Monday 19th 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.