Dampier

We have now been in Dampier for 2 days & have had a fair chance to look around. This whole region is the financial powerhouse for this country with the massive NorthWest shelf gas & oil project & a whole series of ports all exporting iron ore in staggering quantities. The royalties from this region carry Australia.
Tomorrow we are taking a bus tour to a few local historical locations & an iron ore loading facility.

 The crazy setup where we stayed in Karratha. You can see a fence in the middle of the pictograph, with a tent just on the other side. These are slabs from where 'dongas, used to be. The caravan park has taken over the ones on the other side of the fence, while the council has the ones on this side of the fence. If you stay this side it will cost $10. If you stay on the other side, in the caravan park, you will pay $35. It was a tough descision on which side to stay.

 The statue of 'Red Dog' at Dampier. The dog on which the movie 'Red Dog' was based. It was a very good movie. We saw it a year or so ago.

 'Sams' island in Dampier harbour. A hand built castle built by an Eastern European immigrant who first paddled over to the island on a pair of 44 gallon drums in 1960.

 An octopus moving across a bit of concrete at the boat ramp.

 There are rows & rows of these abandoned accommodation units all over town. It seems a great waste.
You can buy a complete block, cheap.

 There are several salt evaporation mines in the area. The sea is very salty here. This one alone exports over 4 million tons of salt per year.

 The rail lines to the port for iron ore . The trains are 2.4k long.

 At the North West shelf gas processing plant. This is a piece of gas pipe. There are 2 lines that extend 135k out to sea to the off shore platforms. The steel is an inch thich, covered with 2 layers of bitumen & felt & that is covered by nearly 3 inches of concrete. These are then dug into the seabed for the entire distance.

 Pano of the gas processing plant.

 Pano of some sacred rocks.

 It looks like rubble pushed up by a dozer, but its all natural.

 Pano of the swimming beach.

 A salt evaporation pond.

 The view from the front of the Dampier caravan park.

 Kevin & Jo, sunset drinks in front of the caravan park.

 Another of the very colourful sunsets here. The pic really doesn't show how powerful the colours are.

 Another view of Sams' island.

 Another 'Red Dog' statue. Red Dog is very popular here.

 A memorial to the men who lost their lives during construction of the North West shelf project.

 Part of the gas processing plant.

 Some friends who came to visit this afternoon. They took bread right from my hands.

Everyone came for a feed.