By Lou: The Pilbara region is beautiful and we only scratched the surface. Karratha is a bustling mining town with lots of shops which was good for a few purchases. However upon advice from several people we stayed at a new caravan park about 40km away in Point Samson. Glad we did as although it was choc-o-block the amenities were wonderful – clean, big shower cubicles and hot water! The laundry was a war zone according to Craig, after witnessing near fisticuffs over washing machines. Sam loved the TV room and Craig and I loved the corresponding child-free time. “Be back before dark”, we instructed at 7.30am. The only kids he came across were a bunch of 5 girls at the playground and within minutes of meeting, Sam was back at camp, arms crossed and brow creased. “Girls suck”, he declares. “Get used to it, Sam”, says his father.
One good thing about being packed into Caravan Alley is that it encourages talking to your neighbours. We met Pat and Sonja and enjoyed a few chats. Pat set up his telescope one night and invited Sam and us to look at the moon. It was awesome! The moon is definitely made of cheese and it’s amazing how quickly it moves out of scope. As part of his working life Pat worked on “The Dish” as immortalised in one of our favourite movies “The Dish”. During a stint in the USA they toured and home schooled their two sons so in addition to Sonja being a former school teacher, they could sympathise with our school-on-the-road adventure.
It was only a 5 minute walk to Honeymoon Cove which was good for a dip and fossick around the rockpools.
The rock formations were awesome. 
“Gee, there must have been a fair size downward pressure to cause those patterns” says geologist Craig. We found out later they were caused by the collision of continents! Go Craig.The weather was the nicest we had experienced for a long while, warm enough to be in a t-shirt in the evening. I was so happy. A shower then a beer and nibbles in the setting sun before starting dinner. I really am a simple woman. (Please note there will be no further updates on my ‘get trim and fit’ resolution declared in Carnarvon.)
We spoiled ourselves and went to dinner at the nearby tavern on our last night and enjoyed some seafood meals. When a week later we realised we had forgotten our 9th wedding anniversary, we retrospectively nominated that as our celebration dinner.
By Craig: Like many places we venture to, it was recommended that we stay in Point Samson instead of Karratha and thank goodness we did. Karratha a mining town, over priced and packed with white vehicles with orange lights on poles but not much else. I guess living there gives you easy access to the mining areas and places like Point Samson, the Harding River and the reef on your doorstep.
I had an opportunity to put the tinny in the water and although it sounds like ‘the fish that got away’ story I managed to hook onto a Barra. As I grabbed for the rod it had almost bent in two, there was a shake of the head and my first Barra was gone well before I could set the hook. It was definitely an exciting moment unfortunately no photo and no fish but it was worth every moment of the 2 hours or so I spent on the water that afternoon.
I didn’t expect much at Roebourne and there wasn’t much to see except for an old post office building and a tour of the old prison.
Roebourne is predominately an Aboriginal town and set in vast contrast to Karratha but still worth a visit.
A drive to Dampier; a port for the mining and gas industry.
Our visit found us learning about ‘Red Dog’ the Pilbara wanderer. Apparently the dog wandered from one home to another and was quite the celebrity, enough so the town made a monument to the dog.
Another point of interest was the gas plant on the Burrup Peninsular. While out on our day trip we went to Hearson’s Cove, as we arrived we marvelled at the piles of iron ore rocks which appeared to be waste heaps.
Never one to miss an opportunity the local sand hills were a good 4wd break from the black seal.
A day trip to the nearby historic town of Cossack found remenant buildings of yesteryear.
Back at the caravan park the ever socialite Sam had invited himself over to the next door neighbour who had set up his telescope. Well, two can play at that and I’m not missing out so upon an invite over I went for a look. The moon has a curious appeal to it when looking at in any way but up close it is a spectacular sight.
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