Life in Dampier…..while we wait

 

Dampier has been quite a pleasant place to pass time while we wait for our visa date to arrive. Unfortunately though the bus driver changed and the new guy actually asked to see our concession cards !If we want to go into Karratha now it will cost us $11 each! Not a problem though as we are now considered locals and able to get a lift in with Matt who is a liveaboard here and getting his yacht ready to set sail, or we can borrow the yacht club ute, which is very kind of them.

A friend from FSC, John Bullock flew up here last weekend to see us and Chris & Phil on Basanti. Of course the first attraction we showed him was Friday night at the yacht club.

The following day we all jumped in Johns hire car and took the opportunity of having a look around.

Our day out took us out to the Burrup Peninsular and the North West Shelf Venture Visitors Centre but unfortunately it was closed on Saturdays! However we were able to see the massive Gas Terminal where the gas is piped ashore and loaded. The flare towers are burning constantly 24/7 which seems to me an awful lot of waste of energy  plus just what is it doing to our atmosphere?

Our next stop was the little settlement of Cossack. Originally settled in the 1850’s for the pearl diving industry. Recently restored the buildings are very quaint and we were lucky to be there at the same time as an art exhibition displaying some very nice paintings from local artists.

For lunch we went to Point Samson as we had heard the fish & chips were the best in the area. It surprised us how built up the place was and how busy too. I would assume that maybe the locals here are working at Port Lambert where the ships load iron ore?

Back at the anchorage in Dampier we have been busy socialising with other cruising yachts passing through. So it has meant happy hours have grown in size and it has been quite enjoyable sharing information over a drink or two.

We are just about ready to make our trip to Indonesia. The boat is restocked and refuelled. The storm sails are hanked on…. just incase. (I suppose its better they are on deck than under the bed!) Just the oil to change in the motor and all jobs are done. We have certainly seen the weather settle into more of a winter pattern in the few weeks we have been here and we are confident that we will get some nice weather when we leave. Our visa starts on the 19th  so we will be looking at weather pattern from next weekend and hopefully we may get away around 13/14th Aug.

Watch this space………..