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Travelling
Australia with Wayne & Pam BENTLEY |
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THE
DAILY JOURNAL Friday 25th June 2004 to Sunday 27th June 2004 |
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After visiting Nikki, Garry and the boys (Tom and Jack) last night where we enjoyed great food and company and had a very pleasant evening, we didn't start this morning very early. After expending the energy that it required to get up and prepare ourselves for the day, we found it necessary to delay any activities until we had cooked up a breakfast of bacon, eggs, tomatoes and toast to revive and build up that energy bank again. At about 10.30am we drove out of Karratha and headed for Dampier and the Woodside Visitors Centre, about 25 kilometres away. On the way we passed through the Dampier Salt ponds and through some very red rocky hills that looked like they were part of a rock quarry, however it was all natural. We arrived at the visitors centre at about 10.50am and just after entering the building, were able to watch a big screen projection of a video made up about the development of the Woodside Liquefied Natural Gas Project. This was a very informative video and covered the discovery, development and future of the Woodside LNG project in the North West of Australia. We then strolled around the numerous displays that were provided for the visitors information. When we left the Visitors Centre, we drove into Dampier town site and had a look around the town before stopping at the 'Red Dog', which is a bronze statue of a dog that has some history in this area. We then returned to Karratha where we visited the main shopping centre again, and even though we strolled through Retravision and KMart, we did not expend too much of our hard earned income in those shops. Coles was a bit of a different matter as we did need to pick up a few more calories for the table this evening. As Garry has a work function to attend tonight, Nikki and the boys are dining with us at the caravan. We didn't make it to the Cossack or Point Sampson area today as we had planned, but there is always tomorrow.... or the next day..... or..... |
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It was great to have Nikki and the boys around for dinner last night and Tom discovered that we had the DVD 'Finding Nimo' which went down a hit, with him watching it for the second time before borrowing it so he can watch it at home for the next couple of days. This morning we had a lazy start, with Nikki, Gary and the boys coming around to the caravan park at about 10.15am, then shortly after we headed off together, 'one of us' with Nikki and the boys in their car whilst Gary and the 'other one' took the Patrol. We drove up to Roebourne and then turned off to Cossack, the historic town of the region. First we headed up to the lookout that provides views out over the ocean and down toward Point Sampson. There was a large ship sitting our in the ocean waiting to dock at Port Lambert to load iron ore. Then we drove back passed the cemetery and into the old town itself where we parked outside the Court House. It was time to start our walking tour of the old town so first up was entry into the Court House ($2 per adult, $1 per child). This building will have seen a few rouges and vagabonds pass through it's court room and there are photographs of some of the early residents of the Cossack area displayed around the walls, along with some rather old tools and household items. Enough to make one think we are better of living with today's living luxuries than it would have been back in the mid 1800's in this isolated place called Cossack. We then continued our walk around Cossack, although little Jack did shorten Nikki's tour because he figured he had seen enough. This was an interesting little historic town and gives people another glimpse of the hardships our forebears considered normal. After leaving Cossack we drove down to Point Sampson where we stopped at Moby Jacks (or something like that) and had lunch, which between all our orders consisted of fish, chips, prawns, squid rings and salad, all very nice. Then it was time to return to the caravan, which we did via Roebourne town centre and then back onto the highway to Karratha. Nikki, Gary and the boys headed off home and we put our feet up for the rest of the afternoon. Tonight is a quiet night with the two of us enjoying a few drinks before a BBQ dinner at the caravan. |
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Last night we sat quietly outside the caravan with a cold drink in our hands when we were visited by the people from the caravan next door. We ended up chatting away for a couple of hours or so and demolished another can or two during a very enjoyable evening. They moved on this morning.... maybe the neighbors were to much for them! Another slow start to the day, but after getting ourselves up and about for a while we had a very pleasant surprise in the way of a phone call from Sherri Arndt (nee Robertson) who is the daughter of great friends from our Pinjarra era. Sherri and her sisters were part of a big happy family for years and we still treasure the friendship of the whole family. We found out where Sherri lived (and it's only one street away from Nikki) then went around and enjoyed a cup of tea and a long chat with her and the children (except Brice who was not home at that time), all had bright smiles and were very polite and friendly. They all seem to love Karratha and it certainly isn't doing them any harm. Eventually we said our goodbyes as Sherri had plenty of work to catch up on and we didn't think a couple of oldies like us should add to, or delay the completion of her washing. (we didn't volunteer to do it for her either) Unfortunately we didn't get any photographs of the children, but maybe next time we pass this way we will do so. After leaving Sherri's home we drove down to the shopping centre once again and left some more hard earned cash with the shareholders of Coles Stores. Then returned to the caravan park to have a rest after such strenuous activities. Tonight we are off to 'Barnacle Bob's' restaurant in Dampier with Nikki, Gary and the boys. We have been told that it overlooks the water and is well known around here for the excellent sea food it serves up. Tomorrow we are on the move once again, heading to Onslow for the night before continuing south to Carnarvon. |
 Happy Jack  Tom on a turtle |
