Oz Trip - Day 124

Day 124 – 2/9/2012 – Dampier day trip

The first thing that struck us on the way to Dampier was the massive amount of road construction that was going on. They were in the process of constructing a divided dual lane carriage way from Karratha to Dampier. To put that into a bit of context for the people at home, it is the same as building a divided dual lane carriage way from Bundaberg to Bargara!

The massive amount of roadworks

The Loch Ness Monster hazard also along the road

Also while travelling along this road we measured the length of one train at 2.8km long.

Notice the 3 engines at the front. There were also some engines in the middle and at the end

The first stop in Dampier was the Red Dog memorial.

From there it was off to a lookout to get a bit of a higher view of Dampier.

And then down to a patch of green beside the water for smoko.

Talk about a land of contrasts

After smoko it was a bit more exploring around the town.

One of the many ports in the distance

Then a drive up to Withnell Bay.

Withnell Bay

On the way to Withnell Bay you have to go past the North West Oil and Gas processing plant. It is the biggest in Australia. The size of it is just unbelievable, it really needs to be seen in person to believe how big it actually is. The noise from the gas flares is also unbelievable. It sounds like jet engines constantly running. The processing plant photo is at about 180deg from the Withnell Bay photo above.

From there it was off to check out Hearson Cove to see if it would be a viable place for a swim if we had time over the next couple of days.

Yep - definably worth a swim!