Dampier...the home of Red Dog!

Seeing we only did the 80km trek to Bullara Station, we were in for a big drive today....aiming for 300kms. Due to the night before having a few drinks, l was in no mood to do school in the car, but it had to be done. Ton and Cam were quiet on the UHF, found out at our lunch stop that Tonia had been sleeping most of the way!  The drive is starting to show the red dirt of the Pilbura on the edges of the bitumen, loving the contrast of the red dirt, green bushes and blue sky.  The country side is really green thanks to the flooding rainfall they had two months prior, still surprisingly hilly, beautiful hills and ranges on the horizon.  Can tell that we're getting more up north as sightings of wedge tail eagles getting more and more.  The wing spans on them are amazing.

Some crazy person riding...

The Pilbura red dirt...

Lunch stop.....

We arrived at this roadhouse truck stop that we had thought we would stay at.  No one really liked it as there was red dust from trucks thickening in the air and it was a long way to the the toilets.  We had thought we could free camp here for two nights and check out Karratha and Dampier but didn't think would be safe to unhitch the vans.  So we backtracked 30kms south to a place called Maitland River, and as luck would have it we pulled up to find we couldn't camp here either without getting fined $1000.  On further investigation we found there was a free camp by the river on the other side of the road.  Pulled up to heaven and was free!  After setting up the boys got the fire going with the kids help. Meg and Riley were amused for over an hour trying to saw a piece of wood into bits while Jordyn and Boo role played shopkeepers on a makeshift shop set up on the rivers edge.  Shop with a waterfront, just what a girl wants!  It was an awesome bush camping place right on the river, the water pristine and clear.  Trucks passing on the nearby overpass kept tooting their horns, we all hoped it would settle at night.  We heated up the left over spag bol on the campfire, just in time for the mozzies to arrive.  So after dinner, the girls and l headed to bed.  Marty and Cam stayed up for another few hours chin wagging around the fire.  Think they needed "alone time" from their families!

Amazing the paradise's you find when you least expect it!

Jordyn and Boo with their "shops"..

Meg helping Marty collect firewood...

This kept her amused for hours!!!

Boo gets in on the action..

Boo happy with her wood cutting....

Sunset on the river....

Next morning we drove to Dampier and succumbed to paying for a site.  As we were driving into town, Marty and l were kicking ourselves that we didn't come to Karratha/Dampier for a work stop. Looks to be heaps of industry for Marty and heaps of aboriginals to keep me interested in the hospital presentations.  The town also reminded me of Broken Hill it being surrounded by huge red rock boulders and mines.  As we pulled up at Dampier Transit Caravan Park, the scenery totally took me back to Geraldton with the park overlooking a working port.  Still in love with the ships getting loaded.  We met the caretaker chick, who seemed awesome and welcoming.  The price for a site was $38 per night, not too bad really.  No water to hook up to but had it available to manually fill the tanks and it had great amenities in the shipping containers. First thing was to shower then go into Karratha to do the frantic "job list" run such as food, grog and fuel. Totally hate the job run.

Red boulders as we approaced town..

Quirky outback humor...

All set up.....

Port just over the road from caravan park.....feels like back in Gero!

Got back around 3pm all worn out, girls happy to be out of the car and they headed straight over to the trampoline and to see Bella, the caretakers long haired retriever.  I worked out l hadn't done a run in 9 days!!! So l took off, the 5km killed me but it was great to run with no head wind or huge hills.  Only small ones and loved the scenery of the ocean and the outlying 'Sam's Island'.  When l got back l was sweating like a pig, so another shower was calling me.  Two in one day!! Hilarious when you consider on average we shower every 3 days when on the road sometimes.  The day ended with dinner and drinks.  Poor Meg chucked in a wobbly. It had been a few big days for the little one and trying to keep up with the big kids all the time, she was a mess.  I took her over the road with me to take some sunset pics, after finally calming her down it was great, then she slipped on the thick slimy mud stained rocks.  Her wobbly prior was nothing to the screeching done, think everyone in Dampier would have heard her!  After calming her down yet another time, we got back, l chucked her in the shower then after dinner the girls, Jordyn, Riley, Marty and l settled into watch the movie 'Red Dog'.  Felt fitting seeing we were in its home town of Dampier.  The girls hadn't seen it yet and they totally loved it.  Meg is now obsessed with him!

Amazing Pilbura stained Corella's having a sunset snuggle...

Stunning....

Next day we took a drive straight to visit the sculpture of Red Dog.  You would have thought he was alive with the hard cuddle Meg gave him.  We did a tourist drive around town, visited the place of the highest tide change in the world at Hearsons Cove, such a beautiful spot.  The tide was out and the beach seemed to go forever before you could see the ocean.  The kids all had fun looking for shells and searching for hermit crabs.  We went up the hill to the gas plant, the kids thought it was pretty cool, the big kids too!  The visitor centre was really educational and informative, it housed a movie room and also had iPads for everyone to use which was a point and shoot thing that showed you what the parts of the gas plant were.  The kids were kept busy with a test, in which case they all got a free goodie.

Oh Red Dog....my girls love your story.....

Desert Rose...

Hearson's Cove....home of the highest tides in WA!

These two are always searching
for something....

Sea snail..

Another shelly beach!

Boo reckons they would be good false teeth one day!

Sculpture with gas plant in background.

Boys enjoying the technology with learning..

Kids loved the info centre....

Boo searching the horizon...

Local salt mine....

After lunch Marty, the girls and l headed back to Karratha to do a few things and visit the tourist information center to investigate the Milstream NP entrance road conditions.  I really wanted to head out there but the others weren't too keen.  Marty really doesn't like taking the van on dirt roads, led alone a bit of corrugation.  Lucky for everyone we were told the road was no good, so we plan to move north tomorrow and make our way to Karijini National Park in the next few days.  When we got back l did another short run, only 4kms this time.  Thought l should get a few in before being stuck in the car again in the next few days.  Marty made me a barbell for my weights out of dow which l put to use straight away.  Who needs a gym?  

That night we all took a quick drive out to a lookout for sunset.  We left a bit late but got their just as the sun was setting over the horizon.  Ton and l tried out our cameras to try and get some cool pics.  I love being with someone that has a similar interest in photography as me, learning heaps from her and DVDs.  Back at the vans we feasted on a huge curry meal that Ton had prepared earlier, totally awesome.  Unfortunately, it is still getting bloody freezing at night, so after dinner we said goodnight and headed inside.

Night view of the port across from caravan park...

Marty and l are totally loving the feel of Dampier.  We had even discussed that maybe on lap two we could consider a short work stop here.  Funny how the red dirt gets into your blood, even the local white corollas are red stained!!

Bell Xxx