Broome to Karratha WA

Friday 6^th July.  The lads finally got on the road at 8.30 this morning and we headed out for our trip to Willie Creek, Quondong Point and Beagle Bay.  We travelled to Willie Creek initially and found the camp area – about 500metres from the Willie Creek Pearling business.  It is a nice area with plenty of places to park.  All the literature says that it is for small vehicles only but there were some big and heavy vans in here, camped right on the banks of the creek amidst the sand and rocks.  We went for a walk along the creek and watched the water rushing into the creek, with the change in the tide.  It was whizzing past and the general consensus was that it was too fast to fish L.  We walked back to the car and headed back out of the Willie creek road and turned left to continue on Manari Road to Quondong Point.  Here we found plenty of parking spots on the red cliffs and in amongst trees, and here we saw some whales breaching out in the Indian Ocean.  We watched them for nearly an hour – great creatures.

We headed back out along Manari Road and rejoined the Cape Leveque Road and headed toward Cape Leveque and Beagle Bay.  86km of corrugated sand road later – we arrived at Beagle Bay.  What a neat little town this is. We stopped and admired the Catholic Church with the shell altars and shell in-lays in the floor, around the windows and around the paintings of the 14 Stations of the Cross.  We then had lunch and worked out that if we were to drive the 115km to Cape Leveque (on asphalt) it would take us about an hour there and back PLUS an hour to look around – which meant that we would be hitting the corrugated sand again at about 4.30pm, with sunset at 5.15pm and would have to travel the last half of the road in the dark.  Hmmmm – maybe not.  We decided to return to the van park and get back in the daylight.

Saturday 7^th July.  Today we slept in a little and then we went into town to meet Greg and Carolyn Eade for lunch.  We haven’t seen them since we left Darwin 6 weeks ago – so it was nice to catch up with them again.  Our only disappointment was that we weren’t able to share this time with our friends Elaine and Rob who had had to go back to Ulladulla.  We had a lovely lunch and waved to the camera on the building.  Apparently if you go to www.broomecam.com and scroll back through to the days to 7.7.12 at about 2pm (WA time) you will see Greg, Carol, Darryl and I standing looking at the camera and wave to you J :D.  We then went our separate ways again and hope to meet up further down the coast.  We then returned to the van to let Buster have a great walk and then back into town to witness the sunset over Cable Beach with our friends Faye and Arthur.  We didn’t see any camels though L but were told that they would have been further south on the beach.

Sunday 8^th July.  Today we got up and did 2 loads of washing and then we went into town.  We stopped at the Courthouse markets – a big market but not huge with quite a variety of Pearl sellers and clothing stalls.  A lot of the clothing comes from Thailand but there were also some locally made craft stalls.

From here we drove out to the Port and went for a walk along the beach and the boat ramps and before we knew it; it was time to head into Town Beach to have lunch with Fiona and Neville Owen.  It was so good to see them again and to say our farewells until next time.  We then met up with Kareen and Ray Muir for afternoon tea and a quick chat with them before heading off to do the shopping.  We were to meet up with Kesley and David Court to say farewell to them too but both were very unwell with a flu bug L so we just said our farewells over the phone.   Back to the van and put away all the shopping – only to realise that we had forgotten to buy the beer – oops and the bottle shops were now closed L - will have to get some later down the road. 

Tonight we got a call from Tommy to say that his bike had broken – yet again – and that he was at Sandfire Roadhouse and would it be possible for him to bum a lift to Port Headland as we came through on Tuesday.  We said that we could do that and he sounded so grateful.
Monday 9^th July.  We headed off from Roebuck Plains Roadhouse and headed south toward Goldwire Rest Area – where we had arranged to meet up with Faye and Arthur.  We saw cattle being mustered as we drove down the highway and pulled into the rest stop at about 10.30am.  There were a couple of properties along the way advertising that they now took caravans and campers for station stays.  This will be good to remember for next time.
This rest area is really quite big with new toilet blocks and a new dump point for black water.  There were plenty of shaded table spots, upright BBQ’s and plenty of areas to have camp fires.  It wasn’t as busy as we thought it would have been, but then there were people who drove in and around the whole campground and then kept on going.  Obviously it wasn’t good enough for them.  We had a lovely shady area and a couple of sheltered tables nearby – so we were happy.
Tuesday 10^th July.  Up at 7am and on the road just after 8am.  We reached Sandfire Roadhouse just after 10am and had morning tea and collected Tommy and his bike and his gear.  We then headed south toward Port Hedland.   We stopped at Pardoo Roadhouse for a pit stop and lunch and then continued on our way.  We came across the other three lads at the Marble Bar Road intersection and gave them a nice cold drink and then kept going into Port Hedland.  We found a nice camp spot for the lads and then went and replenished our beer supply (well Tommy did as a thank you) and then went back out and deposited Tommy and his gear at the rest stop.  We then continued on and met up with the lads about 9 kms out the road.  We let them know where Tommy was waiting for them and that there would be cold drinks for all of them once they arrived.  This seemed to give them a little more incentive to keep going.  The past three days they have cycled over 120km each day – an amazing feat for them all.

We back tracked to a rest stop on the De Grey River.  We chose a spot up the top where we knew that the solar panels would get a good recharge tomorrow and then went for a walk down along the river.  There is still fresh water flowing down the river and apparently people have been catching fish on the western side of the bridge in a deeper hole.  Apparently this rest area used to be on both sides of the highway but is now only on the eastern/southern side of the road.  It goes back about 1 km to the railway line and extends back about 500 metres from the river.  It is a nice place to stop and those that have ‘prime’ river frontage would be able to stop for quite a while as you don’t realise they are there until you go for a walk or drive in through the trees.

Wednesday 11^th July.  Well today did not start out too good for me and then I ended up with a residual headache, which has now thankfully passed.  We went for a walk to today and met quite a few lovely people and it really is a nice spot to camp.  We had some very overcast weather at about lunch time and then you could see it starting to clear.  It is now 3pm and we are going to join our neighbours in their motorhome for afternoon tea/happy hour.  So we are having a ‘chillaxing’ day.

Friday 13^th July.  Today we realised that Darryl was due for his INR so we packed up and headed into Port Hedland to find the Hospital.  We had to go to South Hedland instead and then went and did some grocery shopping, got fuel and headed on our way south.  We pulled into the West Peawah River Rest area and decided that that is where we would camp for the night.  By night fall we had 20 vans and a couple of trailers and a whizbang with us.  We had a very stimulating happy hour with many of those who also stopped.

Saturday 14^th July. Up and on the road by 9.30am – we were the last van to leave but not the last camper J.

From here we travelled to Whim Creek and turned to go to Balla Balla inlet to check out the camp spot and also the fishing.  When we reached there it was VERY windy and the chaps there said – unless you have a boat and can go out to sea – forget it L.  We then travelled 5km back down the road and turned left to a camp area by the creek.  Very open and lots of midgies apparently – so we decided to keep travellin’.  We then reached Roebourne and headed out towards Point Samson and Cossack.  Point Samson was very nice and busy – so we headed back to a fishing spot on the creek and had lunch whilst watching some of the locals fish J. It was here that we discovered that we were almost out of water – oops!

We continued on and went out to Cossack and walked around the historical town.  Lots to see – still very windy – and then continued on our way toward Karratha.  We stopped here at the Shell roadhouse and managed to get permission to put some water in our tanks – thanks.  We then continued south following a 7.5metre wide load and called in beside the Maitland River (near Miaree Pool rest stop) and along with about 12 other vehicles have decided that this will do us for the night.  We had a lovely chat with the people behind us and then helped a family in a camper trailer. 

Buster is doing really great – it is amazing what a change of diet does to one J