Karratha, WA, Australia
It was stinking hot today and dressed only in singlet and shorts, I thought I was going to bake as we walked into the Karratha Tourist Information centre. Hmm, a middle-aged bloke should know better and come prepared with different clothes.
Today’s excursions were to visit the historic towns of Roebourne and Cossack and lunch at the pub bistro in Point Samson whilst watching out for whales. First stop, Roebourne visitor centre in the old gaol.
Roebourne’s a former gold rush town and one that was once the largest settlement between Perth & Darwin. Today it’s a sad shell of its once former glory and not a town that is particularly inviting. We’ve visited some pretty rough sort of outback towns on our travels but Roebourne just feels worn out and dirty. The visitor’s centre was an interesting stop, learning a little about the settlement and the history, particularly the indentured indigenous labourers, who if weren’t prepared to work as instructed were gaoled! Not a proud time in our history and the treatment of the blacks up here is something that seems to have gone unnoticed everywhere else? It was a very rough place to be an aboriginal I’m afraid.
A short drive around Roebourne was enough to make us head to Point Samson for lunch. In stark contrast to Roebourne and only 10 minutes away, Point Samson boasts two new caravan parks and a big pub. Nothing else but a few homes that I could see, so it was fish and chips for lunch under the pub verandah looking out over the shipping lanes watching whales breach. Still quite a distance out to sea but great to see all the same and the fish and chips were great too.
Honeymoon Cove, a small sheltered beach in Point Samson was the perfect place for Lyn to learn to snorkel. I was initially concerned as she doesn’t like to put her face in the water. I couldn’t have been more wrong, she’s now a convert and quite proficient. All ready for our trip to Ningaloo Reef. I wasn’t so lucky. Knowing how to snorkel, I decided I’d swim out to Lyn and make sure she was aware of the oyster shells under the water. She was, I wasn’t and now I have a cut on my foot that’s wrapped up and sore…
Cossack was a great little place. I didn’t see Rasputin performing the Hopak with arms crossed and silly woolly hat but I did see where Australia’s pearling industry began. There are only two permanent residents of Cossack now but in the early 1870s, there were over a thousand people employed working on 60 pearl luggers. As the pearl beds became overworked, the industry moved onto Broome in the early 1900s and given the harbour couldn’t handle large vessels the town quickly declined.
Today there is a collection of heritage-listed buildings including the courthouse, customs house, school building and gaol. All of these are great and we meandered around the streets of Cossack for quite a while reading the informative signs before heading back to Karratha for the day’s ice cream.
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