21st May 2017–Sandfire to Broome

Distance: 319 km

The worst day of driving of the trip. I kept falling asleep. In the end I virtually had to stop at every parking bay, get out and walk around. Can’t understand it, I had a really good sleep last night yet I seemed to be constantly fighting to stay awake.

Stopped at the Roebuck Roadhouse just over 30km from Broome for something to eat (two sausages and two kebabs) and a coffee before continuing on to the Broome Caravan Park. The lady in charge looked at my camper asked what power I used when I told here just a kettle and TV she booked me in as a camping powered site for $22 a night (I like Broome already). Not many people in the park.

Set up my camp, discovered I was dying of thirst so had two cups of tea, then went for a swim in the pool.

It is a calendar month since I set out – just noticed that fuel and accommodation costs are running neck and neck at around $1000 each and that I have driven nearly 9500km since leaving home.

20th May 2017–Port Headland to Sandfire

Distance: 293.2 km
Fuel: 30 L

Went for an early morning walk to an “attraction” nearby called, ‘Staircase to the Moon Lookout’. It was quite a nice view but as it was billed as one of Port Hedland’s tourist hotspots I felt the day would definitely be better spent getting closer to Broome.

The caravan park was an outrageous $42 for a pretty average powered site but looking at the washing lines I suspect they can charge so much because the accommodation is sought after by the local workers (FIFO?) – the washing lines were 50% boiler suits and hi-vis shirts. Anyway, I wrote that money off.

One thing I must say about Port Hedland; industry is busy – from the caravan park in the distance you could see the railway line to the port. Every few minutes an incredibly long train arrived with full wagons of ore while on another line even longer trains were being made up of empty wagons presumably to return to the mines. I mentioned the road trains I encountered yesterday I overtook about a dozen but they were only travelling 10kph slower than me so presumably there were ore carrying road trains every few minutes along the road. The airport had several commercial jets in and out morning and evening.

People have to be doing something they are not on the street, when was in the town centre yesterday (Friday) you could have fired a cannon down the main street with no fear of hurting anybody.

Back to today’s journey:

The first part of the trip was shared with many road trains but they thinned out after the Marble Bar turn off. I was tempted to visit Marble Bar but a nearly 400km round side trip seemed a bit excessive. I am planning to do a similar journey through WA in the future but staying away from the coast to take in Mt Magnet, Newman and Marble Bar so it can wait.

The scenery varied from rugged low hills to flat scrub.

As I type this in the late afternoon I am surrounded by poultry, there are chickens, geese and a large number of peacocks and peahens of various ages. In the paddock next to the caravan park part of the roadhouse is a Brahman bull and a camel.

I was amazed that the powered site at the roadhouse was only $20 (they make it up by charging $1.59 a litre for diesel). Anyway, time for a beer or two after another day of perfect weather – I hope Queensland sorts its weather out before I get there.

19th May 2017–Tom Price to Port Hedland

Distance: 442 km
Fuel: 40 L

Not a bad drive, the first 50km or so was a repeat of the journey to Karijini but once on the Great Northern Highway it was all new.

Stopped a few times to take in the scenery and a break from driving.

Such old country, beautiful, eroded hills before eventually getting onto the flat coastal plains.

I have never seen so many road trains, overtook dozens and passed dozens more going back to the many mines. Apart from the odd one carrying demountable housing or general goods they were mostly four trailer ore carriers.

I disliked Port Hedland on sight. Funny how some towns appeal to you, Port Hedland is not one of them. Went to the Visitors Centre where,apart from the inevitable town map, they have nothing… no brochure, no self guided walks or tours – you have to wonder the centre’s purpose. Went to the harbour, purely industrial – exporting ore to China.

Ended up going to a cafe for sandwich and coffee before returning to the caravan park. Have no idea what I am going to do tomorrow because there appears to be little here. I am booked in for two nights but might leave tomorrow and break the journey to Broome (over 600km) into two parts.

18th May 2017–Rambling.

Distance: 10 km
Fuel: 29 L

Had a day off! It was a chance to get the doona covers, pillow cases and odd items of clothing washed, plan the rest of my journey in WA and think about how I am going to go through Queensland. Because there will be no adventures or sights to cover I will just ramble on about this and that.

But first… What did I do today?

Visited Tom Price’s Coles fairly early this morning to get ice and milk but I needed to go again later when the grog shop was open to top up with another six pack and also buy fuel at the service station for tomorrow.

One thing is for sure; if I do nothing else when I get back home it will be to install a fridge freezer and battery system in the back of my car because even at the local Coles ice is $6.50 a bag.

By the time I returned to the caravan park people were packing up their vans, I am not surprised that women live longer than men. Inspite of the blokes often having much worse mobility issues than me they always dismantled the various connections, rolled up the awning, carried the dunny can to the dump station and connected the caravan with all its anti roll paraphernalia to the car without any help from their wife (and I mean absolutely no help at all). It appears that, from my observation, equality of the sexes is alien to caravan life among the grey nomads. BTW, almost within the hour of writing that a couple in their late 30s or early 40s arrived and set up their camper trailer, the lady was as involved as the man in its set up so it must just be an age thing.

Last night I watched the latest version of “The Magnificent Seven”, it wasn’t bad but I hope that no-one gets it into their head to remake “High Noon” or “Casablanca” because the original was still better. I warned you I would ramble.

Good and Bad

OK, now that I have been living in my camper continuously for four weeks I am getting a handle on its good points and its bad.

The Good:

The bed is really comfortable; my thick doona, thin doona and sheet selection works well. I sleep well – never too hot or too cold.
The camper is easy to tow, easy to set up and easy to prepare to move. The reversing camera makes a big difference to hitching it up unaided. Caravans, mobile homes, camper trailers all have different disadvantages, there is no perfect set up.
The Bunning’s table and white plastic chair are a good combination I never get the folding camping chair out now.
The $10 toaster was a great buy. The combination of toaster, electric jug and microwave is all I need, never get the gas stove out (obviously that would change if there was no powered site available)
Having the HDD with movies and TV shows was a good idea because by about 9.30/10pm just about everybody in these parks is asleep however what does surprise me is that they are not early risers – I shower when the sun comes up – rarely see more than one other person about.
Sunrice microwave meals are brilliant when there is no club or bistro nearby – they only take about 90 seconds to cook. After the disaster of trying to carry eggs I have decided that preparing food is just too much trouble.
The cheese, jam and peanut butter I carry are handy for sandwiches/toast. (Bleeding obvious really)
Paper plates, disposable spoons etc save a lot of washing up (I didn’t say I was ecologically sound).
The gazebo is really good too as is the side sheet I bought for it but if I am only staying one night I don’t bother putting it up. One thing I try to remember is to take it down the evening before I move on. Ideally I do it as the sun is about to set – ie just before it gets dark. It makes preparing to leave in the morning so much easier if it is already packed away

The Bad.

The Esky – Bad, bad, bad! The bane of my life. As that is the worst thing you can see that life is pretty good really.
The camper really needs a vent to allow air in for the roof vent fan to extract when the glass outer doors are closed (say for rain). This hasn’t been a problem on this trip but it could be.
I haven’t used any of my pots, pans or rice cooker, it is too easy to go out for a meal or have a pre-prepared one, toast or a sandwich.

Things I just don’t get.

There is nothing wrong with these things it is just that I don’t understand them.

I am surprised by the number of people who have said to me something along the lines of, “We are staying here for another 11 days then we are having a fortnight in XXX”. What on earth do they do for all this time? I can understand if you have kids then longer in one place is probably better but 10 days? a fortnight? When I was a kid we used to go for a week at a guesthouse (B&B?) but by the end of the week you had exhausted the charms of the place, in fact, even a week at Butlins was enough.
The couple next to me moved this morning, I asked them where they were going. It turns out they are going to the caravan park in the National Park I visited yesterday. I wonder why? it is 50km away, you can drive there in 30 minutes without lugging a ruddy great caravan with you. As I say I don’t get it.
Car cleaning: some people of all ages seem obsessed with cleaning their car and/or caravan. Remember I mentioned a terrific van that fitted on the back of a flat bed ute? As the fellow was preparing it his wife was wiping every external surface she could reach, as he lowered it onto the ute she was busily cleaning the jacks even as they retracted. Another fellow after spending an hour washing and polishing his car then cleaned his off road caravan’s wheels and tyre blacked all the tyres (I mean, he carried tyre black with him on holiday??) – Yes, I know this says more about me than them, I have had my car for two years and cleaned it twice.

That’s it; all my raving has finished.

17th May 2017–Karijini National Park

Distance: 295 km

Spend the day in Karijini National Park – the road was open. I would have been majorly surprised if it hadn’t been; I haven’t seen a cloud for a week.

There was an entrance fee but basically it was an honesty system.

After that it was just a question of finding interesting things to look at – there was plenty (well, I thought so).

One thing you can’t forget is that only a few km away is the notorious town of Wittenoom. The Hamersley Ranges is where asbestos occurs naturally.

16th May 2017 – Onslow to Tom Price

Distance: 489 km
Fuel: 53 L

One of the things I like about this camper is how easy it is to pack up when you need to leave a site – literally the biggest job is dismantling the TV aerial. I had a fair distance to travel today so I was ready to move just after 8am.

The first part of the trip was retracing my steps south for 100km before turning off toward the Hamersley Range and Tom Price the mining town. It was nice to get away from the flat coastal plains.

I was soon set up at the Tom Price Tourist Park. Even got some laundry done.

15th May 2017 – New & Old

Distance: 96 km
Fuel: 54 L

Up early… and yes, the sun rises within the ANZAC Badge.

Went for an early morning walk on the Onslow boardwalk along the waterfront.

From it you caught glimpses of the two local industries – salt mining and LNG export.

I wanted to see the old town. After a long drive along a dirt road beside the Ashburton River…

…I got close. Actually I didn’t find any old buildings but there was the town’s cemetery.

It was amazing how young the people were when they died; mostly in their thirties or forties very few were over fifty, It must have been a hard life a century ago.

On the other hand, when I got back to new Onslow I was pretty hungry so called into the only pub for a meal.

Funny thing, I asked for a schooner of beer but they only sold pints or middies. Never come across that before, silly really because I would have bought two schooners but not two pints (I had to drive to get fuel)

At 9.30pm the power went out so I had to upload this using candle power. (The bit about the power going off is true)

14th May 2017–Carnarvon to Onslow

Distance: 498.1 Km

A warning…

I have about 35 litres of water and 20 litres of fuel plus a full tank on board so all should be well.

Tom Tom reminded me this is not going to be a complex journey. (Turn left in 406 km)

For a few hundred k’s the landscape wasn’t complex either but first we finally arrive in the tropics.

It’s a flat dry land with termite mounds as far as the eye could see until, at last, some variation with some ridges and hills.

After the turn off to Onslow some salt pans and signs of industry.

Arrived at the caravan park mid afternoon, checked in, parked and went for a walk.

Almost adjacent to my camp site is the beach and a small park with an odd combination of memorials.

Of course the ANZAC Memorial which apparently faces the rising sun. I hope to be up early enough to check this out in the morning.

Then a tribute to a couple of local fishing boats lost at sea (during a cyclone?)

I have to say the following one struck me as really odd.

Finally a bronze showing where we are.

Then it was a stroll into town, past the pub, General Store (I bought an ice cream), not one but two service stations, the council chamber and the town’s library with it’s own public art.

There was more…

As I returned past the pub I heard some loud voices and laughter (not much) but a WA Police paddy wagon came round the corner. As they stopped outside a young fella just opened the police car’s back door and got in. The policeman got out, opened the paddy wagon door and told the fella to get out of the back seat and into the paddy wagon part which he did, the policeman got back in and drove off. It was the politest and most low key disturbance I have ever seen.

13th May 2017–Rest Day

Distance: 27 km
Fuel: 20 L

As soon as the sun was up I had my dirty clothes in one of the park’s washing machine so that by the time I had a shower and breakfast they were ready to hang on the line.

Spent a leisurely morning watching the happy campers pack up their gear and move off. One that did impress me fitted on the back of a flat bed crew cab ute. I have seen them before but did like the way the jacks ran on electric motors and basically all he had to do was reverse the ute underneath.

Once I tired of all this activity I took off to find Chinaman’s Pool a local shady picnic spot by a billabong.

Spend a little time sitting by the water watching the water birds but I think it was a bit overgrown for too many people to use. Anyway after spending a while there I drove into town to walk further along the tramway track.

The area is supposed to be teeming with wild life but apart from seagulls I saw little evidence of it, there were more birds in the caravan park.

Suddenly it was past lunch time and I stumbled across a fish and chip shop, not exactly the seafood I had in mind yesterday but I was hungry. It turned out a good choice; for $9 I had two big, tasty pieces of flake and more chips than I could eat. Good meal.

Did some shopping to top up on quick meals, fruit plus some other groceries, by the time I filled up with fuel the afternoon was nearly over.

Back at the caravan park I got on the phone and booked a site at a place called Onslow for tomorrow night. I read the brochure for Exmouth and it seemed to cater for the swimming, fishing, snorkelling and boating mob so decided to give it a miss… Onslow has some ruins.

Before I knew it it was getting dark… Odd, yesterday I did a lot more sightseeing etc but today just seemed to fly past. Oh BTW… haven’t seen a cloud for days.

Smile

12th May 2017–Carnarvon Capers

Distance: 206 Km
Fuel: 33 L

Out and about by 8.30am. Straight to I Mile Jetty to walk it before the day warmed up. I paid my $5 to be able to go on it at the honesty box near the beginning of the wharf.

It was a long walk but worth it; you seem a long way off shore; there is a problem at the end – it seems to be in danger of collapse.

Near the start of the wharf were some relics.

This is the anchor of the cargo ship Korean Star which ran aground in 1988 during Cyclone “Herbie” and broke up. The crew were rescued by flying fox within 45 minutes.

Back to the main part of town to see where the 3km of tramline to the wharf once started.

Next up I took a 75km drive to Blowhole Point and Quobba, didn’t see a blowhole but did see some terrific scenery and beaches.

Don’t you hate overcrowded beaches? Somebody got there first.

Drove for Ks over the worst dirt road for the biggest disappointment of the day. The cairn erected to HMAS Sydney II. It is pathetic and serves absolutely no useful purpose.

Returned to Carnarvon to visit the OTC Space Museum. The OTC Earth Station had some duties tracking and transferring data on the Apollo Missions. To be honest it was not clear what. Until Earth Stations were built at Ceduna and Moree Carnarvon also transmitted video and telecomms traffic via satellite to the UK and the USA. The dish is obsolete now but right next door is the NBN satellite earth station.

My car sheltering in the shade of the dish.

It was still only mid afternoon so I drove around Carnarvon enjoying the sights and taking a walk along the Fascine.

Unfortunately the one thing I could not find was a seafood restaurant that served all day. Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

I do like Carnarvon, it quite appeals to me as a town.

Finally one last photo, The town is on the Gascoyne Delta named after the river that flows to the sea here. This is the mighty Gascoyne River in full flood.

Apparently it is like that most of the time, the exception being when a northern cyclone turns into a rain depression and dumps a lot of water into the river’s catchment then it can become several kilometres wide.