40 Mile Beach to Tom Price

This looked like the BEST fishing spot – but all we got was Sandfly bites. We also later read a sign warning of crocodiles!

 

 

The beautiful Sturt Desert Pea is just starting to flower.

 

 

 

We could have woken up to this scene at 40 Mile Beach every morning but unfortunately had to keep moving.

 

 

We travelled to Karratha. It’s a mining support town built in the 1960’s as housing for mine workers.

 

 

This is the jail at Roebourne (east of Karratha) where aboriginals were imprisoned. There are four wings off a central quadrangle so that only one guard was needed to watch all.

The jail is now a museum where we found this unique chair made from whale bone by one of the early pastoralists for his wife.

 

 

 

 

Cossack was the very busy port for Roebourne but as ships needed a deeper harbour the town was deserted. The stone buildings are in very good order as some of them were never used before the town ceased to be.

This is the interior of the Court House that was never used. It is now a museum,  “Shakespeare House” named after a local pastoralist.

 

 

Dampier is west of Karratha and the port that replaced Cossack. Salt is mined (by evaporation) and exported overseas.

 

 

In amongst the red sandhills  and spinnfiix grass, Dampier is like an oasis with coconut palms growing on the beach.

 

 

  Along with salt and iron ore, natural gas is shipped from Woodside’s North West Shore.