Exmouth to Karratha 19/8 to 24/8

Robe River Campsite

After setting off from Exmouth we retraced our steps to Nanutarra Roadhouse and headed northwards.  We stopped overnight at Robe River, which was a very popular stop , even though it’s right beside the main highway.  The clarity of the water meant that you could see the small freshwater fish swimming amongst the reeds in the river.  We stayed only one night at Robe River mainly because of the red dirt which was swirling around everywhere and we ended up with a red film throughout the van.  Everything we touched seemed to leave a red stain particularly on our clothing and feet (yuk) so we were keen to move on.

 Even though it had only been three weeks since we’d driven towards Coral Bay, the change in scenery was quite astonishing.  Wildflowers had begun to bloom everywhere and the roadside that had been quite stark before, was now bathed in fields of purple, white, yellow and red flowers.  There were also quite a few minesites (Mesa & Sino Iron to name but two) where all the vegetation had been removed and what was left was now a bright expanse of red dirt and dust.  You can also tell when you’re nearing the entrance to a minesite, mainly because of the large amount of red dirt in the air and also the sudden widening of the roads to cater for the large turning circle for the huge road trains.  

Sunset & Red Haze - Forty Mile Beach

From Robe River we headed northwards towards Forty Mile Beach, which is a nature based camping ground run by the Shire of Roebourne/Karratha.  We were really impressed at the 12km dirt road into this camp as it was wide and had been graded on a regular basis.  This may be because at the turn-off from the highway there is a large gas plant.  (Where we had to do a u-turn as we’d been looking at the factory rather than for our signpost.)  As you can see from the photos the red haze is definitely still with us and made for a spectacular sunset.


The four and five metre tides at Forty Mile Beach have been our first experience this trip of seeing huge areas of rock and sandbars being exposed at low tide and when the tide was coming in you could literally see it creeping up the beach.   The fees at 40 Mile Beach were $7.00 per night - $45.00 per week, or $150.00 per month.  Many of the residents had been here for months as it allows them to escape the cold weather down south and set up camp in a location that is popular for its fishing.  Every site seemed to have a boat and trailer and there is a lot of activity around the boat ramp just before high tide.

Caravan View & New Jetty

The view from the front of our caravan included an area on a southern point of the cape that was extremely white and stood out from the rest of the natural surrounds.  On enquiry we discovered that a new jetty was being built to load Magnetite, which is a second grade iron ore used in the manufacture of molten steel.  The new jetty is made of huge interlocking blocks that have come all the way from Taiwan.  What has happened to Australian manufacturing?  Unfortunately at Forty Mile Beach we had our first disappointment of the trip when our fishing rods were stolen from their pole carrier attached to the front of the van.

From Forty Mile Beach we headed into Karratha where caravan sites have now reached $50 per night!  However I suppose that’s a lot better than the $400+ per week for renting a room in this area, or the $1400+ for unit rentals.  Home rentals range from $1800 - $2400 per week and that’s for a kit home.  This town is growing as you watch with new roads, buildings and housing estates cropping up everywhere.

One aspect that we found interesting is that none of the houses in Karratha have rain gutters to catch and store rain waters.  When we spoke with locals we were told that their experience has shown that gutters can often cause other problems during the wet season as they simply can’t cope with the volume of rain that falls during the wet season and they’ve found it better all round to install the roofing products minus the gutters.

Dampier Foreshore

 We also drove to Dampier, a town that was established in 1963 by Hamersley Iron specifically to transport iron ore.  It took three years before the first iron ore was exported from the Dampier terminal to Japan.

Rio Tinto's Iron Ore Terminal

  The terminal now fills two huge ships simultaneously with two others waiting for their turn.

Ore Train & Dampier Salt Pans

Stockpiles of Dampier Salt

Dampier Salt also commenced operation here in 1972 and exports salt all over the world.
The 20km road between Dampier and Karratha passes between the huge salt pans of Dampier Salt and at least three mine sites.

Part of Woodside's N.W. Shelf Gas Processing Plant

Sculpture at Woodside Dedicated to Those Killed in the Production of Gas

Ten kilometres from Dampier at Barrup Peninsula the Woodside North Shelf Liquefied Natural Gas Plant also exports from their terminal to locations around the world.  The waters around Dampier and the Peninsula are a beautiful blue, however one wonders how long that will last.

'Red Dog' Statue

Dampier has been very much in the media lately following the release of the movie, “Red Dog”.  We stopped at the statue just outside Dampier and had read of this dog’s exploits – how it used to hitch rides around the Pilbara Towns of Dampier, Karratha – even reaching Broome and Perth at one stage.  Amazing how legends become bigger as time goes by!

Honeymoon Bay - Point Sampson

Historic Jetty & Sculpture

Another Sculpture in Park

The other towns in the area we visited were Port Sampson and Cossack.  These were totally different experiences.  Port Sampson is a thriving township which is noted for its seafood restaurants.  It also has a wonderful green park in the centre of this township where they have placed the historic jetty and included sculptures of different sea creatures.  This is still an important fishing town.  Around the point however is Cape Lambert Port which exports over 30 million tonnes of iron ore yearly.

View from one side of bridge - Port Sampson

View from other side of bridge - Port Sampson

Cossack was once home to the North-West’s first pearling industry but due to "wily wily’s" (cyclones) and over fishing of the pearling grounds, this industry moved to Broome.  By WWII there were only a handful of people left in the town and finally in 1950 it was abandoned.  Now the restored buildings are very interesting to visit.  They are built from local stone and many have information plaques inside the buildings describing the life and times of this historic town.

Cossack Schoolhouse

Courthouse - Cossack

 Mark and I were really interested in the fact that Cossack was connected to Roebourne by a tramway which opened in 1887.  When an early schoolhouse was destroyed by a cyclone the children were taken to Roebourne by horse drawn tram to school.  One tram would start from Roebourne and the other from Cossack, they would meet half way and then change horses and drivers.  The journey took one and a half hours!  Quite a long school day.

Tramway Vehicles

Students on Horse Drawn Tram

We also drove to Python Pool at Millstream-Chichester National Park.  The bitumen road to this park runs parallel to the train line between Tom Price and Dampier.  We passed at least six massive iron ore trains on this journey.  We think that Western Australia is being exported one mountain at a time!  These trains are pretty amazing, being up to 2.5km long and carrying ore weighing 290 000kg.  Not surprisingly they take 2km to stop.

Pilbara Iron Ore Train

The Pilbara countryside is pretty amazing and we stopped many times at lookouts to admire the sweeping views.

Pilbara Countryside

The Colours of the Pilbara

 In this dry area we really enjoyed our time at Python Pool which is a permanent water hole at the foot of a semi-circular rock wall.  When the water is flowing it would be awe-inspiring.

Python Pool

On the way home we stopped at the Harding River and enjoyed a cuppa next to this pretty river, which finally exits 100+ kms away at the town of Cossack.

Harding River

 While this hasn’t been one of our travel highlights, there is still a lot of history surrounding most of these mining towns and they are definitely abuzz with activity.  Next we’re planning to head towards Port Hedland and then onwards to Broome.  We have purchased an antenna to boost the reception of our telephone and computer, so hopefully as we head northwards we will be able to stay in contact with family and friends more often.  Hope all following our blog are well and happy!