Friday, October 21, 2011

6 - DOWN THE COAST A BIT

After all the dirt roads and gorges of the Gibb River Road, we found a beautiful free campsite called Quandong Point, a bit north of Broome.  There are loads of places all along the headland overlooking the ocean.  We were lucky enough to get into a site with very easy access to the beach and spent 3 days swimming, beachcombing and lazing around enjoying the view.  We were also lucky enough to be given fish for dinner by boat fishermen who had caught more than they needed.

We didn't stay in Broome any longer than it took to fill up with fuel and groceries (to commercial and yuppy), then moved down the coast to the very popular "grey nomads retreat" of Barn Hill for two nights, then 80 Mile Beach,both with lovely beaches to walk along, but behind the sandhills, so not the view we had a Quandong Point.

Next we found another great free camp at De Grey River, not far from Port Headland, with a very friendly crowd camped there.  From there we headed inland to Marble Bar - very interesting rock formation across the river, actually jasper, but mistaken for marble by the first settlers, hence the name.

On the way back to the coast we came across Indee Station, another cattle station offering camping where the owners host happy hour in the homestead, providing the chips, nuts, dips etc for all their visitors.  Real bush hospitality - and an interesting drive through the property to their own big red rock.

We had a quick look at Port Headland, did some shoping and watched the ships leaving port on the high tide, saw the salt processing area and our first glimpse of one of the huge iron ore carrying trains - over 3 kilometres long.  After that we spent a few days in the Roebourne, Karratha, Dampier area, did a very interesting tour of the loading facility, where iron ore from the inland mines is processed and loaded onto ships.  More big flat areas extracting salt from the sea water, more very long trains carrying iron ore.   We also discovered the Red Dog monument at Dampier - they are hoping it will become as famous as the Dog on the Tuckerbox, a movie about Red Dog has just come out using his real life story with a bit of poetic licence.

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2 Comments:

At October 22, 2011 at 2:58 AM , Blogger Linda said...

It sounds like you're having a great time! What a wonderful experience. I would love to be doing the same thing with my husband!!! (Would have to first get to Australia, but that would be fun too!)

 
At October 22, 2011 at 10:13 AM , Blogger Merilyn said...

I've always wanted to visit that part of the country, sounds truly wonderul!!! I have seen the movie 'Red Dog' just recently and it is wonderful, very Aussie!! As I have lived in a mining town myself and stayed in a few others, I appreciated the quirkiness of the movies' representation of such a community! if you get a chance to see it, I recommend it...and bring your hanky too LOL!!!!!

 

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