We drove into Dampier via Karratha on Monday afternoon. SM couldn't wait... for what I'm not sure, but here we were in the industrial capital of the Pilbara, perhaps even the industrial capital of Western Australia. Dampier boasts of being the highest export port in all of Australia. I'm not sure how many tons of iron ore are shipped from Dampier every day, but there were three large steamers waiting in port the last day we were there, half sunken down into the water from the weight of their loads.
The first day, we stopped into the visitors center in Karratha to check if we would be able to go out sailing during the week. At first it was uncertain because we had to have six people to go out. A few others joined and we were set to go sailing on Wednesday. In the meantime, we thought we might hire a dinghy, unfortunately we had to have a boat license to drive it, so that didn't work out. We checked into the Dampier Mermaid Hotel/ Motel - it really was both a hotel and motel, I think because hotels are generally pubs and motels are where you stay. It was certainly not flash 5-star accommodation. No, it would be more like 2, maaaybe 3 stars at best, but it was clean and had pleasant staff and a nice little pool. It also had a lovely view overlooking the harbour and some palm trees along the shore, but the majority of the guests were "fly in" workers for the surrounding industrial facilities. Sometimes I felt like we got stared at because we were the only tourists staying there even though we were driving a work ute like the rest of them. One lady that went on the sailboat with us even said they had tried getting a room somewhere that didn't take tourists, the hotel only accommodated workers.
The first few days we bummed around Dampier exploring nearby Hearson Cove, Burrup Peninsula, and Point Samson for good snorkeling and fishing spots. I thought I might even try my hand at crabbing, so we went back to Hearson Cove at dusk, fishing net in hand in hopes of finding some crabs along the shoreline - no luck :( The snorkelling didn't fare well either as the water was too rough and murky, so we tried a little fishing, but SM ended up fly bitten from the sand flies. So we settled on a little swimming and saw a sea turtle pop his head up briefly on the beach in Point Samson. That was the height of my excitement the first few days.
Burrup Penninsula didn't offer much more than a large liquid ammonia plant that produces 760,000 tons of liquid ammonia a year all of which is exported. The plant is the biggest Indian investment in Australia and the young Indian tycoon who owns it is building a mansion mini version of the Taj Mahal in one of the wealthiest suburbs in Perth.
There is also the salt industry which produces 4.2 million tons of salt annually and is primarily used by chemical industries, only 20% is used for food processing and human consumption. It is for this reason that the neighboring town of Karratha seems to be experiencing significant growth with housing subdivisions popping up all around the town. The photo at the left are some of the salt resevoirs along the highway going into Dampier with a 2.5 kilometer long train in the background. The sea water has evaporated leaving a sparkling layer of salt to be harvested.We also drove through the town of Wickham because SM's nephew had played their t-ball team in the tournament on the weekend, so we thought we'd have a look. Pretty standard Leeton-Chilhowee-Holden (for you Warrensburgians to compare to) sized town.
Finally, Wednesday rolled around and we were ready to do some sailing and s
erious snorkeling! Our skipper, Brad, was a white haired ex-army man who looked at little like Kenny Rogers and sounded like him too. He took us and three other couples out around Dampier Archipelago. Along the way he told lots of stories and shared his extensive knowledge on the history of the area. Dampier was named for William Dampier, a real pirate from the Caribbean who explored the area... a long time ago. William recorded in his journal that the area was only good for minerals and set on his way. It wasn't until about 40 years ago that Dampier began as a port, so it took all this time for someone to exploit the mineral resources William Dampier had found available in the Pilbara.
As we sailed out to Mallus Island we came across two huge manta rays swimming near one of the islands and feeding on the floating flotsam that had gotten churned up from the ocean floor. It's mouth is the large white oval shape you see near the waters surface. The tips of their big wing-like bodies looked like shark fins as they broke the surface of the water. They were really beautiful to watch.
We arrived at Mallus Island where there were several beach shacks nestled on top of the dunes. Skipper Brad said the saddest thing about the industry was that people were rich in wealth, but socially poor. They work long days and hardly get much time off to spend at the beach shacks they bought to enjoy. When we stopped at Mallus Island for lunch we got to enjoy a bit of snorkeling around the coral reefs which were wonderful and full of brightly colored fish, sea cucumbers, spikey black ball things, and huge clams that I played with by waving my hand across the top of them so they would quickly snap shut.
We also had a look at some of the whaling pots that were left on the beach
from the American whalers hundreds of years ago. There is still whale bone all around the area from when the whalers would melt down the whale blubber into oil in the big pots.
On the way back from the islands we had sailed past Sam's Island named for Sam, a Serbian guy that had come to Dampier and built a small castle home on the island. He also planted the palm trees on the island and moved hundreds of rocks in order to make a beach. When Sam died the Dampier community had a big funeral on the local sporting grounds for him then buried him atop his island. It was an amazing day all around and the best one we had while in Dampier. The next day we headed out to Port Hedland, our last stop on the trip.We took our time getting to Port Hedland as it was only a few hours from Dampier, so we stopped at the heritage town of Cossack which used to be the main port used for the pearling industry back in the late 1800's. Cossack had a life span of less than 50 years as the pearling industry moved north, cyclone devastation to the area wiped out many of the remaining buildings that had been there, and the harbour clogged with silt which restricted access for larger shipping vessels. A few buildings are left standing there today like the old gaol, police barracks, post office, courthouse and mercantile store. We also stopped at a roadhouse in Whim Creek, also the site of mining operations, to look at a tree where SM had received one of his many childhood scars and we met a friendly cockatoo in the aviary there who let us pet him through the fence.
Port Hedland is where SM grew up, so when we got into town he drove me around South Hedland a little community outside of PH where he lived and showed me the house he grew up in and told me stories about his childhood there. That was the day of his dad's birthday so we stayed at the yard and celebrated with him. The yard is where his dad's
company keeps their exploration equipment, bull dozers, loaders, and donger's - mobile units with bedrooms, bathrooms and office space. At one point I went to the toilet and heard some chirping coming from inside. I thought it was only some crickets, but when I got inside this is what I saw.These beautifully colored tree frogs live in the toilet's tank. When I first came in there were two sitting on top, but one had gotten scared and crawled back into the toilet tank for safety. I was really tickled by them being there. SM's dad said that frogs are a sign of a healthy environment. Good to know.
I don't know what it is about toilets lately, but when I got home, I found this sign posted above the toilet in our bathroom. (photo coming later)
The next day SM drove me into PH for a look around and to have some lunch. I rather liked PH for a small town and that's as far as my trip took me. I hopped on a plane in PH around one o'clock last Friday afternoon and headed back to the grit and grime of city life and the hardships of thesis writing.
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