Morning Came the 36th and 37th Days

 We knew we were in for a walk. The Tourist Info Centre was a 3.5km walk to start, and frankly was not worth the effort. As you can see, out of town !

But it gave us a chance to see some of the delightful architecture in the town, which was only built mid 60s. 

The new Health Campus- great facility but a shortage of Drs.

Even the bridges are attractive. If course, there's plenty of metal in this town!

The canopy of the walkway, Performing Arts Centre.

Luke was keen to visit a notable rock art site so booked a tour.  Not realising how far out it was, we ended up having to get a taxi both ways which to say the least  was not economical! We were disappointed with the actual tour although the site itself was amazing. The tour added little to the comprehensive intepretative signs around the site. The two indigenous women who did the tour were pleasant- the upside was we got some insight into  how they live and work in the town and their challenges.

A whole art gallery! Our tour guides below.

So despite the expenditure, we knew we had to do something different to  make our stop here worthwhile. We knew there were more underlying stories. So we did what worked in Tas.- found a personalised tour guide. Neil from Pilbarra 4WD Tours was invaluable. We covered pastoral settlement, including the role and abuse of the indigenous at Cossack. Sampson Point was Geology, fishing, early administration and the Leprosarium.

This was an area where the Indigenous were chained and retained for trying to escape from forced setvitude. A sad saga. 

Luke and Neil outside the Bond Store at Pt. Samson. At last we got to see some of the mega port infrastructure. On the horizon we counted 13 ships waiting.

Then, via Wickham, we visited the Salt Farm lookout and Dampier.

Vessels are loading. On this peninsular there is gas production as well as the port activity. Neil took us back to his home for coffee before dropping us and our bags in town around 6.  Not bad for what was supposed to be a 4.5 hr tour from 10am!

Just enough time to visit the Performing Arts Centre, have a bite and catch the bus at 8pm.

This art work hung over the stairs. As I walked under there was a water soundscape activated.In the foyer was some of the best indigenous art of this trip.  This piece caught my eye., the background was delicately intricate.

This time we didn't have the luxury of a double seat each on the bus- too many passengers! We didn't sleep that much as despite the darkness there was lots to see. Port Hedland didn't appear to sleep either. With three different pick-up points there we saw a fair slice including right out on the harbour. Confirmed it was a fascinating area but glad we had decided not to stay. A different end to our 37th day.