Karratha .......Digs, Dongas and Dogs.

In the still of the morning Nick & I packed the remaining few bits into the van while the kids sat sleepily in the car. We knew we had a long haul ahead of us so packed most things the night before, and got up early (6am) to complete the pack and get away early. Hamish and Sara who got up 1/2 an hour later than us, but have the advantage of being able to just shut their caravan door and head off were even surprised at our start, and for the first time since traveling together we managed to get away first, much to Oliver's competitive disgust. The Backsons are heading off to Karijini while we head off to Dampier / Karratha. Hopefully we'll catch up again in a few weeks time.

The 7 hour trip was surprisingly uneventful. The kids all got stuck into homework, the scenery changed frequently from grassy plains with tall termite mounds to amazing rock formations. As we got closer to Karratha we passed mining car after mining car, although we were still to discover the magnitude of mining in this town.

After checking out the Dampier Transit Park we decided to keep driving to Point Sampson, a quiet but expensive caravan park.

Roebourne Gaol was an interesting place, originally used for aboriginals, later used for white people as well. Closing in 1985 the gaol was only built to house 14 prisoners but at times frequently held 90.

Cossack, a ghost town with restored buildings from a bustling pearling village, Complete with a courthouse, jail, stores, cemetery, hotel, postoffice and port was a great spot to wander around, all for a gold coin donation. It was very uncommercialised, but thoughtfully restored, we had a fun day exploring and imagining a life long gone.





Red dog's statue was on the itinerary today. The kids quite excited to see the area where Red dog lived, and his memorial. Out at Dampier, which was a fairly run down town with security grills on every window we found Red Dog, took the obligatory photos, then went out to the North West Information Centre
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Here we all learnt about the gas rigs. The kids filled out an information sheet in return for a prize of a drink bottle at the end. Some of the things learnt were: there are 4 things - LNG, LPG, condensate and H2O drilled out of the gas plant, there are 4 big rigs off the shore of Dampier, the 7 ships are named after migratory birds which fly between Australia and Asia, and the gas from here supplies 65% of Western Australia's gas supply.

Driving through the towns dongas sprawled on the outskirts, some more inviting than others, all of which looked small and cramped, and if you could afford a house (rental for a small 3 bedroom home $1000) one could see the temptation of working at the mines and gas plant as the money earnt was evident, Josh envying the size of the boats in just about drive.

Upon reflection we all thought that Karratha was like a suburb (perhaps Fountain Gate) taken from a city and dumped in the middle of nowhere.

Although this town was a fascinating insight into the mining industry we are all looking forward to heading back out to a National Park..