Point Samson to Exmouth to Coral Bay

It was a great stay at Point Samson, but we must continue - today we are going via Karatha and Dampier.

Karatha didn't hold much appeal, it didn't appear to be very caravan friendly, as the streets were fairly narrow and we couldn't find anywhere to park the vans, but we did eventually and so were able to restock our supplies and get the hell out of there.

There was some amazing scenery along the way.

An amazing hill

We then drove on to Dampier with a few things on the agenda - to see the port loading docks, we were told this is the best place to see the 3k long iron ore trains, and of course to see the Red Dog statue and memorial.

It was a great new highway out to Dampier.  At the entrance to the town is the Red Dog Statue and information bay, so we stopped here to read his story, and from the William Dampier lookout we had a great view right out over the port and the islands of the Dampier Archipelago.

The view over Dampier port

It took us a full 15 minutes to drive around the town and see all there was to see, which wasn't a lot.  On the way out of town we not only saw an empty iron ore train leaving the port area but we saw a full one as well heading towards the port. Both trains were approx. 3kms long and, as we were told at Rio Tinto, each would have been carrying 236 cars, each car carrying in excess of 100 tonnes - so Jude was extremely happy to tick these very long trains off her list.

One very long ore train

Today's Trivia - many, many years ago when Lang Hancock's land was taken over by the mining company, an agreement was made that for every ton that passed through his land, a payment of 6 pence (5cents) per ton would be paid to him. After his death, his daughter Gina inherited that agreement. Work that one out - and 6 pence has increased since that time!!!!

Red Dog 1971 - November 21, 1979

Red Dog was a friendly kelpie cross who lived his life hitching rides and travelling throughout WA's north before he died in November 1979.

Red Dog Memorial

Red Dog is believed to have been born in the town of Paraburdoo in 1971 and had a variety of names to those who knew him, including: Bluey, Tally Ho, Pilbara Wanderer and Dog of the Northwest. Tally Ho was his first name, given to him by his first owner and the one who brought him to Dampier.

The nickname "Red Dog" has been attributed to the red dirt of the Pilbara Region.

A second owner a bus driver, whose work allowed Red Dog to travel via bus around Dampier, 
Karratha and surrounding districts thus becoming very well known by the locals.

Red Dog Memorial

After his second owner died, Red Dog spent a lot of time travelling on his own and was taken in by many members of the community, some who took him on trips as far afield as Perth, Broome, Roebourne, Point Samson & Port Hedland.

Although he had many friends, it is believed that his death in 1979 was caused by poisoning.

Red Dog is buried in an unmarked grave somewhere between Roebourne and Cossack.

By making his grave anonymous, those who buried him are now encouraging everyone to go out and look for him, out there - somewhere - in the Pilbara.  To wander as he did and soak in the land and the experiences that he might have had.

Red Dog Memorial

A fitting legacy I guess, for what seems to have been a remarkable dog.

After leaving Dampier we had a long day travelling ahead of us, we eventually pulled into a Free Campsite for the night at Barradale Rest Stop on the Yannarie River, but the river was non existent, nevertheless it was a very nice place to stop.


Our very own fire wood collector

Of course as soon as we set up the vans Laurie was off to gather fire wood - mind you it was still 34 degrees at 4.30pm, so a fire was the last thing we needed, but this didn't deter him, and he came back with huge arms full of firewood.  We didn't end up having a fire and he was quite put out. In fact we spent the evening watching the horizon which was glowing a brilliant golden red, not with a sunset but as the result of surrounding bushfires.

Preparing for a cold night!

Onwards to Exmouth the gateway to the beautiful Ningaloo Reef. 

Our caravan park of choice was fully booked so we had to make do with an unpowered site in a smaller park, the plus side is that it is right in the centre of town .

Exmouth Mall

We set up and then took off to explore the area. First stop, as usual was the information centre.  Here we gathered maps of the surrounding beaches and attractions and drove out to Bundegi Beach.

Beautiful turquoise water

We couldn't believe the gorgeous turquoise water, and it was so warm as well

Beautiful beaches everywhere

We spent the next few hours touring several of the beaches and the Lighthouse area on the west side of the peninsular.

The lighthouse lookout

 

 

The lighthouse lookout

 

On the way we stopped to look at all the radio towers, 13 in all, at a Commonwealth Government facility, quite a site.

While at the lighthouse lookout we spotted a pod of whales and watched them having fun rolling around, flipping their huge tails out of the water, blowing huge spurts into the air and raising their enormous bodies right up out of the water and flipping over - I am not sure who was having the most fun - the whales or us watching them. 

Whale!!

  

While on this western side of the peninsular we booked into a nice little beachside caravan park, the Lightouse CP,  

Our park on the beach

Lighthouse caravan park

and tomorrow we are moving over there, where it is right on the Ningaloo Reef. We went back into town and bought ourselves some snorkels and goggles.


Aren't they attractive




Scary!

 

We spent a lovely few days here. We snorkelled at Turqouise Bay each day, Laurie and Jude went fishing

Where are all the fish?

and Jeff and I went sand dune surfing down the huge dunes at Jurabi Point on my little body board - boy that was fun.  

Jeff sand surfing

The dunes were really big, I ended up in the water on this one

We saw turtles in the water just a few feet away from us, and we saw kangaroos and emus in the bush. 

Beautiful beaches everywhere

We heard that there was a track somewhere in the bush where there is a tap that you turn on and lots of emus come out of the bush to have a drink.  So of course we made it our mission to find this track and the tap. We did find the track but unfortunately the road was closed due to flood damage, so we parked the car and decided to walk in. 

Walking the rocky track



It was about 1km down a VERY rocky track/road when we came across the tap, so excitedly we turned on the water and waited.........and waited.........and waited, well obviously the emus were not very thirsty today because not one came out to drink the water. 



Where are the emus?

On to Coral Bay - we left Exmouth early and arrived at Coral Bay, Peoples Caravan Park just in time to secure the very last 2 sites - Jude and Laurie took the powered site while we settled for the last unpowered one, but we were right on the beachfront. We considered ourselves very lucky as this is a very busy little place. 
  It was overcast and drizzling rain when leaving Exmouth, the first rain we have seen for weeks, but it has cleared here and is getting warm. The temperature has been hovering around 30 degrees every day for weeks now, and we are loving it.

We spent a little time looking around the town, which was just one tiny street, and then we headed straight to the beach.  Fabulous white sand, crystal clear water.  The reef here was just metres from the shore and we enjoyed some fantastic snorkelling over the time we were here.

All the fish

On our last day we went to the shallows where they were feeding the fish, Emperor, and there were lots of them.  Obviously the fish were quite used to this as they were swimming in and around our feet.  What a great time that was.

Laurie looking down over his tummy at the fish

 

aking the grave anonymous, those wh

Me feeding the fish

o buried him are now encouraging everyone to go out and look for him, out there - somewhere - in the Pilbara. To wander as he did, and soak in the land and the experiences that he might have had. A fitting legacy I guess for what seems a remarkable dog.y making the grave anonymous, those who buried him are now encourage hadhavgryone to go out and look for him, out there - somewhere - in the Pilbara. To wander as he did, and soak in the land and the experiences that he might have had. A fitting legacy I guess for what seems a remarkable dog.