Delightful Dampier 

Dear all

We have now been anchored in Hampton Harbour at Dampier, not far from Karratha, for almost three weeks.   Not knowing what  to expect before we arrived, we have had a great time exploring the amazing landscape, seeing some of the Burrup rock art, and socialising with my former colleague Kevin and fellow sailors. 

We left Exmouth 24 hours after the big downpoor in very still conditions, motoring across Exmouth Gulf towards Onslow.   Apart from a narrow tongue of blue water in the middle, the whole of the Gulf was covered in orange, brakish water, such was the amount of rainfall and runoff from the area.   The orange-brown water lasted almost until we reached Onslow, late on the same day.   It was a bit surreal passing just offshore of the large Wheatstone gas plant.  Orange water and an industrial plant on one side, gas rigs looking like fighting machines from the War of the Worlds on the other - it was like we had stepped into a Sci-fi movie.

We anchored overnight just off the beach at Onslow, leaving the next morning for an overnight sail to Dampier.   Our overnight sail was quite an adventure.  As the evening darkened, we could see the glow of lights deflecting off the clouds in every direction - Barrow Island to the north, Pannawonica to the South, and Cape Preston to the East.  We made extremely good time, passing through the port area of Cape Preston at 2 am in the morning. 

Cape Preston is an iron ore exporting port where (as we subsequently found out) the iron ore is carted out to the waiting ships off the coast via large barges.   We could see a tug passing very slowly in front of us, both visually and on our AIS (a VHF based shipping information system which shows the detail of other traffic in the area).   What we did not know was that this tug was towing a large and poorly lit barge full of iron ore.  Thankfully, the tug driver called me on the radio to advise of the barge and check our intentions, so I changed course, missing the barge with sufficient clearance.    

What we did learn from this experience was the importance of calling the Port control on entering a port area to check on traffic, especially at night.  We did this on entering the Dampier port control area early the next morning  and was advised the port was clear of traffic for our entry through Mermaid Straight. We pulled into Hampton Harbour at 9 am and found a great spot to anchor amongst the work boats and other yachts.

Dampier is an amazing but rather incongruous place.   The landscape is beautiful- red rocks and hills contrasting with  lush green trees and spinnifex and the muddy blue water, but with a profusion of infratructure in every view.  At night, the sky is alight with flames and lights, looking a bit like a fun fair. 

Since arriving, we have been doing some exploring of the Burrup peninsula and beyond.  My lovely former colleague from Albany, Kevin Hopkinson, and his equally lovely wife Bec, live in Dampier and we caught up with them for dinner at the local 'yacht' club.   A few days later, Kev took us out to see some of the amazing rock art which can be found in the Murujuga National Park on the Burrup.  With Kev's local knowledge, we visited some out-of-the-way locations as well as the main tourist site.   I have included a number of photos below, which I have read are ok to share with you, and are already widely available on the internet. 

I have read that some of the rock art can be dated to more than 30,000 years ago, and includes images of thylacines and Australian megafauna - see this article on the ABC.  https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/backgroundbriefing/burrup-peninsula-rock-art-shows-extinct-megafauna/6561788

The first photo is of a numbat, which were once common in this area - amazing to think that they once populated the NW of Australia and were capture so vividly in rock art.   

The site in the last photo was incredible - Kev guided us up a narrow gully for about 15 minutes to see this amazing art, which he told us is replicated in the visitor centre.  As we turned around to return back down the gully to the car, this was the  rather contrasting view of one of the three 'waste' gas flames that burn intermittently at the two gas processing plants - a good illustration of the contrasts that can be found here.

There is a terrific transperth bus service that operates between Dampier and Point Samson, via Karratha, Roebourne and Wickham.  We used the service to get into Karratha to shop quite a few times, but one day took the full trip through to Point Samson for a seafood lunch and afternoon stroll.   It cost a miserley $13.50 for a family day pass for our day out, and it was good to check out the landscape, Roebourne etc, even if only from the bus window!

Pt Samson is adjacent to Cape Lambert, one of  Rio Tinto's iron ore export facilities, but once was the sight of a jetty originally built in 1903 through which cattle, wool and copper from surrounding pastoral stations and Whim Creek were exported.   Being destroyed by a cyclone and rebuilt in the 1930s, it went on to be the main loading and export port for blue asbestos from Wittenoom, for the State Shipping Service to deliver supplies to inland towns, and for passengers prior to airline services.  Eventually the jetty was again damaged in a cyclone and was demolished for safety reasons in 1991 and now there is only a few remnants remaining. 

We have been waiting in Karratha for delivery of a new main sail, which has now arrived - we are now hoping for some light winds in the next few days so we can install it.  We then  plan to spend a few days sailing in the Dampier archipelago to get used to how it handles, before setting off  on the next leg of our journey in a week's time.

We plan to sail directly to Broome without stopping, weather permitting.  This will be a three day sail -  our longest single passage yet!  We  may even go directly through to Beagle Bay bypassing Broome - the anchorage there is not great, and the tides make it extremely difficult to spend any time in town as the dinghy can get stranded if the timing is not right! 

We are spending the last few days in Karratha getting well stocked as we may not see another shop until we reach Darwin in early September.   We are really looking forwarding to spending time in the amazing Kimberly region, and will have lots of photos when I next update the blog from Darwin.

Finally, a big thanks to Kev for his hospitality and friendship - we have really enjoyed catching up with Bec and you, and very appreciative of your assistance in refuelling Mad Fish. 

Love to all

Naomi and S2ee