15/07/2011
Escape to the country springs to mind as we sit here in the outback miles from anywhere with a nearly cold beer watching the sun go down. It all sounds very idyllic but the truth is we have nowhere else to go! ----That’s not strictly true, we could park anywhere by the side of the road, but we must have our amenities ( long drop dunny) so we have pitched up at Snake Creek in Chichester N P again. It’s so busy around Karratha and Point Samson, with it being school holidays and the last before Christmas, there were weekend caravanners queuing up outside the caravan park at 7 30 this morning waiting for someone to leave so they could take their place. Anyway here in the bush we just love the peace and quiet and renewing our acquaintances with our old mates ‘the camp followers’. There is also a new species of ant we would like to get to know as they have taken a liking to Jane’s’ feet!
16/07/2011
Managed to go one better than last weekend, by actually going for a swim in Python Pool, and pretty perishing it proved!! Temperatures have been up towards 30C so ideal for swimming. It was a 20 minute walk to the pool and a scramble across rocks, before reaching the icy cold water. We had an audience of soft Aussies, who wouldn’t go in, so we proved how tough (or stupid) we Brits could be. A 20 minute walk back to sit in the shade and watch the bird life and chat to the flies, we have decided the ants are not very friendly as they keep biting our feet!
17/07/2011
That’s likely to be the last we see of Snake Creek and Python Pool, probably one of the most peaceful places we have been, tho we did get some noisy campers at dusk last night.
Back at Karratha, which also was our last visit, we were aware of how noisy it was in the Shopping Mall after 2 nights of solitude.
We have shopped , dieseled up and landed back at the crowded Point Samson for a couple of nights before the next leg northwards . Honeymoon Cove, a short walk , is a really nice sandy bay and good for swimming, but we suspect there are nasty little sand flies. More of that later.
18/07/2011
H S B C are again up to their super officious best which has involved us, yet again, standing in a phone kiosk for some considerable time speaking to someone firstly in Glasgow, then an incomprehensible chat with bloke in Mumbai. It all started when we phoned Virgin Mobile this morning to put some credit on Peters U K mobile, but the deal failed at the last hurdle when the guy at the other end said there was a block on our card. It’s sorted now, in too much detail for here, but H S B C will never know the problems they cause by their security systems! Other than wasting a great deal of time standing around in a steaming hot phone booth, listening to canned music, we haven’t done a lot. Just a bit of swimming and sunbathing, and a couple of beers in the pub as a reward for getting our bank problem solved in 1 day.
19/07/2011
If nothing else Point Samson will be memorable for it’s plentiful supply of sand flies! Not your ordinary Aussie fly which we have grown to love and nurture, these are spiteful, vicious little buggers! You can hardly see them but you always know where they have been and as a result we are both scrattin’ like a couple of mangy, flea bitten old dingoes! Lumps and bumps everywhere!
We are now a further 250K’s north at Port Hedland which is another export port for iron ore, copper and salt. It’s very similar to the industrial Dampier, in fact these 2 ports, and Avonmouth should twin, and they could bring in Tripoli to make it a foursome! The journey from Point Samson to Port Hedland is 250K’s of red dirt and scrub except for a little oasis around the halfway mark. The Whim Creek Pub. A corrugated iron shed selling food and beer, is all that’s left of a prosperous mining town. They found copper and gold here , but once it was mined out and a severe cyclone struck, the town was abandoned except for the pub. The Aussies do have their priorities right.
This campsite is quite close to railway lines and shunting yards which seems to be prerequisite when choosing an area for a caravan park. Even better, if it is under the flight path!! We are!! We wouldn’t mind, but the park is full -----are they all train spotters?
20/07/2011
I think I have done Avonmouth a bit of a disservice comparing it with Port Hedland. You wouldn’t take a holiday in either, but given the choice !! Does anybody know how long it takes a 3K long iron ore train travelling at 20 mph to pass by your bedroom window at 5 o’clock in the morning? Answers on a post card to me! First prize ,one night in Cooke Point holiday park, second prize, 2 nights etc, etc.
Highlights of the day, watching tugs escorting the monstrous cargo ships full of ore, out of Port Hedland dockyard, then escorting an empty one in, riveting.
We are off tomorrow.
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