of a valley and had a lovely view out over the archipelagos. (wish we had a boat).
We set off the next day and explored Roebourne, (lovely Aboriginal town)Port Sampson and Cossack. We went to Honeymoon cove, on recommendation from Cricket (who we met a Quobba).
Roebourne was a quaint little town, very strong with their Aboriginal Heritage. We visited the two museums located there and met some local artists. We both wished we had deeper pockets because the Art was amazing. I believe Roebourne is one of the oldest towns in WA's North West. We loved the Information centre, and managed to do a load of washing there.
At Honeymoon Cove we strung up a line and hung our clothes out to dry, took less than an hour as it was so hot. We bundled up the girlies, and our snorkel gear and went down to the bay for a dip.
Nick deciding if he could see any schools of fish, out in the cove.
While Nick was out in the water I noticed a whole lot of tourists in the car park. I started going out to the water then saw a humpback whale emerge from the water, less than 10 meters from Nick. My first though was, wish I had the camera. The people up top and I started calling out to Nick who was snorkeling with his spear. he noticed her too, and she made this lovely "whooshing" sound as she puffed out water. Was so special. Should have got some of the tourists numbers to get the pictures off them.
View of honeymoon cove from the carpark.
Then packed up and headed to Cossack. Its an old Pearling town, and its a ghost town. The buildings have been beautifully restored and you can walk around and explore them. There is a very sad story here about how the white people treated the Aboriginal people who where here back in the day. Its not worth repeating as it is so shameful.
This is the old hotel
and the old bakehouse
The warf
We moved on and found a lovely spot by a river, Sherlock river. Set up camp, and had an amazing bonfire, while watching the stars come out.
We made our way into Port headland, and surprise surprise, its another mining town! this town has one of the worlds largest ports in terms of tonnage. WE were in awe of the size of the train that crawled through the town.
We checked out the port and watched the "dumping" of stock, Then spent the afternoon at pretty pools. Which is a local beach, which has a clothing optional section. We noticed a crocodile spotted here recently sign, but then noticed all the people so thought we could do a little exploring. We collected some amazing sea shells, then pretty much had all the energy sapped out of us by the heat, so headed back to the car to continue our journey.
No comments:
Post a Comment