Day 74 - 78, Marble Bar, Tom Price, and Point Samson ( Tue 08th Sept - Sat 12th Sept )

Marble bar

The 206 kilometer drive to Marble Bar was pretty easy, and sealed all the way,we had to double back a little to get on the road but considering the distance we had traveled so far 50 kilometers was not a problem.
Marble Bar is famous for two things, its extreme temperatures and the local rock formations.







At Marble bar the choice of accommodation is not great so we stayed at the caravan park, or should I say the Only caravan park which was pretty nice really.

There is one pub in town, The Iron Clad Hotel in town is an interesting pub, there are two theories regarding it's name, one is that its named because of the steel cladding, the other is its named after a mine that used to be in the area.
We had a drink there and saw some interesting characters while we were there.

Rock Formations

Marble Bar Rock Formations

A little way out of town you can see the Jasper formations the town is named after, at first glance they are not that impressive but up close, and especially with some water on the rock the colors can be spectacular.

Injury from rock fragment 

Also out of town there is the only spot where you can collect some samples of rock, its basically a dump point for the mines rubbish rock but there are some fragments of nice rock to be had if you are keen to chip away.





Word of warning though, Do Not belt the rock with a big hammer as shards of sharp rock do fly off.

Secret WWII Airbase

About 35 kilometers out of town   along a good dirt road at Corunna Downs are the remains of a Secret WWII Airbase, the only thing that is really visible there is the air strip which I presume has been maintained a bit, you can get a brochure on the place with a photograph that shows where the various components of the base were situated and at some of those spots there is a hint of what it used to be like.

The history of the base is pretty interesting so I think its worth the drive out there for a look.

Comet Gold Mine

A few kilometers on the way out of town towards Tom Price you will find a museum at the old Comet Gold Mine, its worth a little look, lots of history on the wall sand good displays of rock,gems,ore etc.

Its a $3.00 PP entry fee and the old bloke that runs it is pretty knowledgeable about the history of Marble Bar and surrounds, he is a bit cranky though.

We enjoyed our visit to Marble Bar, and its not really that far out of the way.

Tom Price

Leaving Marble Bar we headed to Karijinie NP, the drive there was about 200 kilometers and we pulled into the Dales campground about 1400 hrs.
We did not know too much about the campground but found out that it was not going to be ideal for us, issues for us were the fact that there was NO water of any sort available, and we were advised that the only sites left were in the words of the lady "a little rocky" but she said that other people in campers didn't seem to mind.
We paid and went to the site, "a little rocky" was the understatement of all time, we decided that rather than risking damaging the floor of the tent we would go elsewhere, back at the booking office I informed that there was no refund, not happy at all about that but I didn't feel like arguing with the lady about it, win some lose some I guess.

From there it was 80 kilometers to Tom Price, an easy drive on sealed road.

Tom Price is a mining town on the edge of the Hamersley Range, its claim to fame is that its the highest town above sea level in WA.
The caravan Park there was OK, pretty cheap,some grass, and reasonable toilets and showers.

Karijinie

We did a day trip to Karijinie from Tom Price which under normal circumstances should have been only 70 kilometers away, unfortunately we missed the turn off and ended up at a little place called Paraburdoo, which was nice but added quite a few kilometers to our drive to Karinjinie.

We spent the day looking at the park and visiting a couple of the gorges and swimming, it was nice that's for sure but if truth be told we were all a bit Gorged Out,we have see a lot of them in the last 12 weeks.

Point Samson

The Rio Tinto Access Road

After looking at route options regarding getting to Point Samson back on the coast we decided to do the Rio Tinto Railway Access Road, it is 300 - 400 kilometers shorter than the other two options both of which a sealed all the way.

To do the access road you have to do an induction coarse at the information centre in Tom Price, it consists of a DVD to watch and a gold coin donation, watching the DVD you get the feeling that they are trying to scare you into going another way because its all doom and gloom and death on the access road.

We decide to risk dying on the road regardless and headed off, the road is unsealed for about 100 kilometers but in very good condition, it follows the train track, at times only a few meters from the trains which was pretty cool we thought.

They have a few rules which they enforce including an 80 kph limit, no adult occupants to be over point 05, and headlights on to name a few.

The drive was easy, so glad we chose that way and would recommend to others going from Tom Price to Karatha, the road comes out on the coast just south of Karatha and its only a short drive to Point Samson from there.

At Point Samson we stayed at the Cove CP, 

Cossack

Cossack is an historic ghost town only a few minutes drive from Point Samson, the old buildings there have been restored and are worth a look, there is a jetty and launching ramp there also which looked pretty popular.
You can get accommodation there in the old police station and there is a small cafe.

Ghost Town Of Cossack WA

Cossack Court House

Cossack Warehouse

Roebourne

Welcome To Roebourne

We drove into Roebourne another former gold rush town of WA, for a little look, there are some restored old buildings to look at there but the main attraction is the old Gaol which is now a museum.

The Gaol was built in 1887 and used as a prison till 1923, it was then decommissioned and used by main roads till 1975, there must have been a surge in crime then because it used as a prison again till 1984.

The Gaol is an unusual octagonal shape which apparently allowed them to house more prisoners and watch them from a central point.

Roebourne Gaol

The Old Gaol is now the Roebourne Visitor centre where you can get info on the area and buy your souvenirs, Its worth a look though, the history of the Gaol and surround is very interesting. 

Point Samson and the surrounding area was nice, in the town itself we didn't do a great deal just a rest stop really, but its a nice enough place to visit.