Monday 25/8

Another interesting day in fantasy land, at least that is one way of putting it, but in fact it is very very real. Everything one sees here is real but it is very difficult understand the sheer scale of this part of the world.
We left the caravan park at our usual leisurely time and travelled out the Burrup
Peninsula to the visitor centre. On its own this is a very impressive place tracing the development of the offshore gas fields, the onshore processing and the export processes. The investment involved is around $27billion. This visitor centre does not deal with iron ore from Rio Tinto and others or salt. It also doesn't deal with all the offshore development in oil and gas in the region. You certainly can't visualise all this from afar, at least I can't, and even close at hand it is almost like fantasy land. This commentary is totally inadequate but it the best that I can do!
After that we went looking for the Aboriginal Petrographs that have been featured so  strongly in anti-development protests here. We found them, it involved a very strenuous 1km walk over very rough ground, Elaine managed the first section but I completed the the walk. The most exciting thing about the walk was a kangaroo that watched me for a while towards the end of the walk. As you can see I was disappointed in the Petrographs that appeared to be little more than scratchings on the rocks. Admittedly there were a lot of them so one must concede that they are deliberate and meaningful to the aboriginal people.
Tonight we are at a very small campsite on the southern side of the Maitland River, and a very pretty spot it is.