Day 42 Roebourne, Wickham, Cossack, Point Samson - 10/4/11

Today we explored north of Karratha as we will be heading west to Tom Price when we leave Karratha so won't see this part.

First stop was Roebourne which has a population of 1400 and is 14kms from the coast on the Harding River.  Roebourne was established in 1866 and is the oldest town on the north west coast.  There are many restored historic buildings here including the old hospital, the post office, courthouse, gaol, Holy Trinity Church and the Union Bank.  Roebourne is considered the gateway to the Pilbarra region.  The Visitor Centre (housed in the old gaol) was closed until May so we didn't get to see the museum.  Roebourne is a "dry" town because of the problems with alcohol and the indigenous people and the one hotel in the town has been closed.

Roebourne 

The old gaol which is now a visitor centre and museum 

A dry wall fence

Just down the road we turned off to Cossack which is 11kms north of Roebourne.  Cossack used to be home to the north west's first pearling industry but due to the overfishing of the pearling grounds the pearling fleet moved further north and later became established in Broome.  This move, coupled with the building of a jetty at Point Samson in 1904 to accommodate larger ships, contributed to the decline of the town which was abandoned in 1950.  The historic town is now a popular tourist destination and a few restored heritage buildings give a glimpse of what life was like more than 130 years ago.  We went to the Tien Tsin lookout with fabulous views over the coastline and you could also see a clump of palm trees which used to be an afghan camp.

The general store 

A turtle sculpture

The court house 

View from Tien Tsin Lookout

A bit further on is Wickham which is a working port town established especially to service the needs of the growing mining industry in the 1970s.  It isn't a very big town so we were surprised to see that it has a Woolworths grocery store.  There was one of the mine dump trucks on display and it was really interesting to get up close and see how big they really are.

Entry to Wickham 

Peter beside the dump truck

Next stop was Port Samson which has a population of 400 and has sandy beaches sheltered by rock outcrops which form many secluded coves.  2kms off shore is the original lighthouse which was built in 1888 and is still intact.

Amazing coloured rock near Point Samson

Then it was back to the park as Peter had to pick up the gas bottles which had been refilled and another swim for me.

After tea we wandered down to the BMX track which is right next door to the caravan park.  There was a competition on and they had over 130 riders of all ages.  It was really exciting to watch the older riders battle it out on the track.

Tomorrow we are heading off to Tom Price.

cheers
Pete and Roz