From Millstream Chichester NP we toured around the Mining Towns of Karratha and Dampier and settled for the evening on the Maitland River just south of Karratha.
Karratha was established in the 1960s to serve the requirements of major local industrial projects such as Pilbara Iron, Dampier Salt and later Woodside's North West Shelf Venture.
Dampier located just 20klms from Karratha, also established in the 1960s by the Pilbara Iron mining company as a sea based export location for iron ore. Now from this port is also exported Salt and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). The Woodside's North West Shelf Venture represent Australia's largest resource development and one of the world's largest producers of gas. Today, this $27 billion production system include offshore production facilities and subsea infrastructure, onshore processing, storage and loading facilities at the Karratha Gas Plant, an impressive LNG shipping fleet and a supply base supporting its offshore activities. We visited the North West Shelf Visitors' Centre.........to learn all about Australia's largest resource development in an interactive environment..........I must say it was well worth the visit.........everything here in WA is BIG!
Next day travelled north of Karratha to Cleaverville Beach for the evening. We caught up with travelling friends, Glenda and John (who we have been friends with since we met at Clem Walton Park, near Mt Isa QLD, on our travels last year). We spent several hours chatting and hopefully we may see them again when we visit Karijini National Park in a few days time.
Travelling further north we took in the sites of the small settlements of Roebourne, Point Samson, Cossack, and Whim Creek and onto the Yule River for the evening.
Whim Creek in the 1890s was a thriving copper-mining town with two hotels, a blacksmith, a general store, stables and a horse track. Today the only building from that era still standing is the two-storey, corrugated-iron Whim Creek Hotel. Built in 1898, having been imported in prefabricated form from Germany, it has survived numerous cyclones and although the town it served has all but disappeared, is still trading. But wait...........what has happened to the Whim Creek Hotel...........it is NOW CLOSED! Chris was so looking forward to lunch and a Whim Creek Hotel Barra Burger!!
Next day we travelled to Port Hedland and took in the sites of this working town.
Port Hedland founded in the 1880s as a port for shipping out cattle IS NOW a major deepwater port for the Pilbara iron-ore industry. The worlds longest regularly scheduled trains – up to 400 carriages long – haul iron ore to port facilities here. Salt is another important industry. The town is pretty much red, red, red........red buildings, red footpaths, red fences, the iron ore has coloured everything red!
As we travelled across the country last year from Newcastle to Broome we've decided this year to go as far north in WA as Port Hedland then travel south on the inland roads back to the Nullarbor. Before starting our homeward bound journey we travelled south west out to the town of Marble Bar. We may never be back this way so just had to do it! On the way we camped beside Gorge Creek for two days then travelled the short distance to Marble Bar for the day and then came back to Gorge Creek for another evening.
The town of Marble Bar was founded in 1893 following the discovery of gold. The name of the town derives its name from a nearby jasper bar which runs across the bed of the Coongan River. When first discovered, settlers mistook the jasper for marble, hence the name Marble Bar. This town is Australia's Hottest Town having earned this reputation from the consistently high temperatures experienced during summer months when the temperature is over 38 degrees for days on end. The record is 160 consecutive days over 38.7 degrees in the summer of 1923-24. Our visit to Marble Bar was on Sunday July 8, 2012 (middle of winter) and the temperature at 11.45am was 29.5 degrees...............a very pleasant winter's day!
Karijini National Park here we come.................
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