The cattle did not trample through the rest stop last night, but the wind and road trains disturbed Anita. In the cool of the morning I fiddled with the connections to see if both indicators were working, but only one was good when we left the rest stop.
The scenery continues to be dramatic, but roadside parking bays are not generally near the best views. Mining is big in this area and we have seen dozens of road trains.
We had a short break in a rest area and I spotted the only WA wildflower I could name – Sturt desert pea. I then noticed several bright red patches along the side of the road when driving.
We had booked into a caravan park at Point Samson, not realising it was an hour further on from Karratha. We got the last available ensuite site, but can only stay one night. After a quick drive around Karratha and a visit to Visitor Information, we decided to go to our caravan park. Our lasting impression was that Karratha has many new buildings since we first visited in 2016.
We had to wait at the park gate for people in front of us to finish checking in. When we were ready to raise the boomgate to drive in, a man parked his van blocking the road then walked to the office. Staff came out to see what was going on and told us he couldn’t back in to his site. A worker was sent over to help him, but fortunately we were able to drive to our site first as he is next to us. It is tricky reversing onto the sites in our row, because they are opposite a solid retaining wall. The extra long A frame on the Bushtracker makes this a lot easier.
Anita was keen to put the washing on, but our power outlet was not working. It was our turn to walk over to the office and request assistance. The circuit had tripped but we would not have known where to find the breaker switch. There is a convenient Hills Hoist behind our van for use by the four vans parked in our sector. Having the use of our own shower and toilet immediately outside the van was a treat, as it is a lot easier to was my hair in a normal size shower.
I took Bluey for the short walk to the water. A pedestrian gate opens onto a path leading to a lookout built where there once was a jetty. The original jetty built in 1902 was over 500m long, but a cyclone destroyed much of it in 1925, and the remaining jetty was damaged beyond repair in 1989 by Cyclone Orson. In 1991 the ruins were destroyed by fire. It is reassuring the lookout structure is built from sturdy steel. A couple of old railway carts are the only sign of the jetty’s history.
Near our park there is a narrow section of sand behind the rocks in the ocean. On the other side of the lookout there is a beach protected by a rocky reef. Dogs are not allowed on that beach because birds nest in the dunes. In the distance we can see the ship loading facility at Dampier.
It is only a short walk to the Tavern where we had crumbed whiting and chips for dinner. We had Bluey so sat in the garden where there were four other dogs. An interesting conglomerate rock has been placed at the path to the Tavern
There is a patch of Sturt desert pea near the lookout. It is smaller than it should be as our neighbour-who-can’t-reverse picked some of the flowers and has them on display outside his van. He could be fined up to $2,000 for this selfish act.
Committed Travellers 