DAY 50 – Karratha

Good Morning Karratha!
 
Low 15°c (59°F) – High 25°c (77°F)
85km
 
While having his morning coffee – Shane announced a useless fact alert - In 2011 in the USA 1/3 of all divorce filings contained the word “Facebook”.  The fact that he learned this fact ON Facebook is somewhat ironic I think.
 
Thankfully Miss Kitty woke up early this morning so getting her under the shower for a bath was fairly easy.  All clean and dry once again, poor thing must feel so much better as the red dust and dirt was making her quite itchy.
 
But oh my – the Wind!  We had to take the awning down as the wind was getting stronger and the last thing we need right now is to have to replace it or continue our trip without one.  Thankfully all of the washing dried but the amount of tiny gumnuts that had blown onto our site from a nearby tree was amazing.  I swept them off and just hoped that the supply had run out.
 
After a quick lunch we headed out to see the sights.  Our original plan was to go to Roebourne but in the end we went the opposite way to Dampier with the intention of checking the caravan park and surrounds.
 
Dampier is a major industrial port in the Pilbara region with a population of around 1200 people.  Dampier Port is part of the Dampier Archipelago and is primarily a port for the export of iron ore from Rio Tinto mines, LNG and salt. The port services petrochemical, salt, iron ore and natural gas export industries. Rio Tinto exports large volumes of iron ore through the port. It’s a strange little town – especially when it comes to mowing grass which appears to be one of the last priorities for many of the homes there.  Large complexes of two storey units are dotted throughout the town, many of them sporting mining vehicles in the carports.  The waterfront area is nicely designed with a large playground and small beach area.
 
We drove around to the North West Shelf Gas plant and further around the coastline to Hearson’s Cove, a nice little beach with undercover picnic tables and a shelly sand that vehicles could drive onto.
 
The caravan park, while small, is pretty much right across the road from the beach but on enquiry, bookings are all done in a separate office by phone and there is no water or sullage hookup - just power.  For the price of a site it really wasn’t worth it and we got to see what Dampier had to offer anyway.
 
Karratha, population almost 17,500, was established in 1968 to accommodate the workforce of the Hamersley Iron mining company and later the petroleum and liquefied natural gas operations of the North West Shelf Venture. The city's name comes from the cattle station of the same name, which derives from a word in a local Aboriginal language meaning "good country" or "soft earth".  The city is roughly rectangular in layout and is located on flat land adjacent to Nickol Bay. Tidal salt flats and areas of mangrove separate the city from the sea. Immediately to the rear of the city (south) lies a line of low hills.  Karratha's economic base includes the iron ore operations of the Rio Tinto Group, sea-salt mining, ammonia export operations, North West Shelf Natural Gas Project, Australia's largest natural resource development, the newest Natural Gas Project called Pluto LNG which is situated adjacent the existing North West Shelf LNG facility and Ammonia/Technical Ammonium Nitrate production facility of Yara International.
 
We had hoped to find a car wash but unfortunately the only car wash in town was closed.  At least Karratha had one.  There was not one at all in Port Hedland, although given the dust it would probably be a futile effort to try to keep a car clean there anyway.  Many of the caravan parks don’t allow washing of cars or vans due to water shortages, so for the moment both car and van are looking a little unloved and there isn’t a whole lot we can do about it.
 
There is no comparison between Port Hedland and Karratha.  It is immediately obvious that there is good money in Karratha, it’s a much tidier/cleaner looking town and its layout definitely makes a lot more sense.  Interestingly there are about 3 new estates of house blocks being advertised from $95,000.  Median house pricing for Karratha is $513,000 whereas Port Hedland is $457,000 having increased by about 40% in the past year.  But the stark contrast between the two towns and the respiratory health concerns living in Port Hedland leave me wondering why – apart from work commitments – anyone would want to choose Port Hedland.
 
Back to camp we packed up outside to make the morning a bit easier.  More wind forecast for tomorrow unfortunately.