{"id":5294,"date":"2022-11-15T19:33:59","date_gmt":"2022-11-15T08:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/?p=5294"},"modified":"2022-12-16T14:41:51","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T03:41:51","slug":"point-samson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/point-samson\/","title":{"rendered":"Point Samson"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Point Samson<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>
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Cossack<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>
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Wickham<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>
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Port Walcott<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>
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Staircase To The Moon<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t
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Van Site at Night<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Turtle Scultpure<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Whale Sculpture<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Fish Sculpture<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Cocktail Hour – Point Samson Tavern<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Sturt Desert Pea – Point Samson<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Historic Jetty – Point Samson<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Mangroves at the Boat Harbour<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Point Samson Boat Harbour<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Point Samson Boat Harbour<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Van Site – Point Samson<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Point Samson Coastline<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Point Samson – Coastline<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Historic Rail Carts – Point Samson<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Historic Rail Carts – Point Samson<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Historic Jetty – Point Samson<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure><\/div>\n
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After the industrial landscape of Port Hedland we continued south to Point Samson<\/a>, a small township on the coast with a tavern, a general store, a small marina and some light industry. It is a holiday\/getaway township close to Wickham<\/a> and Roebourne<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Approaching and driving through Roebourne<\/a> caused us a little bit of anxiety as a retired police officer we met in Lake Argyle said it was another place with indigenous issues and kids were known to throw rocks at passing cars. Thankfully the town was very quiet as we passed through.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Van Site – Point Samson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Our campsite was The Cove Holiday Village<\/a>, one of two van parks in Point Samson<\/a>. This park is one of the cleanest, newest looking parks we’ve stayed at. Sites are lined up in rows but are quite spacious with concrete pads, gravel and grass.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Historic Jetty – Point Samson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The park was only a short walk to the tavern, shop and the historic jetty, which looks like it was rebuilt at some point back from the water. The historic jetty looks out over the beach to the ocean and has a viewing platform at the end with a free binocular mounted for public use.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Whale Sculpture<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There is a small park area behind the tavern with some beautiful rock sculptures based on the sea life along the coast including whales, a turtle and fish reinforcing the township as a recreational destination as opposed to a nearby Wickham<\/a>, which is a service center and residential town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tides at Point Samson<\/a> are stil quite dramatic as are the sunsets. We spent a couple of evenings on the tavern verandah looking out over the bay area enjoying the happy hour and watching the sky change colour over dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Point Samson Boat Harbour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We thought we were in for another fishing bonanza because everywhere we looked there were school fish being chased by predator fish and being dive bombed by seagulls. We even saw this at Cossack<\/a>, a restored historical ghost town nearby. Alas, after getting no bites off the beach, losing a rig in the creek and getting no bites with a soft lure in the creek we decided that fresh fish was not on the menu at Point Samson<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Cocktail Hour – Point Samson Tavern<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Point Samson Tavern<\/a> is the focal point of the township and do $10 cocktails between 2:00 and 3:00, a happy hour hour between 5:00 and 6:00 and pretty good pub meals. Friday night is ‘Chase The Ace<\/a>‘ night with extended happy hour. Despite the small size of Point Samson<\/a> the tavern seems to attract a good crowd from Wickham<\/a> especially on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Sturt Desert Pea – Point Samson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We also saw some Sturt Desert Peas<\/a> growing wild along one of the Point Samson<\/a> backstreets. Despite being the floral emblem of South Australia, here in Western Australia was the only time we had seen them growing wild. The only others we had seen were some that had been planted on the streets of Alice Springs back in the Northern Territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the isolation of Barn Hill Station<\/a> and Eighty Mile Beach<\/a>, and the ‘industrialness’ of Port Hedland<\/a> it was nice to be back in a more normal town setting abeit a very small one.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>

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Tram and Telegraph Station – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Tram Line – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Historic Store – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Behind Cafe – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Cafe Garden – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Cafe Garden – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Jail Cells – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Courthouse – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Courthouse – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Customs House & Bond Store – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Settlers Beach – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Rusted Rock – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Rusted Rock – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Jarman Island – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Reader Head Lookout – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Reader Head Lookout – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Tram Station\/School – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Tien Tsin Lookout – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Tien Tsin Lookout – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Tien Tsin Lookout – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Tien Tsin Lookout – Cossack<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure><\/div>\n
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Cossack<\/a> is an historic ghost town about 30km from Point Samson<\/a>. It is the original home of the pearling industry until a cyclone wiped out the fleet and the industry was moved to Broome.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Customs House & Bond Store – Cossack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The town itself is situated at the mouth of the Harding River<\/a>, which empties into Butcher’s Inlet. There is a very pretty wharf area across from the Customs House & Bond Store where the water is very blue and also filled with bait fish being chased by bigger fish and gulls.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Tram Station\/School – Cossack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We drove up to the Tien Tsin Lookout (Tien Tsin was the original name of the town). The lookout provides a commanding view of the area and inlet. From there you could see the entire town and the surrounding scrubby landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Courthouse – Cossack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The standout features are the courthouse, which contains a small museum, the Customs House & Bond Store, the school,\/tram, post and telegraph station, Galbraith’s Store, the Police Station and Bakehouse. Unfortunately for us the coffee shop wasn’t open while we there but it was still well worth the drive to be able to wander around the various buildings, which have been extremely well restored and preserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Courthouse\/museum was sparse in terms of content but had enough items of interest to paint a picture of the early days of the town, especially it’s beginnings with pearling. The pearling industry meant that there was a sizable Chinese community at the time and there is Chinese cemetery located near Reader Head lookout that is still in good repair.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Settlers Beach – Cossack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Reader Head lookout was a good place to scout the beaches for a fishing spot and we located a nice beach nearby that had a long strip of sand and water that had a reasonable depth at casting distance. Alas it turn out to be so but the sand was the interesting feature here. The sand up to the tide line was super soft and you would sink to your ankles with every step making it quite tiring to walk along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cossack, being a ghost town, was all the more eerie for the fact that there was hardly anybody else there apart from two or three other sightseers and a couple people fishing from the wharf area. Everything is open to view but the lack of people really hits home the desolation and harshness of living in a remote place like this in the 1800’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tien Tsin Lookout – Cossack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>
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Wickham Gateway<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Outdoor Movie Screen – Wickham<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Tank Hill Lookout – Wickham<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Diesel Locomotive – Wickham<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Big Tonka Toy – Wickham<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure><\/div>\n
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Diesel Locomotive – Wickham<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Whilst the General Store in Point Samson<\/a> is quite well stocked, Wickham<\/a> (15km away) is the service town for the area and has a Woolworths supermarket and a handful of other shops. It’s an industrial service town like a mini-Port Headland.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The entrance to the town is denoted by a gateway area housing a Diesel Locomotive and an Ore Carrier truck like a giant Tonka Toy. It adds a bit of character to what is otherwise a very utilitarian and stark little town.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Outdoor Movie Screen – Wickham<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We took a drive up to the Tank Hill Lookout from which you could the starkness of the surrounding landscape and a quirky feature of the town, the open air cinema. Similar to the Picture Garden in Broome. From the lookout we first thought it was a drive-in theatre by the size of the screen but it was in fact an outdoor cinema with deck chairs and space to bring your own seat… Unfortunately we weren’t in Point Samson<\/a> long enough to see the next feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other than that Wickham<\/a> was just a chance to get some fresh veges and re-stock on some the essentials you need when travelling. Interestingly… diesel was slightly more expensive in Wickham<\/a>, which is substantially larger than Point Samson<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>

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Port Walcott<\/a> is another iron ore loading port, similar to Port Hedland, that operates 24 hours per day with massive ore loaders continually scooping iron ore onto conveyor belts which dump the iron ore directly into ship’s holds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike Port Hedland you could drive along the fence at Port Walcott<\/a> and see one of the loaders up close. It is unbelievable how much iron ore is being dug up, transported to the coast and loaded onto ore ships for export. The scale of these machines and the non-stop operation of them just boggles the mind…<\/p>\n\n\n

From the tavern and the historic jetty in Point Samson<\/a> we could see nine or ten bulk iron ore ships lined up to horizon waiting their turn to dock and be filled with iron ore. We were told that there are probably more lined up over the horizon that we couldn’t see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bulk Ore Carriers – Point Samson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n<\/div>
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Staircase to the Moon<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Staircase to the Moon<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Staircase to the Moon<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Staircase to the Moon<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Staircase to the Moon<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Staircase to the Moon<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Staircase to the Moon<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Staircase to the Moon<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Staircase to the Moon<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Staircase to the Moon<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Staircase to the Moon<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>
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Staircase to the Moon<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure><\/div>\n
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Point Samson<\/a> is one of the places on the North Coast of Western Australia where you can view the phenomenon known as the ‘Staircase to the Moon<\/a>‘. When conditions are right the full moon rises above the horizon and the light reflected on the ocean surface creates the illusion of a set of steps rising up to meet the moon.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Historic Jetty – Point Samson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

We trapsed down to the Historic Jetty on two evenings to witness the event but both were not as good as they could have been and we put this down to the light pollution from the string of iron ore carriers waiting to come into Port Walcott<\/a>, the relative calmness of the water surface and the fact that it was the last opportunity of the year before conditions become suitable again the following year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately the moon rose too high in the sky before the reflection appeared and it the reflections were not quite as banded ( stair-like ) as the best commercial photos show it. Still… watching the moon rise over the water is a nice way to spend a quiet evening in a beautiful place like Point Samson<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The really nice thing about our two evenings spent watching the Staircase to the Moon<\/a> was that we met Sandy and Gary (Seagull), who were also staying at The Cove Holiday Village<\/a> and were also trying to capture the moment. We got to know them a little and they invited us over to their van for happy hour on their last night. They’re good folks and have a very similar outlook on life and travel to us.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Staircase to the Moon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It turned out that they are from Coffs Harbour, which is Rob’s happy place in terms of a potential retirement place in the future. We were destined to keep catching up with them as our trip progresses as their plans and route are quite similar to ours heading onwards to Perth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coincidentally, they are rally enthusiasts who know the Bates (of Australian Rally fame and we have links with) and have very probably met our brother-in-law Trevor at some point as a result of the rally scene. Not only that but Sandy knows of Rob’s cousin who lives in Coffs Harbour as well from work associations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spent a very enjoyable and fairly long evening with them over nibbles (which ended up sufficing as dinner), beer, alcoholic ginger beer and more than sufficient bottles of red wine. We agreed to catch up with them again at Onslow, our next port of call.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seven nights in Point Samson, a small village on the coast close to Wickham, Port Walcott, an iron ore loading port, and historic Cossack, a preserved historic town.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[182,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-big-trip-november-2022","category-the-grand-tour"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/20221111_192015.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Rob Maguire","author_link":"https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/author\/rob\/"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/20221111_192015.jpg",1024,768,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/20221111_192015-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/20221111_192015-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/20221111_192015-768x576.jpg",474,356,true],"large":["https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/20221111_192015.jpg",474,356,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/20221111_192015.jpg",1024,768,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/20221111_192015.jpg",1024,768,false],"wprm-metadata-1_1":["https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/20221111_192015-500x500.jpg",500,500,true],"wprm-metadata-4_3":["https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/20221111_192015-500x375.jpg",500,375,true],"wprm-metadata-16_9":["https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/20221111_192015-480x270.jpg",480,270,true],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/20221111_192015-672x372.jpg",672,372,true],"twentyfourteen-full-width":["https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/20221111_192015-1024x576.jpg",1024,576,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Rob Maguire","author_link":"https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/author\/rob\/"},"uagb_comment_info":1,"uagb_excerpt":"Seven nights in Point Samson, a small village on the coast close to Wickham, Port Walcott, an iron ore loading port, and historic Cossack, a preserved historic town.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rjjc.net\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}