Himself in front of the van!
Our Stairway
View with the morning cuppa - from the van!
Low water levels in the dam.
A little oasis - the Harding River below the dam wall.
Zeds!!
My view as I write.
Place of Law Making
As if some demented artist had splashed red paint across the ranges
Dusk from the van
Sunrise - over the water!
Historical Buildings
Roebourne Township from Mt Welcome
God Forsaken!
Stark Landscapes, trains and power lines.What an interesting place! When I say ‘place’, I really refer to the general region which incorporates Wickham, Roebourne, Cape Lambert, and the heritage town of Cossack. For the sake of simplicity I will deal with each of these areas individually. Cape Lambert and Cossack we have yet to visit, so I will give you my impressions at a later date.
Roebourne – what does the term “hell hole” conjure up for you? I now know what it means to me! What a literally ‘God forsaken’ place – the Visitor Centre is situated at the old gaol – we went there two days ago and my senses are still reeling. The goal itself was bad enough, but the photos of the aboriginal people incarcerated there in ‘the long ago’ will stay with me for the rest of my life, as will the iron shackles with which they were tethered. They had thick iron bands placed around their necks. Heavy iron chains extended from the bands to be secured to the walls at night. Each chain, ring and Yale lock weighed from 2lbs 12oz to 5lbs 14oz. These chains were never used on white prisoners. From what I could determine from the attendant information, due to the fact that ‘prison labour’ was not allowed above the 26th parallel, native labour was enforced. The photos showed young strong males, tattooed with their tribal markings, all shackled together. In those days the natives were considered nothing more than sheep and were ‘sold’ with the stations along with livestock. Like our American cousins, we are very good at omitting in our own history the bad things we have done – until coming up this way I had no idea that we used the aboriginals as a captive slave force – it was never discussed in my old school days. When these poor buggers were taken to care for the white settlers, if they dared to run away back to their own people, they were hunted down and taken into custody. One can only imagine what the ‘deaths in custody’ situation was like back then. Look, I don’t want to weigh into the manifold arguments that abound about racial discrimination (both ways) or any of the rest of it – but Blind Neddy could not help but see the horror of the situation back then for the blacks that were taken in this manner. Of course, the white man’s inhumanity at the time was not restricted to black people, the so called aristocracy and upper classes of the time treated his poorer white cousins just as appallingly. Those same lower classes when finding themselves in a position of power also treated their peers with extreme viciousness whenever the situation allowed. One could take it a step further I guess and extend the morality of the time to incorporate the male genders’ opinion and treatment of the ‘fairer sex’. No amount of justification however denies the fact that the black of the day was treated abominably – of course whenever he had the chance, he understandably launched a spear or two in our direction – could you really blame him for that? After all, initially he thought we were the spirits come to walk amongst them – that must have been a terrible let down in itself! Great lot of spirits we turned out to be.
Anyway, I’m sure we all agree the situation for the aboriginals today is a very complex issue and I certainly don’t have any answers, I can only have empathy for all those on both sides, still locked into a seemingly unwinnable situation. The town (and I use the term very lightly) of Roebourne consists of a few fairly well preserved Heritage buildings, all made from stone and still quite beautiful in their own way, a collection of shacks, humpies and sheds and a few reasonably good looking homes. Interspersed amongst these various types of buildings and dwellings are numerous car bodies, mounds of debris and generally an appalling amount of rubbish. This alluring collection of debris is set amongst red, dusty, inhospitable hills capped with loose red rock. Truly a less appetising place would be hard to imagine. AND YET just down the road lies Wickham – well, perhaps it isn’t really worse, but certainly not much better.
Wickham boasts what appears to be a large aboriginal housing sector, I suspect the houses there are largely Homes West. As would be expected the homes there are all unkempt, dirty and surrounded by rubbish. I have to admit to a certain thrill of fear running through my veins as we took a wrong turn and ended up in a particularly unkempt cul de sac – locals slouched over modern but menacing looking vehicles glared at our intrusion into their world. I was happy when we managed to leave without a rock thru’ the window. So you see, I am not immune to illogical and probably unfair assessment when confronted on a personal level. There were other, better homes in Wickham, many of these seemed to be interspersed among the lesser dwellings. We even saw some homes that were quite lovingly tended – seemingly longer term residents I suppose. Wickham at least boasts a good supermarket – a Woolworths no less, and the shop stocks a good variety of fresh veggies and fruit and all the dairy was well in date – a very pleasant surprise. All the people we encountered in Wickham, regardless of colour, have been pleasant and friendly – goes to show that appearances can be deceptive. The Olympic size swimming pool there is in good nick and is free! One of the more incongruous things about these towns (and all the ones we have seen in the Territory and North West) is that they all sport wonderful vibrantly green ovals – we saw two in Roebourne!! Footy is obviously a really big thing up here, and I suspect the saviour of many a young man.
Well, that fairly neatly leads me to the Grand Final last Sat – what a debacle – I am so glad that our glorious team was not playing – what a total let-down for all the players! Of course, TBBITW is right when he says that the AFL will be the big winners with soooo much more income from a second Grand Final than would have been generated by just the one – BUT – personally I feel the system needs a bloody good overhaul and we get back to SPORT not moneymaking! Hmmm, must be a day for soap-boxes as I seem to be spending my day getting on and off mine! Sorry.So, what else, you might notice I am leaving the best till last. Next stop was Harding River Dam – we took a drive out along the 30ks of very good gravel road to see the dam. On the way, we spotted something very strange and which I have dubbed the Pilbara Panther! We still have no real idea what it was. The creature crossed the gravel road some 200 meters in front of the car, so we were unable to get a good look at it. The beast looked about the size of a brown bear, and was of similar colour. The 'panther' seemed to move in a bearlike fashion too! By the time we were paralel with where it had been, it had disappeared into thin air. I though it might be a large wild dog, but the movement was not right. They only other thing we can really think of, is perhaps it was a man, doubled over, trying to cross the road and remain unseen. Whatever it was, I guess it will forever remain a mystery. Just up the road on the other side were a group of desolate looking shelters. This area is pretty much taboo, as it is where the local indigenous people go for their 'law'. We were advised not to enter that land. The dam we understand was built to provide water for this region, sadly as we are told they have had no real rain for some 3 years, the dam itself only contained a small amount of water. Regardless of this, it was a pretty spot and trust me, one doesn’t use the word ‘pretty’ lightly around here. Impressive and rugged are usually far more appropriate. The over-flow area where the river resumes its path was green and lush and occupied by Black Swans and their cygnets. Many other water birds were swimming peacefully in the water there and the surrounds were green and almost lush. Quite a little oasis. The drive out was quite spectacular and we had wonderful views of the rock capped ranges of the area. The hills all seem to be capped with avalanches of deep red rocks – indicative of iron ore, so TBBITW tells me. The overall effect is of one of a somewhat deranged painter having sloshed deep red paint across the landscape. The country side generally is barren and inhospitable – certainly it doesn’t beckon you to linger. We were told by the lady at the Visitor Centre in Roebourne that the dam depends on cyclones for its fill – the fact that they haven’t had the benefit of a good cyclone for three years has left the dam almost bereft of water. It’s nice to know that cyclonic waters are captured and put to good use and that somewhere on the globe, people actually look forward to those deluges.
We also took a drive out along another stretch of gravel road to see the Port Walcott yacht club and fishing area – that was when I named this area “Man Land” – the terrain as I have said before is about as unhospitable as it gets, it is criss-crossed with railway lines and power poles and lines and is liberally dotted with huge vehicles, trains and machinery. All of this is decorated liberally with the figures of very tanned, mostly yellow and orange clad blokes sporting big dusty boots. Many of these blokes are behind the wheels of the manifold white utes displaying red and orange flags. No world for powder-puffs like myself here. I don’t believe I have ever seen a harder tougher place.
All of the above is what makes Point Samson so unexpected. Just around the corner from Wickham you cruise into the pretty little seaside town of Point Samson. Talk about the ridiculous to the sublime! This place sports mainly beautiful new homes, surrounded by lush gardens and neatly curbed roads. Little parks dot the area and the whole thing is set off by a sparkling blue ocean. Truly, the ocean views here are spectacular and unusual. The bay on which we are situated is surrounded by ancient hills and the shores are protected by ragged and colourful sedimentary rocks. The layers and colours in these rocks are exceptional and startling.. It has just occurred to me to take a photo from where I am sitting writing this blog – you will see at the top of this blog two very telling photos – one out the window and the other, well.........you will see for yourself.......it would be good to be able to add the sound track for the second photo! Just imagine a whole heap of zeds emanating from that scene. Anyway, I digress! I am not sure that you can apply the word pretty to the scenery even here, stunning is probably more apt. There are no turquoise waters or shining sands, deep blue ocean and red and chocolate coloured rocks running down to grey sandy shores – as I said, stunning more than pretty. The real estate here incidentally, should you be thinking of a nice little retirement home, runs from roughly $1m upwards.
Point Samson has a pub, a very popular fish and chip shop and a seafood restaurant – all appear to be quite good, although friends did have an altogether ordinary experience at the pub yesterday. Pretty poor fare we are told, and yet, we went for the half price T Bone on Wednesday night and were totally impressed! There is a small general store here which I haven’t explored, but am told carries very little of anything except booze.
The full moon did it’s thing on Thursday night and we took around 50 photos of the ‘stairway to the moon’ on Friday night – as you will see, the end results were not all that good – product of a very inexperienced photographer (me) and an ever so slightly inebriated photographer (not me)! I have just canned something like 15 non event photos of little yellow balls!
We have had a particularly social time here. We arrived here the same day as old friends who had been holidaying in Townsville and were heading home down the coast. They stayed for 4 days and we had a lovely catch up with them which included a meal at both the pub and the fish and chip place. The day they left, lo and behold, Hank and Yvonne from Darwin and then 80 Mile arrived, so back out with the chairs, the drinks and the nibblies! We have so far extended 4 times and are now set to leave here Monday next (Oct 4th). Guess that says a bit about the place!
We are at the Cove Caravan Park and have to say it is excellent and it’s also Dog Friendly. The park is only a couple of years old, the ablutions are exceedingly good and immaculately kept, the sites are all concrete and grass and the gardens are well on the way. The park is a little bare as all the trees are still small, but the views make up for that. As usual we have one of the best bays in the park with uninterrupted views of the ocean – can’t be all bad!! We are told that in peak season, June, July and August, it is almost impossible to find a bay here and they turn vans away in droves. Just now tho’, there are plenty of empty spaces despite school holidays. The first few days we were here the wind just blew and blew, but now, the weather is spectacular. The temps are probably around the low 30s and the nights are reasonably comfortable. Soft land breezes waft thru’ in the morning and fairly brisk sea breezes blow away the heat in the afternoons. The evenings are balmy and it is delightful for sitting outside, providing you can withstand the many midges, mozzies and sandflies.
The place is totally back to front tho’, the sunrise is over the water and the sunset is over the land! It is really screwing with my head (dangerous considering the state of my brain) and I just cannot seem to get my head around it. We are back in WA and yet everything is around the wrong way.
Roebourne – what does the term “hell hole” conjure up for you? I now know what it means to me! What a literally ‘God forsaken’ place – the Visitor Centre is situated at the old gaol – we went there two days ago and my senses are still reeling. The goal itself was bad enough, but the photos of the aboriginal people incarcerated there in ‘the long ago’ will stay with me for the rest of my life, as will the iron shackles with which they were tethered. They had thick iron bands placed around their necks. Heavy iron chains extended from the bands to be secured to the walls at night. Each chain, ring and Yale lock weighed from 2lbs 12oz to 5lbs 14oz. These chains were never used on white prisoners. From what I could determine from the attendant information, due to the fact that ‘prison labour’ was not allowed above the 26th parallel, native labour was enforced. The photos showed young strong males, tattooed with their tribal markings, all shackled together. In those days the natives were considered nothing more than sheep and were ‘sold’ with the stations along with livestock. Like our American cousins, we are very good at omitting in our own history the bad things we have done – until coming up this way I had no idea that we used the aboriginals as a captive slave force – it was never discussed in my old school days. When these poor buggers were taken to care for the white settlers, if they dared to run away back to their own people, they were hunted down and taken into custody. One can only imagine what the ‘deaths in custody’ situation was like back then. Look, I don’t want to weigh into the manifold arguments that abound about racial discrimination (both ways) or any of the rest of it – but Blind Neddy could not help but see the horror of the situation back then for the blacks that were taken in this manner. Of course, the white man’s inhumanity at the time was not restricted to black people, the so called aristocracy and upper classes of the time treated his poorer white cousins just as appallingly. Those same lower classes when finding themselves in a position of power also treated their peers with extreme viciousness whenever the situation allowed. One could take it a step further I guess and extend the morality of the time to incorporate the male genders’ opinion and treatment of the ‘fairer sex’. No amount of justification however denies the fact that the black of the day was treated abominably – of course whenever he had the chance, he understandably launched a spear or two in our direction – could you really blame him for that? After all, initially he thought we were the spirits come to walk amongst them – that must have been a terrible let down in itself! Great lot of spirits we turned out to be.
Anyway, I’m sure we all agree the situation for the aboriginals today is a very complex issue and I certainly don’t have any answers, I can only have empathy for all those on both sides, still locked into a seemingly unwinnable situation. The town (and I use the term very lightly) of Roebourne consists of a few fairly well preserved Heritage buildings, all made from stone and still quite beautiful in their own way, a collection of shacks, humpies and sheds and a few reasonably good looking homes. Interspersed amongst these various types of buildings and dwellings are numerous car bodies, mounds of debris and generally an appalling amount of rubbish. This alluring collection of debris is set amongst red, dusty, inhospitable hills capped with loose red rock. Truly a less appetising place would be hard to imagine. AND YET just down the road lies Wickham – well, perhaps it isn’t really worse, but certainly not much better.
Wickham boasts what appears to be a large aboriginal housing sector, I suspect the houses there are largely Homes West. As would be expected the homes there are all unkempt, dirty and surrounded by rubbish. I have to admit to a certain thrill of fear running through my veins as we took a wrong turn and ended up in a particularly unkempt cul de sac – locals slouched over modern but menacing looking vehicles glared at our intrusion into their world. I was happy when we managed to leave without a rock thru’ the window. So you see, I am not immune to illogical and probably unfair assessment when confronted on a personal level. There were other, better homes in Wickham, many of these seemed to be interspersed among the lesser dwellings. We even saw some homes that were quite lovingly tended – seemingly longer term residents I suppose. Wickham at least boasts a good supermarket – a Woolworths no less, and the shop stocks a good variety of fresh veggies and fruit and all the dairy was well in date – a very pleasant surprise. All the people we encountered in Wickham, regardless of colour, have been pleasant and friendly – goes to show that appearances can be deceptive. The Olympic size swimming pool there is in good nick and is free! One of the more incongruous things about these towns (and all the ones we have seen in the Territory and North West) is that they all sport wonderful vibrantly green ovals – we saw two in Roebourne!! Footy is obviously a really big thing up here, and I suspect the saviour of many a young man.
Well, that fairly neatly leads me to the Grand Final last Sat – what a debacle – I am so glad that our glorious team was not playing – what a total let-down for all the players! Of course, TBBITW is right when he says that the AFL will be the big winners with soooo much more income from a second Grand Final than would have been generated by just the one – BUT – personally I feel the system needs a bloody good overhaul and we get back to SPORT not moneymaking! Hmmm, must be a day for soap-boxes as I seem to be spending my day getting on and off mine! Sorry.So, what else, you might notice I am leaving the best till last. Next stop was Harding River Dam – we took a drive out along the 30ks of very good gravel road to see the dam. On the way, we spotted something very strange and which I have dubbed the Pilbara Panther! We still have no real idea what it was. The creature crossed the gravel road some 200 meters in front of the car, so we were unable to get a good look at it. The beast looked about the size of a brown bear, and was of similar colour. The 'panther' seemed to move in a bearlike fashion too! By the time we were paralel with where it had been, it had disappeared into thin air. I though it might be a large wild dog, but the movement was not right. They only other thing we can really think of, is perhaps it was a man, doubled over, trying to cross the road and remain unseen. Whatever it was, I guess it will forever remain a mystery. Just up the road on the other side were a group of desolate looking shelters. This area is pretty much taboo, as it is where the local indigenous people go for their 'law'. We were advised not to enter that land. The dam we understand was built to provide water for this region, sadly as we are told they have had no real rain for some 3 years, the dam itself only contained a small amount of water. Regardless of this, it was a pretty spot and trust me, one doesn’t use the word ‘pretty’ lightly around here. Impressive and rugged are usually far more appropriate. The over-flow area where the river resumes its path was green and lush and occupied by Black Swans and their cygnets. Many other water birds were swimming peacefully in the water there and the surrounds were green and almost lush. Quite a little oasis. The drive out was quite spectacular and we had wonderful views of the rock capped ranges of the area. The hills all seem to be capped with avalanches of deep red rocks – indicative of iron ore, so TBBITW tells me. The overall effect is of one of a somewhat deranged painter having sloshed deep red paint across the landscape. The country side generally is barren and inhospitable – certainly it doesn’t beckon you to linger. We were told by the lady at the Visitor Centre in Roebourne that the dam depends on cyclones for its fill – the fact that they haven’t had the benefit of a good cyclone for three years has left the dam almost bereft of water. It’s nice to know that cyclonic waters are captured and put to good use and that somewhere on the globe, people actually look forward to those deluges.
We also took a drive out along another stretch of gravel road to see the Port Walcott yacht club and fishing area – that was when I named this area “Man Land” – the terrain as I have said before is about as unhospitable as it gets, it is criss-crossed with railway lines and power poles and lines and is liberally dotted with huge vehicles, trains and machinery. All of this is decorated liberally with the figures of very tanned, mostly yellow and orange clad blokes sporting big dusty boots. Many of these blokes are behind the wheels of the manifold white utes displaying red and orange flags. No world for powder-puffs like myself here. I don’t believe I have ever seen a harder tougher place.
All of the above is what makes Point Samson so unexpected. Just around the corner from Wickham you cruise into the pretty little seaside town of Point Samson. Talk about the ridiculous to the sublime! This place sports mainly beautiful new homes, surrounded by lush gardens and neatly curbed roads. Little parks dot the area and the whole thing is set off by a sparkling blue ocean. Truly, the ocean views here are spectacular and unusual. The bay on which we are situated is surrounded by ancient hills and the shores are protected by ragged and colourful sedimentary rocks. The layers and colours in these rocks are exceptional and startling.. It has just occurred to me to take a photo from where I am sitting writing this blog – you will see at the top of this blog two very telling photos – one out the window and the other, well.........you will see for yourself.......it would be good to be able to add the sound track for the second photo! Just imagine a whole heap of zeds emanating from that scene. Anyway, I digress! I am not sure that you can apply the word pretty to the scenery even here, stunning is probably more apt. There are no turquoise waters or shining sands, deep blue ocean and red and chocolate coloured rocks running down to grey sandy shores – as I said, stunning more than pretty. The real estate here incidentally, should you be thinking of a nice little retirement home, runs from roughly $1m upwards.
Point Samson has a pub, a very popular fish and chip shop and a seafood restaurant – all appear to be quite good, although friends did have an altogether ordinary experience at the pub yesterday. Pretty poor fare we are told, and yet, we went for the half price T Bone on Wednesday night and were totally impressed! There is a small general store here which I haven’t explored, but am told carries very little of anything except booze.
The full moon did it’s thing on Thursday night and we took around 50 photos of the ‘stairway to the moon’ on Friday night – as you will see, the end results were not all that good – product of a very inexperienced photographer (me) and an ever so slightly inebriated photographer (not me)! I have just canned something like 15 non event photos of little yellow balls!
We have had a particularly social time here. We arrived here the same day as old friends who had been holidaying in Townsville and were heading home down the coast. They stayed for 4 days and we had a lovely catch up with them which included a meal at both the pub and the fish and chip place. The day they left, lo and behold, Hank and Yvonne from Darwin and then 80 Mile arrived, so back out with the chairs, the drinks and the nibblies! We have so far extended 4 times and are now set to leave here Monday next (Oct 4th). Guess that says a bit about the place!
We are at the Cove Caravan Park and have to say it is excellent and it’s also Dog Friendly. The park is only a couple of years old, the ablutions are exceedingly good and immaculately kept, the sites are all concrete and grass and the gardens are well on the way. The park is a little bare as all the trees are still small, but the views make up for that. As usual we have one of the best bays in the park with uninterrupted views of the ocean – can’t be all bad!! We are told that in peak season, June, July and August, it is almost impossible to find a bay here and they turn vans away in droves. Just now tho’, there are plenty of empty spaces despite school holidays. The first few days we were here the wind just blew and blew, but now, the weather is spectacular. The temps are probably around the low 30s and the nights are reasonably comfortable. Soft land breezes waft thru’ in the morning and fairly brisk sea breezes blow away the heat in the afternoons. The evenings are balmy and it is delightful for sitting outside, providing you can withstand the many midges, mozzies and sandflies.
The place is totally back to front tho’, the sunrise is over the water and the sunset is over the land! It is really screwing with my head (dangerous considering the state of my brain) and I just cannot seem to get my head around it. We are back in WA and yet everything is around the wrong way.
Well, the bloke is waiting to check the stock market, so I must hand over the modem (only Telstra here, no Optus) and so will wish you well for the short term. I will be back soon to fill you in on the Port to Port bus trip we are taking on Wednesday. Until then – be kind to each other and look after yourselves – Stephanie.
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