Port Hedland and 80 Mile Beach

We drove on to Port Hedland and were feeling much better as the weather improved and the sun was shining. We set up for an overnight stay, then had a relaxing bbq dinner with our friends. It was very warm until the sun set and then there was a lovely cooling breeze from the sea. We had a big shady tree over our site but when we went to bed we realised that as the wind increased, so did a terrible scratching and scraping noise made by the branches moving back and forth across the top of our caravan. Manfred went out and just moved our cute little lightweight caravan a little bit forward on the site and away from the tree. Problem solved and then we were able to sleep. There was a beautiful sunrise the next day. We left about 9am, but Dave did a little tour of Port Hedland for my benefit since I was the only one who had never been there before. It's a very unusual place. Everything is red from the dust, even the white plastic chairs that seemed to be everywhere on people's verandahs etc. Lots of houses are built using corrugated colourbond, the roofs, walls and everything. Some of the old houses still have 'sleepers' across the roof in case of cyclones (to hold the roof down). There is a lot of industry here, mainly iron ore being loaded onto ships in the port. We watched a huge ship coming into dock. There were absolute mountains of pure white salt too. It seems like a very busy place, but not very attractive because it's all about the industry. We re-fuelled and then set off again. It was a beautiful day and there were fewer clouds as the day went on. We stopped at a rest area for morning coffee and fruit cake. There's not much fruit cake left! We have eaten it every day with our morning coffee. We had another re-fuelling stop where we had to show either a driver's licence or credit card before we could operate the fuel pump. We turned off the main NW highway onto an unsealed red dirt road. We took it very slowly although the road was in pretty good condition and after 10kms we arrived at 80 Mile Beach. We were surprised to find a queue of motorhomes and cars with caravans waiting at reception to check in. The caravan park is the only sign of civilization at 80 Mile Beach and they don't take bookings. There is nothing else there. By the time we got to reception there were no powered sites left so we had to take an unpowered site. Norma and Dave did too, but their plan was to stay only one night, whereas we had planned to stay for 3 nights. So we decided to pay for only one night and hoped that we would be able to move to a powered site the next day. It is such a huge caravan park and not what we expected at all. While at reception we were told that it was 'Roast dinner night' since it was Sunday, and so we booked that too! When we finally got to our site it was on a grassed area, far, far away from reception, we discovered a few things that the bumpy unsealed road had done to our caravan! The extra bolt on the inside of the caravan door had fallen off and was on the floor. The shelf that Manfred had made, painted, put cup hooks on and installed above the sink had also fallen down and was on the sink bench. One of the bolts on the outside of the caravan, that holds down the roof while travelling, had come loose. Manfred set to work to fix all these things. He was disappointed. We were told we could use a generator in the unpowered area but thought we could manage without using it. Norma, Dave, Manfred and I then went for walk on the beach, which is really huge - no wonder it's called 80 Mile Beach. The tide was out and there were a few people fishing, walking, relaxing etc. I found some beautiful shells, it was too tempting not to pick them up! We had "Happy Hour" at Norma and Dave's site, quite close to our own site and then at 6pm we walked all the way back to Reception and joined the queue for roast lamb dinner and dessert (choice of Banoffe Pie or Rhubarb and apple crumble). Dinner was $20 each which we thought was pretty good. There were such a lot of people queuing for dinner and we thought what a marathon effort for the kitchen staff to create all those meals. It was pretty quiet when we walked back to our sites, all except for our immediate neighbour who had decided to start his generator because he was having trouble with one of his extra car batteries. Luckily for us, generators had to turned off by 10pm, so we planned on having a good sleep. However, we didn't have a very good night. We were woken by the really strong wind that came up during the night. It seemed as if the roof of the caravan was going to lift off! There were lots of strange noises and it was quite some time before we could sleep again. The upside was that we saw the brilliant starry night sky. In the early morning we went to the beach again and decided that it probably wasn't going to be good for fishing. The water was very shallow and there was hardly any tidal strip of sand on the beach. By 8am I was back in the queue at Reception to see if we could change to a powered site. It's so much easier if you can plug into electricity. There appeared to be many caravaners leaving so I was hopeful. We decided to stay only one more night since we thought the fishing was not going to be good. Norma and Dave packed up and left, heading to Broome, and it seemed strange to be without them. We moved the caravan to our new powered site which was next to a nice lawn area so on one side we had no neighbours. I decided to do some laundry which cost only $3 per load so cheaper than other places we had stayed. It was so windy that the washing hanging on the line was horizontal! I met 2 German girls who wanted to borrow my pegs. There is no way you could just throw your washing over the line without pegs. The washing was all dry after about 2 hours - amazing. After lunch, we took the car down onto the beach and tried a bit of fishing. Manfred caught 6 lovely fish but he put them all back. I got a few bites but caught nothing! There was another lovely sunset, with clear skies and the wind had dropped. We cooked up some dinner and then watched a dvd on the little tv we had brought with us. So much better with electricity, and I had the fan blowing on me too.

Fortescue River

We left Carnarvon in drizzly rain and even had our morning coffee while sitting in the car. It rained all day, on and off, creating amazing skies but crazy drivers who were not driving to the conditions.

We hoped to have lunch at a free rest area but it was so full of caravaners who had settled in to stay overnight. So we just ate our sandwiches and left. We arrived at the Fortescue River Roadhouse where we planned to spend the night at their caravan park. Unfortunately we couldn't stay there because the toilets were blocked (septic tank) so they had no toilets. They were waiting for a plumber to show up. So we were in the middle of nowhere. We travelled a bit further to the actual Fortescue River and ended up camping there for the night with no power, no lights, no facilities and no other people until another couple of grey nomads saw us from the main road and decided to join us. We were just hoping that no-one in authority would come along to tell us that we couldn't stay there because there really was nowhere else to go. We ate leftover soup instead of cooking the proper meal that we had planned. Then we discovered that we had a problem with the caravan battery supply. This was the first time it had really been put to the test. The fridge seemed to drain the battery very quickly, the lights were getting very dim. Manfred switched the fridge over to gas but even that wasn't straightforward because there wasn't even enough electricity for the automatic ignition to light the gas. Just as well Manfred and Dave knew what to do. They started up the car to get a boost to the power. It was such a difficult night, for me especially (not being a seasoned camper), no toilets, no trees to squat behind, intermittent traffic going past on the highway and who knew what creatures were lurking out there in the dark! We saw only one kangaroo but I was more concerned about spiders and snakes! It was a pitch black night. In the evening we were also thinking about Manfred's Mum and sister in Berlin, Germany, because at that time they were having the funeral for Manfred's Dad who had passed away on June 25th at the age of 91. So we were feeling sad. In the morning we were pleased the rain had eased but just as we were packing up to leave, it rained really heavily again and everything got wet, including Norma and Dave's tent which they had pitched beside their van.

I had slept very little and felt terrible. I was the only one out of the 4 of us that was not used to camping and I was not happy! In the morning we went back to the roadhouse to see if we could use the toilets but we were told they were still waiting for the plumber. As we left there we noticed the landscape, amazing, a pretty green and lots of wildflowers, especially Sturt's Desert Pea, the red so brilliant in the dull morning (no photo), and termite mounds. There were lots of cows roaming near the roadside. It was quite dangerous while we were driving at around 100kmh and then suddenly a cow might decide to cross the road. In these areas where there are large stations they have no fences to keep the stock in.

We had a coffee stop while it wasn't raining but it was very windy so Dave got out their wet tarpaulin and spread it on the ground. It dried in about 10 minutes! Just before we stopped for coffee Manfred and I had both noticed a strange noise towards the front of the car on the passenger side so this was investigated too. We discovered that when Manfred had organised to have the bullbar fitted and the normal bumper bar had been removed, they had left loose parts hanging over the wheel arch and this was flapping because of the very strong wind. Manfred fixed it with tape and cable ties. We were happy to see that the weather appeared to be improving, the sky was amazing with really unusual cloud formations. We also had to stop for the longest train I have ever seen. It was an iron ore train. We also saw 2 gas plants. We also had our windscreen chipped by flying stones, caused by a massive road train.

Then we had lunch at a lovely old pub, the Whim Creek Hotel which has been recently renovated. There were Corellas and Gallahs in aviaries. When I went to the loo I met some Aboriginal women and children and because I stopped to comment on their baby, Ethel, we had a short chat. This was very interesting for me because we don't come across Aboriginal people at home. They were very nice and friendly and wished me "Have a good day, Lovey!"

Carnarvon

Well there was certainly a lot going on during the night to disturb our sleep. There was a rooster crowing somewhere nearby, a little dog barking in a nearby caravan, very big trucks slowing down and changing gears before turning the corner of the highway and a plane flying overhead. Eventually we slept! We did a drive around Carnarvon to see the local sights. The foreshore is very pretty with palm trees and there are new houses in a perfect spot across the water from the town. We went for a short walk and called in to the Tourist Information centre. Then we drove out of town as far as the one-mile jetty, where we bought tickets for the train which goes out on the jetty. We decided to walk back to take in the scenery. The river mouth and ocean are quite turbulant over the sand bars because of the tide. There were quite a few people fishing. We could see lots of holes in the mud where mud crabs had been. We stopped for lattes at the lovely new cafe where we noticed that the man who been driving the train was now clearing tables, multi-tasking! We drove to Pelican Point and then had fish and chips at the Harbourside Cafe Restaurant, who were advertised as "the best seafood in Carnarvon". And it was lovely, snapper.We then drove out to River Gums Cafe for their delicious mango smoothies. The garden is absolutely magnificent and right next door to a banana plantation. What a beautiful place but the weather was gradually deteriorating and getting much cooler. We then drove to visit old friends who now live in Carnarvon and are the caretakers at the golf course. We were following a map and driving on a rough, red, dusty road but didn't realise that the map was wrong until we saw that the water was on the wrong side of us. We went back to the sealed road, ignored the map and went down the next red dusty road and eventually arrived at the golf course. It was very nice to catch up with old friends that we hadn't seen for several years. Afterwards, we had just enough time to shop for groceries for the next day, drive back to the caravan park, change into warmer clothes and go to the free sausage sizzle which was put on by the caravan park. It was great to meet lots of other people who were travelling and there was a lot of story-telling before darkness fell and the rain set in and we retreated to our caravans for hot drinks.

Second day

I slept well for the first few hours but then woke because I felt as if I was burning up!I had a headache. But unlike at home, there was no nice recliner chair for me to go and relax in. I needed to go to the loo, so I took my torch and ventured outside. It seemed very strange to me to be walking around the caravan park in the middle of the night but I realised I'd better get used to it. The only sound was the crashing of waves onto the beach. When I went back to bed I did eventually sleep again. I can't blame the bed for my disturbed night. I think it's just how I am. In the morning I showered and the ablution block was very nice. There was a row of showers but I discovered that 3 of them were actually bathrooms, with toilet, shower and basin. How lovely! I had more space in one of these bathrooms than I had in the whole of our caravan! The date was 22nd July, Manfred's birthday! We met up with our friends at the big service station, "Drummonds", just north of Geraldton where we topped up with fuel. Norma and I were checking out the fresh produce for sale which was on a little stand just outside the entry door to the shop where we would pay for the fuel. Manfred called out the pump number to me so that I could go in and pay. I picked up some tomatoes and cucumber and went through the door. Suddenly, the girl rushed out from behind the counter, started running around and calling out to another woman and they both quickly passed me and headed outside. I wasn't really listening to what they were saying at first but then I realised that she thought Manfred was doing a runner without paying! After he had called out the pump number to me, he got back in the car and started driving away from the pumps. I assured the girl that he was just moving the car and caravan so that someone else could use the pump and that I was paying for the fuel. She was so relieved because people leaving without paying happens way too often and her pay gets docked to cover the loss! We headed north through beautiful countryside. There were so many flowers blooming. There had been plenty of rain recently in this area so the fields were green and the sheep were even quite clean and white! We passed through picturesque Northampton, such a pretty old town with many historic buildings. We were very tempted to turn off the main highway and head to Kalbarri, one of our very favourite places, but no, we must go on, so many more new places to see. We stopped for morning coffee at a rest area near the Murchison River. Norma said she had never before seen so much water in the Murchison River. The weather was good and there were a lot of people with caravans and mobile homes free camping there. We drove on and later stopped at the Overlander Roadhouse to refuel and have a toilet stop. There was a beautiful Major Mitchell Cockatoo there but I felt so sorry that he was in a cage. There was also a very interesting stone building across the road from the Roadhouse. After we left there we had to drive through water which was right across the road. Luckily it wasn't very deep. We continued on and followed Dave and Norma up to a lookout where we had our sandwhiches for lunch. The place overlooked a vast plain of flat land with lots of water, evidence of the large amount of rain that had fallen recently. Looking towards the horizon, we could see as far as Shark Bay. There were unusual flowers here too, flowers I'd never seen before. We still hadn't seen any wildlife. Manfred told me he thought is was because there had been plenty of rain and the animals have enough food and water without needing to come to the road (where they would feed on roadkill). Dave is very hopeful that we will see a wedge-tailed eagle. We travelled on and the landscape gradually changed from the lush green bush with flowers and undulating fields of livestock to very flat, scrubby land with not really anything very interesting to see. The only 'wildlife' we spotted was one cow and 2 goats! We reached Carnarvon in the late afternoon and coincidentally we were given caravan sites side by side. We had no sooner got organised than it started to rain! The four of us went out for dinner to the Carnarvon Hotel to celebrate Manfred's birthday. We had very nice meals. The Carnarvon Hotel is apparently famous for an incident involving Wilson Tuckey and an Aboriginal patron. Tuckey was Shire President at the time and also proprietor of the hotel. Wilson Tuckey was later fined for assaulting the patron, and he also ended up with the nickname, Ironbar. When we left the hotel it had stopped raining and there was just one twinkling star which gave us hope for a fine day tomorrow. Manfred received lots of text messages for his birthday.