Exploring the Pilbara

No wonder some of you think I'm always on holidays~ it's all I ever write about! Last term was a busy term for me, and I spent a lot of time in front of the computer preparing reports for the end of semester one. I also tried to meet with as many of my students' parents as possible before reports were sent home, so there would be no surprises. I simply didn't have the time or the motivation to write anything for the blog. We'll see if things slow down a bit in Term 3, which is ten weeks long.

The first two weeks have passed rather quickly. We had two days of professional development to start, with some sessions on the new Australian Curriculum for English and Maths (Each state in Australia used to have its own curriculum, however they are currently transitioning to a country-wide curriculum, which means I am teaching AC English, Maths and History (Social Studies), but Western Australian Syllabus Art, Technology & Enterprise and Health). We also had the opportunity to check out the new Leisureplex, a $63.7 million dollar recreation facility that boasts a 25m pool, a 50m pool, a splash park, a variety of different indoor and outdoor sport courts (we played badminton and beach volleyball), glow in the dark mini golf, a fitness centre and a cafe. I had gone to the open house at the end of June and it really is quite spectacular, especially for a town the size of Karratha (population ~20 000). It is similar to the Terwillegar Rec Centre, although a bit smaller and the pools are outdoors. They also held an outdoor concert during opening weekend featuring Pete Murray, a well known Australian singer songwriter. It was a unique concert experience as we sat in plastic lawn chairs on the outdoor basketball court- can't say I've done that before! The remaining three days with the kids went by fast. I got my first birthday gift from a student (it's the first time my birthday was (almost) during the term- it was on the Saturday after term 2 was over), which was very sweet. It felt a bit odd to be teaching in July, but then it felt odd to be teaching in February when it was 40 degrees Celsius outside too.

Source

The beginning of July meant my parents were making the long haul flight to come visit me in Australia. They left Edmonton on June 29 on the first of five flights to Karratha. After flying through Calgary, Los Angeles, Sydney and Perth, where they had two days to walk around and see the sights, they finally made it the evening of July 3. Still a little jet-lagged, we had a good catch up over dinner, although Mom fell asleep looking at my photographs of New Zealand on my laptop! The following day I had to work, so they explored Karratha on foot until I arrived home just after 3pm. We set off for Deep Gorge to check out the Indigenous rock art found there. I had been the week before on my own and had spotted maybe a dozen or so petroglyphs, but with Mom and Dad we found way more. Dad was like a mountain goat, climbing up on the rocks to get better photographs and he seemed to enjoy it much more that I had thought he would. There were a couple of Grey Nomads (Australia's equivalent to Canada's Snowbirds) there as well, and everybody was pointing out what they saw to the others.

 Handprints

 Reminds me of a scarecrow

 A boomerang

 A turtle

Leaving the Gorge, we saw some euros (defined as a stocky kangaroo by the Karratha Visitor Centre), which were the first native animals my parents had seen since arriving in Australia. Very exciting, but they were very quick~ Dad might have caught a picture, but I certainly didn't (didn't help that I was driving)! We continued down the road to the shelly beach at Hearson's Cove, which Mom really loved. It was already dusk and we didn't stay long. Driving back past Deep Gorge, I spotted something moving across the road~ it was an echidna! Echidnas are egg laying mammals of the monotreme order, as are platypuses. I had seen them before, in Tasmania and Victoria, but several Australians have told me they've never seen one, so that made it even more special. It kept burrowing its head, but if we were still it would pop its head out and progress a little further. Very cute!

Our echidna!

The next day we headed off to Point Samson, 50 kilometres east of Karratha. We had Honeymoon Cove all to ourselves, quite a change from the last time I had been there in March when it was packed. Someone had left what looked like a petrified fish on one of the wooden fence posts. It was leathery and a bit square shaped. The picture doesn't do it justice.

We also went to Point Samson Beach where Dad dipped his feet wet in the Indian Ocean for the first time. Afterwards we headed to Tata's for lunch~ chicken fajitas for Mom and I and fish fajitas for Dad. Sorry, Danielle Sasaki, no food pictures, although they looked amazing and tasted delicious!

We checked out Cossack, an historical town with many restored buildings dating from the late 19th century. The Pilbara gold rush brought thousands of fortune seekers here, and pearling used to be a big industry before it moved further north to Broome. My students had come here on an all-day field trip in year 3 to learn about the history of the area. It reminds me a bit of Fort Edmonton, but only because the buildings have all been restored~ there aren't any interpreters (I don't think, maybe they do something with school programs that I haven't heard about).

We then drove past Karratha and headed to Dampier which, according to last year's census data, is the richest town in Australia with 22% of households earning $4000 or more per week (Karratha, by the way, is second with 19% of households earning $4000 or more per week). It is the world's second largest bulk export port, exporting iron ore, salt and liquified natural gas, among other things. It is also home to the famous Red Dog, a Kelpie cross famous for hitching rides and travelling all over the Pilbara (the region on North West Australia where Karratha and Dampier are found). Nicole had taken me to see the Red Dog statue in Dampier in March, but I still hadn't seen the 2011 movie (remedied the following night, thanks to Leesa). We stopped at the statue, took the requisite photo, made a loop around town and ended up at the palms.

Back in March, with temps close to 40, Red Dog was HOT!

The palms~ hard to see in this photo, but there's a lovely patch of grass underneath, great for sun baking, reading a good book, hanging out with friends...

We drove out to Milstream Chichester National Park on Saturday. I hadn't yet been, but had heard good things about Python Pool, so off we went. Two hours later (and after stopping to take pictures of termite mounds), we found ourselves at Mount Herbert, a must climb for my father, whose name is Herbert. Thankfully for my Dad, Australian mountains are very short and we summited in less than 15 minutes (oh, how I miss hiking in the Rockies!). Great views from the top though, I do love the contrasting colours of the Pilbara. Python Pool was our lunch stop. It was a tranquil spot that we had all to ourselves, at least until the five Grey Nomads arrived. Driving back we stopped at Miaree Pool for a quick look (I can see why kids would love it during the hot summer months), and then parked at the Leisureplex so we could climb the hill behind for a sunset view of Karratha. 

Standing in front of a termite mound

Herbert about to summit his namesake

View from the top

Python Pool

Karratha~ My house is somewhere in the centre

We returned home and settled in to watch Red Dog. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would, might even have to buy it as my souvenir of the Pilbara. If you're looking for a good Australian film, I definitely recommend it. It's actually available at the Edmonton Public Library, Jay Shack and Ray Tubbs! Check it out, you'll be able to see the region where I've been living the last six months!

In the morning, after packing, we were invited to my friend Robyn's house for morning tea. Robyn is an amazing quilter and I thought Mom would like to see some of her work (I wish I had a photo to show you, they are works of art). Robyn's husband Gary and my Dad talked on one end of the table while the women chatted about travel, family, quilts and fabric. Seeing Robyn's sewing room with the variety of fabrics, as well as her finished quilts (especially the one she made after travelling through the Kimberley) inspired Mom to pick up some Indigenous art fabric from a store in Alice Springs, something she's never done before. I'm looking forward to seeing what she creates with it. Thanks Robyn and Gary for the lovely visit!

The first part of our four part holiday was over. We had a 1:30 flight out of Karratha to Brisbane, via Perth of course. We had a three day sailing trip in the beautiful Whitsundays booked for Tuesday and I, for one, couldn't wait to set sail. Thanks, Jenny, for getting us to the airport in time and for picking me up at the end of my holiday as well. It was over much too quickly!