22nd – 24th Aug. Port Hedland – Point Samson

Well south we went.  We took a short look around Port Hedland.  Ian had many business communications with the mining areas of Central West Australia and he really wanted to absorb a mind picture of many of these towns.

Port Hedland is a real boom mining town.  The streets were full of white utes with yellow safety stripes indicating vehicles fitted out for use in mining sites.  While the growth of this town has certainly exploded the local council certainly has set out to ensure that the town still looks attractive with many parks and playgrounds.

One of many accomodation blocks for mining staff.

A stockpile reclaimer which loads ore onto the conveyors onto ships.

An ore tanker waiting to be loaded.  There were many more anchored offshore.

There are many examples oflocal council attempts to beautify a mining town.

In a busy industrial town there are some quiet gardens.

Then having a short look around and then refuelling we continued our journey south.  Initially we continued to see many mining vehicles including large road trains but slowly we moved out of the close mining area to find lesser heavy vehicle movements.

Another mining road train delivering from one of many mines.

 That night we stopped by the roadside in a camp at West Peawah River.  There were about ten other vans / tents here by nightfall.  The amazing thing about this stop was that when we went to speak to people in the van next to ours we found that they came from the very next street to ours at home in Bli Bli.  We have common friends in one of our neighbours Bob & Barbara Poole.  How small a world this is, that we should meet our neighbours when we were directly across the other side of this great nation.

 And then we moved on to Point Samson, a small holiday village in the midst of mining activity mid way between Port Hedland and Karratha.   We stopped at one of the best equipped van parks we have ever visited.  This small town of about 350 people is an attractive fishing village which has a history as a port going back to the late eighteen hundreds.  We walked around the town and had change left out of one hour.

Honeymoon Bay, Point Samson.

Min Beach Gardens Point Samson

Landscape Gardens - memorial to historic wharf, Point Samson.

 Then we explored a closeby village of Cossack.  Cossack was the original port for the gold mining area or Roebourne before the tidal problems caused the port to be moved to Point Samson.  Recently the local people with some funding from two governments have restored a lot of old buildings in Cossack.  Most of the original buildings were destroyed  after a cyclone hit in 1898 but a few buildings remained and now have been restored.  One can walk around the town and small placards advise where buildings originally stood even if they no longer remain.  Some photos here will give a sense of the work that has been completed by such a small community.

Historic Cossack Court House

Historic General Store.  Only building to withstand cyclone in 1998.

Restored historic Customs & Bond Store - Cossack

Just to the south of Point Samson is the iron ore ship loading facility of Camp Lambert.  From the point we could see four ships loading ore while six others waited out to see.  Giant ore reclaimers worked picking up the ore from stockpiles and loading it on to conveyors which took the ore out along the pier to the ship loader.  This is only one of many ship loading facilities along this coast.

Ships loading at nearby Cape Lambert.

 There is a large population of mining employees working here.  A neighbour in the park told me that renting a four bedroom home here in Point Samson costs between $1500 and $2500 per week.  Any takers?

 We have used this top as a bit of a rest stop and a catch up on cleaning etc.  Tomorrow we head off again through more mining areas as we head south.