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Today we met Dampier's favourite celebrity - Red Dog. Well, at least we saw the Red Dog statue at the entrance to the town of Dampier. We took the obligatory photos (including Cadbury and Red Dog) and drove to the Burrup Peninsula where you can have a close up look at Woodside's North West Shelf Project. This is Australia's largest natural resource development, extracting petroleum (mostly natural gas and condensate) at offshore platforms. They also export liquified natural gas and produce natural gas for domestic and commercial use within WA. The site is impressive and free to visit. Other mine sites (who charge large fees for visits and tours) could take a lesson from this project as 30,000 visitors pass through each year, who potentially become positive ambassadors for this facility.
After our visit, and Cadbury a getting bit stressed being tied up outside (in the shade) we drove further up the Burrup Peninsula to Deep Gorge, now a new national park, that contains many petroglyphs of significance. The Burrup Peninsula and Dampier Archipelago contain over 10,000 rock art pieces.
Then it was time for a picnic lunch at a nearby beach before heading into Karratha to do a shop. This is a weird town as it's very spread out with suburbs either side of the highway and new houses that look kind of plastic. There is absolutely nothing to see in Karratha, so after I finished stocking up in the supermarket we headed back to Dampier in the late afternoon in time for Gadi to take the kayak out to paddle to nearby Sam's island. Interesting history, as this island was frequently visited by a Yugoslavian man called Sam, who was working as a miner nearby, and he apparently fell in love with the island. Back then it was known as Tidepole Island. He began carting over building material in a little dinghy and began building a castle on the island in 1966. A few years later he had a workplace accident and broke his back but continued to build his castle. Hamersley Iron (now Rio Tinto) leased him the land and he lived there until his death in 2005.
Another BBQ dinner after we watched the last rays of the sun disappear. Tomorrow we head south.
Night night xx
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