The Road to Broome - Dodgy van parks, Dangerous animals, Days of driving

So we decided to make our way north to Broome so we could relax and stock up on a few items before hitting the Gibb River road.

Our first night was at Point Samson, we decided to go for ultimate luxury and treat ourselves to an ensuite site. For those not in the know it is a concrete slab with a little shed that houses your own private toilet and shower, some of these sites are pretty fancy and some are not. We were definitely in the not side of the equation as I think a WW2 pillbox would have been more fancy. Ohh and as you can see it was howling wind the whole time so not much sleep as a 2am rescue of the awning had to be performed.

From the Point we headed to 80 mile beach and this is why there is a lot of driving as WA is a big place. Some of the rest areas were excellent and even had their own management there to great you as you came in for a lunch stop.

We kept heading north to 80 mile beach and kept hearing funny rumours about no swimming due to sharks. Now we dismissed these due to the fact that West Australians are terrified of sharks and our reckoning was someone saw a fin 10 years ago and they had not got over the fright quite yet.
So we rolled into 80 mile beach caravan park which was excellent gave each other a high 5 and drove the car down onto the beach for a bit of sun and swimming. On goes the cossies Gen thought she would get a couple of photos before a dip then we see this. Yep the legends are true and this fella was about 5 meters from shore and actually came in closer when Gen went down for a photo so we retreated about 50 meters above the high water mark just to be safe. We are now true West Australians as all we have talked about since is that bloody shark.

Apart from the natives 80 mile did have some lovely views

So we have now made it to Broome for a bit of shopping and a lot of laying by the pool to chill out before our next destination.

Our new favourite swimming hole Sans Sharks

We will post some more after the Gibb River Road

Exmouth - Sun, Sand and Snorkelling

Well we have hit Exmouth and as the song says "winter is my enemy the reef is where id rather be" so hit the reef we did however it took us a while to get going as we had a little problem, namely the 20mm of rain that the sky decided to dump on us the first night we were there. Then we got up the next day and thought we would do a gorge walk as it was overcast but the gods had other ideas again and dumped another load of rain on us again so we had a romantic frolic in the ocean while it was absolutely flogging down.

So the next day provided some sun for us and we decided to hit the reef. I will let the photos speak for themselves

Can you spot the Octopus wearing sunglasses

 

 
 





So after a nice couple days of fish spotting and trying to tell tourists that the reef tip sharks are so well fed you could cut your arm go in and they still would not touch you to no avail (they refused to go back in the water) we decided to do the hike along the top of Yardi Creek Gorge as we are gluttons for punishment and are not happy unless we have gone up and down into something a mountain goat would call home see below.

See I was not lying about the goats they do call the place home.

Here is one below of the general area the cyclone has left it the greenest we have ever seen.

The fishing up here is absolutely nuts to the point that even the fact that we do not fish did not matter as some friendly neighbour was happy to donate us a feed almost every night.
Now we make a way up to Broome more to follow

Tom Price - Fuel, Food and Fantastic Views

So we are now on our way to Exmouth with a stop at Tom price to grab some essentials and do some washing as I was doing inside out forwards underpants wise.
Staying at a lovely van park nestled at the bottom of Mt Nameless and it even has a pool that we thought was awesome having a June swim in

Mt Bruce on the way to Tom Price

 Mt Nameless sunset from the Caravan Park

Karijini - Gorges, Good Times and God my legs hurt

Well take 2 and we made it to Karijini after a nervous trip of getting out and checking the hubs every 50k or so we arrived at Dales Campground without incident and the camper seems to be behaving itself.
Day 1 was a look around at Fortescue falls with a walk around the rim looping back to the campground, about 2hrs all up so after some lunch we had all the best plans to go out again then we stood up and promptly sat back down for an afternoon of relaxing
Fortescue Falls

The Rim Walk

Follow, follow,follow,follow follow  the red dirt road

Circular pool you sweat going down, you shiver going in and you die coming back up

Day 2 we were committed to some gorge busting so off we went to Weano gorge we were originally just going to do the lookouts but we got a burst of adrenalin and down into the depths we went, laughing at the signs that mentioned grade 4 and 5 "experienced hikers only a high degree of fitness and agility is required" yep just the place for a man with Cerebral Palsy but hey you only live once

Made it to the bottom

It was worth it

Just some more of the more interesting walks you can go down into

All in all a great time and we could easily spend another 2 weeks here. Had a little scare as one of the extended diff breathers on the Dmax is wired wrong and pumped some diff oil into the engine bay but no harm done apart from a mess so I will keep an eye on it.
Now time to head west and off to Tom Price and Exmouth as we have had the dirt now time for sand

Newman - Disaster, Dump Trucks and Dongas

Well we left Kumarina with the plan to pass through Newman top up the tank and on to Karijini but as the best made plans go the gods had other ideas, about 100k out of Newman we stopped for a photo Op and was greeted with the horrible smell of burning grease and a wheel hub so hot that we could have cooked steak and eggs on it for dinner. So off with the wheel and a couple of burnt fingers later no obvious problem could be found, it was time for the experts namely a call to the RAC and a flat bed tow truck was dispatched all we can say is praise mining companies that install there own mobile towers that allow clowns like us to get themselves out of the poo.

So back to Newman with the demoralising 1 hour drive following your mobile home on the back of a tow truck. We left the camper at the repairer with a "we will get to it tomorrow" confidence building speech and went to find some accommodation. Gen was always curious as to what a Donga was like when I was working in the mines and me being one to never deny my darling wife delivered in the form of Capricorn Roadhouse.

Call from the repairer the next day informed us the wheel hub had blown a seal and grease had got where grease should not go and something else has locked on causing the lovely cooking smell. Good news is that we got to it in time and a new seal and regrease is all that was required but the bad news was they could not get a seal in town and had to get one from Perth with the "should be here tomorrow" confidence building speech. So me being one to never deny my wife gave her another 2 nights in the Donga  and we proceeded to see the sights of Newman.

So day 3 whilst seeing Terri, Bindi and Bob Erwin (see 1 week on the road and I am name dropping already) at the golf club over lunch we get the call the mobile palace is back and ready to roll. So 1 last feed at the roadhouse and we are off the next day for round 2 of the road to Karijini.

The lookout that greeted us with the smell of grease

The tilt truck of shame

The most demoralising view a traveller can see

Newman in all its glory

The Dmax makes her first Pilbra water crossing

Roadhouses - Generators, Good Food and God get us out of here

Roadhouses
Some are good
Some are bad

This trip so far we have had both. Paynes find had great-grub and a shower so clean you could eat your meal in there and be happy and then there was  Kumarina what can we say red dust in the bathroom and a foot towel that Noah used to wipe the animals feet as they entered the ark.

But when you have sunsets like this you get over it. Off to Karajini tomorrow so heaps more photos to follow

Almost on our way

Well we are all packed up and now living in the caravan park while I finish my last week of work with Chevron.




As for the caravan park it is quite nice Karrinyup waters about 12k north of the Perth CBD I can recommend for anyone coming through Perth and needs a caravan park in the city nice new combo shower / toilet facilities have been put in and the park is clean an tidy. It is a little close to the freeway but the traffic noise is not to bad. So just getting used to life in the camper again, thinking about things that now become important like did I remember to bring my socks with me for a shower and should I have another beer (brain says hell yes, bladder laughs and says you will have to get up and deal with me at 2am)



The only drawback we have found is there is some psychotic water hen wandering the park and the god damn bastard decided to make some mating call or something that sounded like a small child was being murdered in the middle of the night and scared the absolute piss out of me (see it is all about the bladder when camping in winter)

So finish work on Friday run around and do a bit of shopping Saturday the head up the middle of WA to Karajini leaving early Sunday morning as I am sure that bloody bird will have me up at 5am

Pics to follow

The Planning

Well it is official the removalists turn up next week to put everything in storage, notice has been given at work, the budget has been. So come Sunday week we are off for our next adventure.
The itinerary looks as follows

Up the middle of WA checking out a few spots
Karrajini
Coral Bay
Exmouth
80 mile beach
Broome
Derby
Mornington Sanctuary off the Gibb to see our niece
Bungle Bungles
El Questro
Lake Argyle
Katherine
Alice Springs
Kings Canyon
Ayres Rock
Cooper Pedy
Down the Oodnadatta into SA
Broken Hill
Forbes to visit relatives

Then on to the South Coast of NSW to catch up with family

From there we will see what happens