Our first stop after leaving Point Samson was Wickham to buy the Saturday papers and coffee. Of course the Saturday papers do not arrive up in these parts until Sunday!
Wickham was established in 1970 for mine workers, with a shopping centre, extensive sports fields, and other community facilities. There is also a large Aboriginal population in the town. This mural is one of several around the shopping centre. Unfortunately there is also extensive physical security around external equipment, doors and windows
Our next stop along the Point Samson – Roebourne Rd was the historic abandoned pearling town of Cossack. There is a resident caretaker and the old courthouse is used as a gallery shop. Visitors can simply walk around and inside the remaining stone buildings, a couple of which have been restored for use as a cafe and accommodation.
The highway initially goes in an ESE direction, and we were driving into the headwind, causing our fuel consumption to jump up to 30L/100kms. The road changed to a NE direction towards Port Hedland. There is a bypass road but I thought we should at least do a drive through to find cheaper fuel. The salt mine is next to the highway. Closer to the port these tanks are typical of the industrial town.
We had a short stop for me to take Bluey for a walk. It was 30°+ and he showed no interest in doing a pee. I put him back into the crate and discovered Tilly was missing! I yelled for Anita to help find her and she quickly grabbed Tilly from under the caravan! I had pulled the zippers together on the critters’ crate without realising one side was not closing. That is now another thing to double check every time we zip up the crate.
The fuel was much cheaper in town at $2.19 instead of $2.40 on the highway. In Karratha we paid $1.89 per litre.
We continued to see striking rock formations seemingly around every bend in the road.
We had booked into Pardoo Station for the night and knew we would be driving on a dry dusty gravel road for about 10kms. To reduce the amount of dust getting into our van we stopped at a roadside rest area to close the lower waterproofing door. These signs were a salutary reminder of hazards in these remote northern regions.
When I checked in at Pardoo Station I was warned about the large number of feral cats in the area. Consequently Tilly’s only outdoor time was in the crate under constant supervision. I had to tell a family of young children that they could look at her but not touch.
Bluey was keen to go for a walk with me exploring the facilities here, including a pool, lawn bowls green, picnic and BBQ areas, and rows of old dongas bought from mining sites. I finally realised Blue wanted to walk around the caravans – he was searching for his friends in the motorhome! He has been subdued since little Leo and his mums left his pack. At beer o’clock he is ready to leap off the bed every time Anita opens the fridge. He kept an eye on those pesky children.
Committed Travellers 