To The Pilbara

13th May 2024

Distance: 565 Km

Fuel: 68 L

Got up as usual at 6am for shower, then breakfast and even spent some time reading my book. Rang the Caravan Park in Marble Bar to book a site for tomorrow night.

Set off at about 8.30am under cloudless skies, not sure how far I will drive today as there are a few options for tonight’s stop but I would like to get as far as I can to make the following day less arduous.

A variety of scenery as I drove along plus the inevitable big load. I saw a Wedgetail Eagle by the road feeding on road kill, gave it a wide berth, they can be slow to get airborne after a big feed.

Stopped a few times along the way sometimes just to stretch my legs, other times for the view. Stopped once for fuel on the way.

Kept going until I reached the Auski Roadhouse at Karijini when I decided to call it a day and booked a site in their caravan park, not cheap at $40 but they do have to generate their own power from a couple of diesel generators.

Treated myself to an ice cream from the roadhouse when I filled up with fuel at $2.29 a litre.

I will need to rearrange the bedding in the camper, it is 9.30pm and the temperature in the camper is still 23°. Until tonight I have been using the winter feather doona but I think tonight I will only need the summer one or later perhaps just the sheet as it is only going to get warmer.

Going North

12th May 2024

Distance: 412 Km

Fuel: 39 L

I enjoyed my visit to Sandstone but after the usual ablutions left about 8.40am. Before leaving I rang Karalundi Caravan Park and booked a site.

Once again the journey was through a variety of countryside.

Was forced off the road by the usual big load travelling south.

But was very fortunate to get past a big load travelling in my direction, it was parked off to one side as I went past, the Pilot vehicle just setting off.

Made two stops for fuel, the first at Mount Magnet and later at Meekatharra as there is no fuel near the caravan park I will be staying at.

Karalundi Caravan Park and Coffee Shop is, as I understand it, is a training facility for the local Aborigines and is attached to a school. No smoking or alcohol is allowed on the site.

Not sure where I will be staying tomorrow as the caravan park at Newman wanted $50 for a powered site and $35 for unpowered which I thought a bit rich.

On the Road to Sandstone

11th May 2024

Distance: 436 Km

Fuel: 45 L

Left Laverton fairly early, certainly before 8am, on a warm sunny morning after a shower and having made a cheese, tomato and onion sandwich to eat on the way.

The scenery seemed to change all the time, sometimes thickly wooded, sometimes sparce, sometimes scrub all interrupted by mine workings along the route.

Once again I had to pull off the road to allow a couple of trucks carrying oversized loads to pass

Road trains servicing the mines passed all the time

Arrived in Sandstone just after midday and checked in. After setting up had some tea and washed a T shirt etc before driving off to look at the attractions that Sandstone had to offer. To be honest wasn’t expecting much but in the end had a very interesting afternoon.

After a visit to the museum which also serves as a visitor centre.

Followed one of the Heritage Trails along a winding dirt road.

Had a look at the Contradiction Well, the State Battery, London Bridge and the old Brewery.

All in all it was and interesting afternoon.

On to Laverton

10th May 2024

Distance: 377 Km

Fuel: 47 L

Up just before sunrise for a shower then, after having breakfast, packed up and left the park by about 8.30am. I forgot to return my park pass so posted it to them from Laverton.

Pretty easy drive filled up with fuel in Leanora before turning on to the Laverton road, turned out to have been a mistake, fuel was 19c a litre cheaper in Laverton.

Had to get off the road for a massive mine truck being shipped which was as wide as the road.

Checked into the Laverton Caravan Park, had originally intended to stay two nights but it was clear that there was little here to see over an extra day so shall be moving on in the morning. Had a very nice coffee at their visitor information place while strolling round town.

Exploring Kalgoorlie

9th May 2024

Distance: 24km

It was a windy night for some reason, the door of the camper kept banging in the wind, to stop it happening again this morning I found the bungee cord that I normally use to keep it open but rigid.

Also hand washed all my dirty clothes and got them on the line so that I can start again tomorrow with a full complement of clean clothes. At 9am asked the park office for a map and booklet about Kalgoorlie so I could look around.

The Super Pit

First visit was to the main gold mine called The Super Pit Lookout basically overlooking a big hole in the ground.

Mount Charlotte Reservoir Lookout

On top of a hill used as a water storage reservoir and communication tower location is a lookout with views over the whole town.

Kalgoorlie Town Centre

Quite an interesting town centre, lots of old buildings

Boulder Town Centre

Boulder town centre seems to be suffering a downturn – probably not room for two town centres so close together.

Shopping and Relaxing

After visiting the places mentioned above I found an IGA shopping centre to buy milk, biscuits and replace some of the potatoes I lost to the quarantine service 0n entering the state.

I returned to the caravan park mid afternoon collected my now dry clothes from the line and read my book on a warm sunny afternoon.

After the Goldrush

8th May 2024

Distance: 405 Km

Fuel: 46 L

Balladonia to Kalgoorlie

Woke up to a foggy morning with the air full of mist droplets. Hadn’t intended to leave before 9am but the damp morning (even though it didn’t actually rain) combined with the lack of water made me want to pack up and leave. I did walk to the roadhouse to see what was going on.

Balladonia Roadhouse & Caravan Park

I was on the road by 8am under grey skies but by 8.30 blue sky was starting to dominate.

Had enough fuel to get to Kalgoorlie so didn’t need to stop but did stop at rest areas to stretch my legs a couple of times.

Lake Cowan was as dry as…

The recent bushfires were evident by the number of dead trees along the road.

Arrived in Kalgoorlie at the caravan park just after midday and checked in, set up the camper and decided to look for fuel, it took forever, every place I tried either didn’t exist or was closed down. Eventually found one that did exist and refilled my jerrycan as well as filling up the car.

I was hungry too, opposite the servo was a KFC so I bought a Zinger Burger and chips, $13 which I thought was expensive but as I rarely buy fast food it probably wasn’t.

Back at the caravan park I hand washed a couple of T shirts but probably left it a bit too late because by the time the sun went down they still weren’t quite dry. Not to worry, they will finish off tomorrow with the rest of the clothes I am going to wash.

The caravan next to me had a problem with a water pump, the repairman had a personalised plate.

Am booked in for two nights so will look around town and do some shopping tomorrow.

A Long Straight Road

7th May 2024

Distance: 527 Km

Fuel: 49 L

Eucla Roadhouse to Balladonia Roadhouse

After leaving the caravan park soon found out where the road trains stopped for the night.

For the first part of the trip the sky looked quite dull in the distance but it never did rain and by the time I arrived at Balladonia there were few clouds.

After a while driving I suddenly remembered that WA has a 100kph speed limit on towing vehicles, so slowed down to that speed.

Came across several emergency runways for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS).

After nearly 200Km stopped at a rest area and emptied my 20 litres of fuel into my tank to save on fuel costs. At Caiguna started on a very long straight road.

Basically an uneventful drive, filled up with enough fuel to get me to Norseman and booked a powered site in the roadhouse caravan park ($50!)

BTW Balladonia is the area where Skylab crashed back to Earth, the local council sent NASA a fine for littering.

On to The Nullarbor

6th May 2024

Distance:429 km

Fuel: 43 L

The times they are a’changing

Left at 8am this morning thinking of the long journey taking 5 hours forgetting that once again I was changing time zones. In actual fact it took me ages to find the correct time in Eucla – even my phone got it wrong taking it to Perth time – Eucla is 45 minutes ahead of Perth.

Penong to Eucla

Easy driving on a good road had to overtake a few caravans crawling along but the long straight stretches of road made that easy. The scenery varied at first.

There were a surprising number of cyclists.

The road skirts the Nullarbor Plain hugging the coastline and offering spectacular views of the Great Australian Bight.

Sometimes the highway is very close to the cliffs

Arrived at the WA border and at the quarantine inspection checkpoint they took my potato and onion again!

It was only 12 km to the Eucla Roadhouse, Motel and Caravan Park where I checked in and filled up with fuel ($2.52 a litre!)

Discovered that the caravan park didn’t have water except for showers ($1) and washing. I think if I had known I would have driven on further. Anyway after setting up walked around looking at some of the sights that Eucla has to offer.

A fella I had been chatting to earlier knocked on my camper just as it was getting dark – he was going back to SA so he gave me some carrots and onions to stop them being confiscated. So win some. lose some.

Penong

5th May 2024

Distance: 392 Km

Fuel: 43 L

Left Kimba at about 8am, there was really nothing there to delay me, I was up at 6am for a shower so once I had some breakfast I connected up and set .off.

Interesting enough drive, had to overtake a couple of trucks and caravans but easy enough – not much traffic.

I find that travelling at 110kph on my speedo is about 103kph in actual speed, keeps me out of the way of trucks and seems to be reasonably economic.

Stopped briefly at Wudinna to have look at the granite sculpture which appears to be a tribute to Australian farmers.

Made surprisingly good progress, filled up with fuel in Ceduna, probably the last below $2 a litre for at least a few days.

It was only about 80km to Penong, where I arrived just after midday, I had booked a site a couple of days ago but when I arrived it seemed to have been forgotten but was able to get one though the park filled up by late afternoon. Once I had set up drove to the local servo to top up the tank and made a stop at Penong’s only attraction – its collection of windmills.

On the site next to me was a young girl on a motor bike also doing the Big Lap. She seemed to be well set up.

On to Kimba

4th May 2024

Distance: 262 Km

Fuel: 30 L

After a shower and breakfast went for a walk to the local IGA for a couple of groceries before coupling up the camper and getting ready to go.

Not far to go today, less than 300km so no rush, nice drive through the Flinders Ranges, hardly any traffic until I got close to Port Augusta. Tom Tom found a short cut round Port Augusta but it was bumpy I should have stuck to the highway.

BTW am back on Highway 1 which circumnavigates Australia and is the longest road in the world, Left it when I got to the top of Mt Ousley in Wollongong but am back on it for the next 1200km across the Nullarbor Plain.

Arrived in Kimba just after midday but for the second day running the sat nav had trouble finding the caravan park. its location was actually not even close.

Took the opportunity to hand wash some clothes before having a quick look at Kimba. It appears to be a big rest stop for the road trains crossing the Nullarbor, there is a big parking bay opposite the fuel stop where drivers have their compulsory breaks – quite interesting watching the activities there.