We spent the day exploring the local neighbouring towns of Roebourne, and Point Samson. Both are now largely populated by mining families and Cossack is a charming old “ghost town”. It took some explaining to the kids what this meant and they stayed close to us while we explored the buildings. I must admit it was a little bit eerie. The buildings in each town are being restored to their original glory and we spent the day moving from one to the next learning about the history of the towns and their various reasons for settlement.

In Cossack we came across the old courthouse and Ray just couldn’t resist holding court and sentencing Caleb to one year in prison for stealing 3 horses, Hannah got 3 years for robbing banks and Harry was just happy to imitate Ray and yell, “silence in the court” so that it echoed around the building. Luckily, we were the only tourists there. The kids each had a turn at being the judge and they left happy and chatting about the courtroom experience.It was reality learning that you really can’t get in a classroom and the kids were engaged and interested to see what the courtroom was used for and the people who had been sentenced there.
In Port Samson, we stopped to let the kids have a play in a park and Aaron found a coconut that had fallen from a nearby tree. Chris got his mining hammer out, flexed his muscles and we were all soon tasting coconut milk and eating the flesh. What an experience!
Before returning home we stopped by a small beach called Honeymoon Cove. We were not sure why it was called this but it gave the adults a good excuse to have a smooch while the kids made vomiting noises.
Tomorrow we will explore Dampier.

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