Karratha

After early sea mist, it was a bright start to the day but cloudy later with a little drizzle.
I checked out of the Hospitality Inn after a good buffet breakfast and drove back to the Great Northern Highway which passed through a lot of mining and industrial installations. After 30km, I turned off on to the North West Coastal Highway.
Eventually, I had to overtake my first road-train which consisted of the driver's cab followed by four wagons which would normally contain ore although I had seen some earlier in the trip with live animals. I'd read that you should allow at least 1km of clear road ahead of the road-train before overtaking.
The landscape was mainly flat with the occasional hill.
I turned off the Highway to visit Cossack, a deserted pearling-industry town on the coast where I consumed more of my emergency rations for lunch.
Back on the Highway, later in the afternoon, I turned off towards Karratha, but bypassed it to go past the salt pans at Dampier on to the Burrup Peninsula. At the end of the road was the Visitor Centre for the NW Gas Project run by a consortium including BP. Unfortunately, the Centre was closed but there was a view of the enormous industrial installations.
Back along the road was Murujuga NP which had not-very-clear rock engravings which could be 45,000 years old. I drove down to the coast and walked for about 40 minutes in the hills behind.
I returned to Karratha and eventually found the Latitude 20 Motel. An employee at the bar next door phoned to get the cabin number and entry code.
I had dinner in the bar where others were watching the screens for the international horse-race results. I think races in Japan and France were covered as well as Australian races. There was also betting on dog-racing and pony-and-trap racing. Some of the provincial towns had racecourses, some being dirt. I learnt that pokies are fruit machines.
Start: 15465km. Finish: 15798km. Distance travelled: 323km.Leggi altro