Gascoyne River (Middle Branch) Campground and Karalundi Caravan and Camping Park

At Gascoyne River we were fortunate to get a spot right on the river. Although the water next to us was part of a large pool, with dry river bed at both ends, it seemed very alive, with ripples caused by the breeze and the occasional diving willie wag tail. Perhaps the wagtail wasn’t actually diving, but I saw it hit the water a couple of times and cause ripples. There were a lot of insects flying around and we saw, briefly, quite a few magpies. With other birds we just heard the calls.

So, it was a beautiful spot to overnight. In the morning it was initally sunny, then clouds came over and stayed for the first part of our journey south. We haven’t really seen clouds since a couple of days in Darwin, so we liked it being cloudy.

The afternoon and morning temperatures were cool enought to be quite comfortable for us, a relief after the heat. We notice that even Meekatharra may reach temperatures over 35 early next week, an incentive to head southwards again.

Yesterday I wanted to do some washing and get our batteries charged up. We found a little caravan park that is located at an Indigenous boarding school. It is small enough that the camper’s kitchen and facilities are close by. There is only one washing machine, but I still managed to get a load of washing done and hung on the line. It feels strange to be surrounded by people in caravans after our fairly isolated couple of nights getting here.

We are about 55ks from Meekatharra where we can shop and get fuel for the next stage of the journey.

This is a large area of bushland about 50 kms south from Newman. After lingering at the Mt Robinson Rest Area until it was getting too hot, about 11.00 a.m., we headed for Newman for ‘services’, dump point, water fill up and shopping.

We had a medium sort of club sandwhich drowned in chips at the Dome Cafe, thus proving that not all Dome Cafe’s have the same quality of food (depends on chef), then went to the Woollies for shopping.

The dump point and potable water tap are in the same little enclosed area, so though we filled up the tank we decided to buy some drinking water. We don’t drink from our tank anyway, so it’s just a matter of not filling up our drinking water jerry cans.

Hidden Gem is an informal camping area and it is very large indeed. We were able to have almost complete privacy here. It was very hot in the late afternoon and I was wishing we had gone to the roadhouse caravan park where we bought fuel. But, by bedtime (about 9.00 p.m. for me) it was cool enough to sleep comfortably.

This morning was about 19C, it felt cool, and we have been doing a bit of stuff and organising our meetup, now in Morawa, with Marie and Geoff.

Clearly, you needed to actually be there to see how lovely it was.

Tuesday 27^th August, 2024

We spent last night at the Albert Tognolini RA. We realise that it’s only the second time we have been there, our experience last time really stayed with us for a long time and made it seem as though we had stayed there many times in the past. We spent 2 nights there last time, but the pressure to get south for cooler weather means that this time we just stayed until around 11.00 a.m.

We stopped for a short walk at the lookout point over the Munjina East Gorge. The beauty of this place is that you actually drive through the gorge, then drive up the hill to have a view back through it whilst camping. The viewpoint gives a closer look at the road cutting through the gorge.

The drive to where we are staying tonight was through amazing scenery. We stopped at a couple of places to enjoy it. Then we drove down into a valley that was basically given over to mining. The red dust was thick on the plants and trees. Even where we are staying tonight we are aware of mines around us, though we can’t see them, just have the dust, and after dark, the lights on the horizon around us.

We arrived here at lunch time, but then decided to stay the night as it likely has the best scenery of the stops before Newman. We had quite a warm afternoon, then went to try out the gorge walk with another camper. She is a good walker and was able to deal with a difficult section of the path to take her into the gorge. We bowed out, but hung around and waited for her return, which was an opportunity to see some of the local bird life.

She and Stephen had spoken about walks in the morning at the Albert Tognolini RA, which is why she came over to ask if we would like to do the gorge walk here.

Photos from the Mt Robinson Rest Area

There are reports of dingos visiting this spot, so doing the walk with someone else seemed wise. However, as our companion walked most of it by herself meant that she was taking a risk. So far, we haven’t actually seen any dingos.

The camping area gradually got busier as the afternoon progressed, but there is a lot of room, and it doesn’t feel crowded.

We’ve been seeing wildflowers on this part of the trip, and they were especially lovely today.

Monday 26^th August, 2024

We’ve had an interesting few days weatherwise. It was hot on Thursday after our night at Goldwire Rest Area, so, as mentioned in the last post, we took the next roadhouse caravan park, Sandfire Roadhouse, and had a shady, powered site. We used our air conditioning to get through the afternoon.

Sandfire hosts many animals, kangaroos, which we couldn’t see clearly as they were in a distant field, a camel, peacocks and peahens, chickens and geese. The chickens and geese roam around the caravan park and become very interested if you have a little bag of something, such as Stephen’s bag of connections for the hose.

We decided to be brave for our next park up and went to the De Grey River Rest Area. It’s only about 80kms from Port Hedland and is a very well laid out RA with lots of options for parking overnight. We found a partly shady spot and were very glad of a cool breeze that lasted until evening.

We had already booked a caravan park in Port Hedland, but would have been alright in the free camping as Port Hedland also had a cool breeze that made being in the Sherwood fairly comfortable. However, having a partly shady spot in the caravan park was still appreciated.

In Port Hedland we shopped at Woollies, went to our favourite Port Hedland café, then back to the shopping area to do some washing. The laundromat is handy as it allows you to pay by card, rather than having lots of coins.

Yesterday morning we also washed our bed linen early in the morning and it was pretty much dry by the time we left at 10.00 a.m.

This park up (In the Rocks) has not been as comfortable as it was hot during the afternoon. Stephen found it best to be outside, with lots of insect protection, whereas I found it more comfortable inside with the fan on. By the time I went to bed it had cooled down and I needed the doona.

Stephen is still going out at night to view stars, but wears long pants, just in case there are biting insects. Some of his bites from the Broome Bird Observatory are still itchy and annoying him. We managed to get some Locals insect repellent in Port Hedland and he is finding it soothing on the bites. The combination of lavender and ecucalyptus oil makes it smell really nice as well.

Listening to the weather forecast last night it confirmed that the heat we are feeling is unusual for this time of year. We’ve decided not to go into Karijini as any walks, etc. that we might like to do would not be pleasant in the heat of the day. However, we still get to enjoy the scenery of this area and our next park up, the Albert Tognolini Rest Area, is one of our favourites for scenery.

There are constant ore trucks on this road from Port Hedland to Newman. We had a truck close behind us when we arrived at this park up, so had to drive past and wait for the truck to pass us before doubling back. It was worth it as it’s a lovely spot. We have three other campers here and there is so much room that we are a long way from our nearest neighbours.

We haven’t had much in the way of scenery in the past few days of travel and now that we are so far south all of the rivers are dry. Which was another reason to choose this informal camping area as it has good reviews on Wikicamps.

We probably won’t stay overnight in Newman, but we can get water, fuel and use the dump point, plus do any shopping that is needed. Then we will be heading southwards and can begin to hope for cooler weather. At least the overnights and mornings have been cool on our journey, without that it would be so unbearable that we would have to consider travelling much faster.

Thursday 22^nd August, 2024

We did our shopping, etc. in Broome on Monday morning, had lunch at a café, then took the sandy track to the Observatory. It was challenging, both sandy and corrugated, but we’ve done worse, of course. There were overhanging leaves and branches leading to the campsite, but we managed to get into our spot without scraping on branches.

It was about mid afternoon, with a pleasant breeze when we arrived. We were too tired to go for a walk at that stage, but did join the other campers for the bird count in the evening. I was truly amazed at the variety of bird life. It is truly a wonderful place to have a bird observatory.

On Tuesday we were recovered enough to take a look at the displays. They have a large solar array, and must have battery backup as well, because there is a display and reception centre with air conditioning, and a large room that is used for research also has it. A refuge in the heat, but the displays are really so well done that we visited on our way out yesterday as well.

We went to a viewing platform at out 11.00 a.m. to watch the incoming tide. It is the only time there are any waves, and then just wavelets. We could hear this a bit from our campsite as well. I think we saw one or two birds then, and also in the evening when the tide was out.

When we went down at about 8.00 a.m. yesterday at first it looked like there were no birds. But, we could then see them out where the tide was coming in. We spent about an hour watching the tide come in and enjoying the bird life. I particularly liked a lone egret which reminded me of Leunig’s duck. It had to fly once or twice to get back to shallow water as the bay filled up.

Tuesday afternoon was very trying in the heat, with almost no movement of air. We sat outside and Stephen was bitten just about everywhere by sandflies. He put on some repellent, but perhaps too late. Anyway, there is a better cream that Eversley told us about which we didn’t have on hand.

He had a bad night as he had scratched some of the bites and that made them worse. In the morning I suggested that we give up and begin our trip south. There is a heatwave coming up this way and it’s warm enough now, though the mornings are often really pleasant.

We packed up, then had our last visit to exhibition. We took some video of the drive out so we will remember what it was like. When you have glimpses of the sea the contrast of colours is amazing.

At Roebuck Roadhouse we filled up with water and fuel, then bagged a shady spot for the van and went to the tavern for lunch. We stayed in the air conditioning for a couple of hours, then headed to our free camp at the Goldwire Rest Area. It has full facilities, toilets, a dump point and skips for rubbish. The toilets have water on a hand lever, but the dump point doesn’t and I’m not looking forward to using it. But, we need to.

Our strategy worked in that when we arrived at Goldwire there was a cool breeze which continued for a while after sunset. By then it was cool enough for the fans to keep us comfortable.

We had a problem with the batteries running low. I think I forgot that we have to be frugal when not driving even though we have solar. Anyway, we hope to have a powered site for tonight at a roadhouse. Hope to, but it may not happen as everyone else on the road wants power too!

Overall, the visit to the Broom Bird Observatory was a good experience and I’m glad we went. The receptionist said that June and July are better months to come there as it’s cooler.

There is a breeze this morning, which started at about 7.30 a.m. Before that the dew was so heavy that the toilets looked like they had been hosed down. The condensation inside was pretty heavy as well.

PM update: it was about 12.30 p.m. when we arrived here at Sandfire Roadhouse they had a powered site available, so we are able to keep cool in the late afternoon, which seems to be the hottest part of the day. There is a strong breeze, but it isn’t cooling, so far (4.30 p.m.).

Looking at the next few days we may need to have powered sites as much as we can. We have one more overnight before Port Hedland, and have booked the caravan park for Saturday night already. In discussing the route home, whether inland or near the coast, we came to the conclusion that inland might have slightly cooler nights and offers as many free and paid options for camping. We are not sure whether to visit Tom Price and Karijni, and it all depends on the temperature and how we are feeling. The heat is tiring, even though we have air conditioning whilst driving.

We haven’t stopped enjoying the day to day travelling, finding parkups, and so on. But, we are perhaps a bit over sight seeing due to the heat and the long time we have been on the road. We are looking forward to staying at Mingenew for two or three nights with Marie and Geoff before actually heading home. It should be a bit cooler that far south, in fact, we may miss out on clear night skies due to rain. But we will have a chance to rest and enjoy being in one place. There might still be wildflowers to see.

Monday 19^th August, 2024

The main reason we stopped at Fitzroy Crossing (Friday) was that we were low on water. We’ve stayed at the caravan park before and rather like the bar and restaurant there. We were close to facilities and did a load of washing, which made it a very useful overnight stopping place.

We arrived a bit before lunchtime, so after setting up we went back to the bar for lunch and air conditioning. We stayed there for about two and a half hours, having a shared meal and drinks (non alcoholic).

Most of the other customers were local Indidgenous folk and we found in the evening that they were the main users of the bar, with visitors going to the restaurant. The bar is very nice, by the way, and the staff are friendly and welcoming. We had a chicken parmi shared at lunchtime and a pizza in the evening. It is good sometimes to get out of the van for meals.

We travelled about 233kms to get to Willare (Saturday) as it is a favourite of ours, due to the lovely café. In the end, we didn’t eat at the café, but it was great to get a flat white in the morning. We weren’t able to get a powered site, but instead camped on the lawn opposite the pool and café. It was shady and we appreciated being on lawn after quite a lot of red dirt.

Yesterday (Sunday) we had a shorter journey of 167 kms to get to Roebuck RA. We had food that needed to be cooked, but as we arrive in camps when it is still hot, I haven’t felt like cooking. We are still getting up quite early (before 7.00 I mean) and had time to cook up a curry before leaving Willare. That was much appreciated last night when we could just heat up food and sit down to chat with Matt on Facetime. He likes it when we get to the washing up stage.

We’ve counted 11 single lane bridges on the Great Northern Highway so far. Imagine, this is a major highway connecting West to the East, and yet trucks still have to stop if there is a car already on the bridge. That said, the traffic has been fairly light so far.

The scenery has been quite boring on this part of the trip, so nothing to photograph really. We had some clouds come up yesterday evening and they were still here this morning at about 5.00 a.m., but have cleared off now. These are the first clouds we have seen since we had a couple of cloudy days in Darwin.

We are booked into the Broome Bird Observatory for three nights starting tonight. That means we will not be heading off south until Thursday of this week. The person Stephen spoke to seemed a bit sceptical that we will make it there due to overhanging branches, but we will see. We can handle leaves and small branches. The road has been recently graded, so shouldn’t be a problem.

First, we will visit the dump point and water tap at the Visitor Centre, then do some shopping. There are toilets, showers and a big communal camp kitchen at the Observatory, but no other facilities. We may enjoy some cooking in the kitchen.

The weather won’t be as hot as it is inland, with maximums in the low thirties. Here at Roebuck it will be 36 and 37 degrees this week.

The Big Boab tree. We are back in boab territory and they have been quite a feature of the journey for the last three days. Along with one lane bridges.

Friday 16th August, 2024

Yesterday was a fairly ordinary travel day. We went into Halls Creek for fuel and to dump our toilet. Although there was a drinking water tap it was too close to the dump point for comfort, so we didn’t fill our tank.

On the way to this rest area we stopped fairly early for coffee and a snack and then at Mary Pool RA for lunch. Mary Pool is lovely, with shade, grass and some water in the river. It appears to be on private property and you have to be prepared to share with lots of friendly cows. One couple had a bucket set out near where they were picnicking and of course the cows came crowding in, they associate humans with buckets with nice snacks!

You can’t know if people have arrived to stay or are just having lunch, but it was very busy. Fortunately it covers a wide area and you can go much further away from the main area if you like privacy and fewer cows.

This part of the road is familiar territory for us. We remember stopping at this spot two years ago.

We arrived here at Ngumban Cliff at about 3:00 pm. There is no shade, but wonderful views. Sitting outside in the shade of the van was fairly comfortable,

A strong wind started in the night and is still blowing now. We were able to switch off the fan as we had enough air flowing over the bed.

Monday 12^th, Tuesday 13^th, Wednesday 14^th August, 2024

We didn’t do much on Monday, but did walk out to a nearby café for lunch and I bought a caravan step to replace our damaged plastic step. I’ve always wondered if they are useful and it’s very handy that it’s height adjustable, has black grippy strips and is quite wide and deep.

It was hotter in the afternoon and we were able to put the air conditioning on to help cope.

On Tuesday morning, after packing up we went to a car wash to give the Sherwood a good clean. We can now see out of our back window, and we tried to wash down the solar panels as much as possible, given that we can’t actually see on the roof. Stephen had to do the spraying as he has extra height.

Then we did a big shop in the local Coles, enough to last a few days.

Ivanhoe crossing has been on my list of things to see. We’ve watched Youtube videos of cars driving across, and hoped to see this live. However, the crossing is blocked off at the moment, probably because the water is a bit high. It was still interesting to see, particularly as people were right down near the water despite croc warning signs.

There is a café a few kilometres away on the road back to town and we enjoyed lunch under beautiful, leafy trees.

Our first overnight rest stop was at a place called Bow River Bridge. We loved the drive through the ranges to that spot and although it was not the best rest area (due to sloping down so much) it had a good view of the last of the ranges we would see on the road. Although the landscape changed to hills with grass and trees, not so spectacular, we still really enjoyed it. Most of the creeks we crossed have at least some water in them and we passed through quite a few of the one lane bridges which make the Great Northern Highway seem not really up to the task.

There was evidence of the destruction of a low level bridge across the river, which had been replaced by the high level bridge we drove over to get to the campsite.

The last couple of days have been officially about 33 degrees maximum, but we find that if we can park under shade there will be a cool breeze, which makes taking morning tea and lunch breaks very comfortable.. We have been arriving at camps at about 4.00 p.m. and the cool down happens by around 5.00 p.m. Sunset is shortly after.

We are presently at a free camp about 15kms off the highway near Halls Creek called Caroline Pool. It has a beautiful water hole and just a few campsites. We chose a spot fairly near someone’s campsite and they invited us over to sit around the campfire before dinner. We enjoyed an unexpectedly interesting chat, fairly wind ranging.

I had put some chicken patties in our little frying pan on a low heat and they gently cooked whilst we were outside. Eventually they were ready and we left our neighbours to have their own meal. It was chilly outside, though the campfire helped us to cope. We were still in our short sleeved tops and shorts.

We still have about 700kms to go before we get to Broome, but as usual we are enjoying the journey so much that we don’t mind that it will take about three days, at our slow pace of travel.

Now it is only about 3,000kms to home (about 2,700kms to Mingenew for our meetup)

Sunday 11^th August, 2024

We stayed at a couple of good campsites on the way here. The first was in the Gregory National Park, and required payment, even though it is just a basic 24hr camping spot. In fact, there were no bins, as there would be in a normal 24hr stop.

We walked down to the waterhole, but stayed back from the bank as there was a notice about crocs. Likely freshwater crocs, but we didn’t know for sure. Anyway, after someone telling me that freshies can grow to 6’ in length, which is larger than me, I decided to Google the difference. The narrower snout and not quite such fearsome teeth is probably why they are less dangerous than salties.

When we arrived at the Victoria River Roadhouse I regretted not paying extra to stay there as the scenery is marvellous. It doesn’t get much of a rap on Wikicamps, but who cares when the surroundings are magnificent.

Last night we stayed at a very pretty campsite called Saddle Creek Rest Area. We secured a spot with shade and lovely green bushland and we surrounded by cliffs and hills.

This morning we had about a 120km drive to Kununurra. We stopped at a 24hr Rest Area for a cup of tea, then at the WA welcome sign, then went through our quarantine inspection. They are courteous, but thorough, and warn you that they are filming everything.

We booked one night in a caravan park, but have decided to stay two nights. This caravan park is in the town, very convenient, not too expensive, and is small and quiet. All of the caravan spaces in this main area have good shade, though there is an overflow area without good shade as well.

After resting for the afternoon we walked over to the local Coles Store to get some food for our tea. As we have changed time zones we were actually having tea when we phoned Matt. We chatted with him for about 40 mins before he yelled out for a support worker to help him end the call.

Monday 12^th August, 2024

Today we had had to move places this morning, but keep feeling surprised at how early it is as we have sort of ‘gained’ 1.5 hours. Anyway, it’s 10.00 a.m. and we’ve done two loads of washing, now hanging on a Hills Hoist which we can see from our back window now that we’ve moved. We have less morning shade here, but have put out the awning to make things better.

Today is a rest day, and, apart from driving to the next row in the caravan park anything we do will be on foot. Fortunately, located as we are in the centre of town we have lots of options: shopping, including going to a Mitre 10 to see if they have a caravan step as our other plastic one broke, doing more shopping in Coles, going to a nice café for lunch and we can even walk to the local lagoon to see the birds.

Broome is still about 1,000 kms away and it will take us a few days to reach it. Although we have to book the Broome Bird Observatory for camping it’s a bit too early to know just when we will reach it.