Pilbara - Point Samson & Cossack

On our way down to Karatha we stopped into the Whim Creek pub which is in the middle of nowhere for a couple of beers, it is said that if you do not have a drink here you will inevitably break down, so what could we do? It is also rumoured to have a ghost haunting the upstairs rooms and was once home to a beer swilling camel which needed to be relocated with cirrhosis of the liver.

The ghosts name is Thomas and was a former patron who was murdered in the pub. There is also a bird named after the the ghost, who loves to dance an kept the kids entertained for ages.

It cost only $10 to stay but the girls were a little scared. We ended up pushing on and staying for a few nights at Point Samson. Point Samson is 1500km north of Perth and was a sleepy fishing village but is fast expanding to accommodate holidaying miners and tourists.

It is a great fishing spot and you can snorkel the shallow waters straight off the beach.

We took a day trip from Point Samson to the ghost town Cossack. Cossack is a former pearling town (before the entire stocks were plundered and the pearlers moved north to Broome).

There are many finely restored buildings to be seen and many more are in the process of being restored.

We had to wait in Karatha for the windscreen to be shipped up from Perth so we went to watch the Melbourne cup at one of the many taverns, it was a little weird with the time difference as the pubs open at 11am and the cup starts pretty much straight away due to the time difference! Karatha is also a large mining town and we found that all accommodation is very expensive and miners will pay up to $2000 per week for a three bedroom house here! The caravan park is massive and expanding to accommodate more miners as all of the operations keep ramping up. We were cheered a little when the caravan park manager gave us some complementary meal vouchers for the miners mess for breakfast and lunch.