Once we reached the main highway we turned West on the West Coastal Highway towards Roebourne. We had planned on another night of free camping at Yule River where we stopped at about 11am. It was already 40 degrees with no breeze, and as you can see below no water in the river!
Given our fridge situation and the heat a group decision was made to continue on to Point Sampson where Terry & Di were already settling in at the Cove Caravan Park. We stopped for a lunch break at Whim Creek which is nothing more than a Pub and a mine. The drive into Roebourne was quite nice with black hills in the distance to the South. The heat was really noticeable with heat waves coming off the fields and the highway.
Travelled through Roebourne and turned North to Point Sampson. Roebourne is not a pretty town and rivals Tennant Creek and/or Wilcania for places you'd least like to spend the night. Only maybe Elliot would so far surpass it. Travelled through Wickham which didn't beat Roebourne by much. Our expectations were dimming for what we would find in Point Sampson by this point as is only 8km further North. Well talk about night and day. As soon as you pulled into Point Sampson you could see lovely gardens, well kept homes, park areas, and most importantly buildings with out iron bars surrounding them. Lovely little town in a beautiful location. The caravan park while expensive ($39/night) is probably the cleanest and best laid out one we have been to yet. Amenities are spotless and large. Location is great as well, as you basically have water surrounding the park on 3 sides. Only downside would be that there is relatively little shade. We set up in a steamy 40 degrees. Put up our extra shade cloths before venturing down for a quick swim. It was great to see Di and Terry again and we all enjoyed a beautiful baked lamb dinner.
Tuesday morning Sandra spent some quality time on the phone with 7th Street Caravans and Dometic re our fridge problem. We have had a gut full but can't do anything until we reach next Dometic Service Agent in Exmouth. Thankfully the fridge works fine on 240AC so we are OK as long as we stay in caravan parks. Very frustrating but at least we can continue to enjoy our adventure until we get there. Sandra spent much of the day cleaning the caravan. Did it by hand with a bucket. Got 3 sides done and it looks a lot better.
John, Stephen, and Terry went for a fish down at the wharf in the morning. John caught 3 or 4 small fish, Bream and Batfish. None were keepers unfortunately. The afternoon saw most of us go down to Honeymoon Cove and enjoy a nice cool swim. The tide was mostly out but we still were able to find enough water to cool down. Sarah and Matt who we met at Eighty Mile Beach are staying at the caravan park to and came over for Happy Hour. They have had some problems with their camper as well so are stuck here for a few days while they get it resolved.
Wednesday morning we relaxed before taking Di and Sandra into Wickham for doctor's appointments. Di needed a prescription renewed and Sandra has been fighting a bad cold sore for a couple of weeks. The doctor was really nice and fixed up both girls with their prescriptions. John got some diesel and some beer while he waited. Woolies Liquor store is like a gaol with huge iron cage outside the entrance. The three of us then went shopping at Woolies, Chemist, and News Agent. The whole shopping centre was filthy and like a prison. Girls couldn't tell which bar to pull to open door into Chemist and I thought the News Agent was closed down until I saw people inside. What a terrible way to have to live and work.
Wednesday afternoon Di, Sandra, and I went down for another swim at Honeymoom Cove. I took my snorkel gear and saw lots of fish near the reef and metal stanchion. I quickly returned to the caravan to pick up my fishing gear to have a go. Caught several small ones and used up all my bait very quickly. No fish again tonight but it was a beautiful cool way to spend the late afternoon.
Thursday the six of us went on a road trip into Karratha and Dampier. We stopped at the Karratha Visitor Centre which is quite nice before journeying on to Dampier. Karratha is another town that is 100% mining. Lots of construction both road and residential. Not much to see here other than shopping. We travelled by miles of salt storage areas before stopping at Red Dog Memorial at the entrance to Dampier. We had seen movie at the Broome open air theatre so were all anxious to see the memorial. Got a group picture before continuing on to the Lookout and Beach front for morning tea.
Busy little waterfront area but view is somewhat ruined by all the industrialization for mining/port/gas plant. You can see in the pictures below the contrast between natural beauty and the industrialization of Dampier. Journeyed from there around water front and out to the Burrup Peninsula to the Gas Plant. This was huge and had an amazing visitor centre located there. Very informative and a massive $27 Billion project. Supplies 40% of Australia's needs. It does however really ruin the natural beauty of the area; and it is understandable why they are fighting the plant at James Price Point north of Broome. Very important from an economic standpoint but what a shame to lose such beautiful natural treasures. We met some fellow Retreat owners there that we had met at the caravan park.
From there we travelled the very short distance to Hearsons Cove. How beautiful and certainly a sign of what the whole area must have once looked like. Beautiful blue waters with a beach made almost entirely of crushed shells. We enjoyed a nice lunch there although it was a bit windy. Stephen and I had a swim and I had a snorkel along the rocks to the point. Girls collected some more shells. We ran into a policeman in our travels the next day who told us they had evacuated the beach 3 days previously because of two massive Tiger Sharks. I said something about a crocodile sign and the Cop said "yeah they've had problems with that lately as well". S*#t! That was too close for comfort. Sandra will probably only let me in the shower and bathtub for a while now.
We drove back to Dampier to view the "Largest display of Japanese Dolls" at the local library. After much difficulty we found the library. The display must be the only display of Japanese Dolls as there were only about 7 dolls in total. Carol and Di got the giggles and had to be escorted out of the library and town before things turned ugly. Terry and I found a fishing book to study in the library while we waited. We actually took longer than the 3 girls and their wonderful display. As a point of interest all 3 guys had said the Doll Display sounded lame when first discussed earlier in the day. So great to be proven right once again (Well once at least)! Sorry no pictures due to the confidential nature of Japanese Doll Displays. We did see the large salt storage again on our way out and a wind surfer on the waterfront while searching for the Library.
We stopped at Karratha on the way back to do some shopping and top up the Diesel. Lovely big shopping centre. We have been told that is one of the most expensive places to live. One fellow told us people are spending over $500/week just for a room inside someones house. The Policeman we met said they are paying $2000/week for their rental home and that a basic home is worth over a million dollars. Yikes! How do people survive here? You especially wonder about retail staff etc. Once again gave Sandra and I some strong and unfavorable memories of Fort McMurray.
We continued back to Roebourne and north to Cossack. This is a lovely historic town with beautiful old buildings and the girls toured the Courthouse which had been renovated to it's original glory. We drove up to the lookout which gives a tremendous view of Point Sampson and the surrounding Ocean. It was low tide but still very impressive. We will try and get back to see during high tide as well.
Finally returned to the caravan park where Matt and Sarah joined us again for Happy Hour.
Friday morning Stephen, Carol, Sandra, and myself were up early and on the road to Millstream Chichester National Park. We took the Ransley's vehicle this time as ours was still shaken and sore from the Karijini trip. We journeyed back towards Karratha before turning south towards Tom Price. We travelled about 150Km south on this road, most of it sealed. The unsealed road was the complete opposite of Karijini and Rans was able to drive at a comfortable 100Km/h on all of it. We stopped along the way to get some pictures of the Iron Ore trains. We passed at least 6 (3 empty going South & full going North). They were huge trains of about 250 cars. That was only in about 1.5 hours so imagine the amount of Iron Ore that travels North to the ports each day!
We continued south until we turned West towards Millstream. Our first stop was at Deep Reach Pool on the Fortescue River. It was amazing how much water was here considering almost all the creek/river beds we crossed were dry. They had a nice viewing area and ladders to climb in and out for a swim. It was still early so we passed on the swim and had morning tea overlooking the river. There was lots of lush green growth including Palm trees and hundreds of birds. Truly amazing when you consider only a short distance away there is almost no animal/bird life and very little green vegetation of any kind.
After morning tea we continued north to Cliff Lookout. Same river but suddenly we were a high above it on red cliffs.
Next stop was the Millstream Homestead which has been converted into the Park Visitor Centre. It was unmanned but very well done up. Lots of great information and may historical artifacts to view. Had running water, modern toilets and a very nice campground with lots of room and shady sites. Worth a look if ever staying in the area. We did a short walk at the Homestead which took us down through a lush area near the Millstream Creek. The original dwellers had planted palm trees etc. so was quite beautiful and surprisingly shady and cool. The water in the streams was as clear as you will ever see. Unfortunately this is an Aboriginal Sacred place and the one spot you are not to swim.
We journeyed on to Crossing Pool campground and swimming area. Had two small water crossings of Millstream Creek on the way. Also saw considerable infrastructure for the state water company. We had a nice lunch at Crossing Pool. We met the policeman we mentioned earlier with his wife and father in law here. Had a good visit about Karratha and the real humorous story about the sharks at Hearson Cove. Didn't feel much like a swim after that so decided to wait until another stop. Extra funny bit was that we had recommended Hearson Cove strongly to Matt and Sarah who were going there today. Who needs enemies when you have friends like us!
From here we left the Millstream area of the National Park and returned North before turning East towards the Chichester ranges portion of the National Park. Completely different from each other but both beautiful in their own way. Gorgeous views at Mount Herbert and Panorama Lookout. It seemed like we were pulling over around every bend in the road to get more pictures. John almost went hang gliding at Panorama Lookout when Ran's Jim Beam Sun Visor decided to blow out of the car towards the cliff. I caught it just in time and managed not to get airborne. Might have been fun for a little bit but it is pretty worn and probably would have folded up as soon as it was in the air.
We continued down the hill by car to the Python Pool. Got there just as a bus load of school kids was packing up and leaving. Thank goodness because, if they had been just getting there, we would have given it a miss. The Pool was located at the base of a cliff. It was a bit green but appeared clear and had lots of fish life. Carol and I took our chances and ventured in. Beautiful and cool. Very refreshing! Stephen and Sandra didn't like the looks of the water so gave it a miss. I didn't get any itches later so it must have been OK.
We then retraced our steps back to the main road and out to the highway at Karratha. It was a pretty quiet trip home as we were all tired. A big day with about 450Km travelled and lots of stops. Millstream Chichester is a beautiful park and is done up beautifully. Unsealed roads were high quality, amenities were good at the various stops, and beautiful paths and lookouts had been installed at many locations. Very inviting park and a shining example of what Karijini is missing. We had a wonderful day and will definitely recommend!
By the way Matt and Sarah joined us for Happy Hour; so they too survived Hearson Cove. Not so lucky with the rest of their day and ongoing issues with their tent trailer repair. Gave up on hopeless repair company in Port Hedland and went to retrieve their camper today. Matt almost got in a fight with the boss as they found grease marks all over their bed and upholstery inside. Needless to say they won't be returning to Port Hedland anytime soon.
Saturday is our last day in this beautiful location and we have spent the day relaxing, cleaning, blogging, and generally preparing for the next part of our adventure. Sandra finished the 4th side of the caravan and I got the car a bit cleaner as well after our Karijini adventure. I was just reviewing my posting and realized I have no pictures of the caravan park included. However if you look at the Cossack Lookout photo of Point Sampson and Ocean at Low tide above you can see the caravan park and what a beautiful location it is!
