photographyperthwa

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.

Friday 9th August, 2024

The loop was the route from Pine Creek to Kakadu, to Darwin and then back to Pine Creek. We celebrated by visiting Masey’s Café in Pine Creek for steak burgers and icecreams. Our plan was to free camp last night and do shopping, etc. in Katherine this morning. However, we missed the turn off to a campsite and just kept going to the town.

There was emptying and filling up and shopping to do before we could head out to a nearby 24hr stopping place for the night. A long day, but it feels worth it this morning when we can just look forward to a gentle day of driving and finding somewhere to camp.

My impression of Pine Creek has changed from our first visit. We stopped there for lunch on the way up and I thought it was very dry, dusty and overflowing with caravans. It was still overflowing with caravans, but finding the nice little café in a side street seemed to make it greener and more attractive. The lawns were there last time, but didn’t register as much.

We were feeling a bit of motorhome envy last night as the woman next to us had a beautiful Winnebago Coogee. These are based on the IVECO with double axle at the back. She has electric levellers and electric awning and an electric bicycle in a canvas covering on the back.

Mind you, after hearing (we parked quite close to her) us watching the news, she said she is going to order a Starlink to be delivered to Kununurra. I guess she has been thinking about it for some time. So, a little bit of cross-envy!

Watching her backing out this morning reminded me of how much more difficult it is to get into nice camping spots in a larger vehicle, so I am officially over being envious. It would be nice to have more space, but we would still end up in a muddle inside, as we used to do in our Winnie. This small vehicle is so easy to manage in comparison.

Wednesday 7^th and Thursday 8^th August, 2024

We enjoyed our visit to Florence Falls after our night in the campground. We appreciated being able to see everything more clearly in the daylight, though we had to share with lots of other tourists. After taking a couple of photos Stephen suggested we take the 135 steps down to the waterhole. I hadn’t planned on that, but the stairs were fairly easy, with short flights and several landings. It was more difficult going down and up for me because of my fear of heights.

We crossed a little stream with clear water (there was a walkway, no rock hopping) and made our way around to the plunge pool. It was very busy and although we stayed for a while we didn’t feel we wanted to swim there.

Next on our agenda was to see the Buley Rockholes which are popular for swimming. Again, it was quite busy and we didn’t feel an urge to swim there even though it was getting hot.

We had parked in dappled shade and it was comfortable enough in the Sherwood to have our lunch.

Then back through the park to Batchelor and our fairly humble, but spacious park up in the caravan park. We had an ensuite because that was the only powered site available. It would have fitted three Sherwoods easily. The ensuite was old, but well maintained, and there was even a washing machine if I had felt like spending $4.00. I didn’t, so handwashing sufficied and Stephen had to hang up the washing as the line had been put up by a tall man!

We waited out the heat of the day in air conditioning, starting out with a new type of Magnum icecream (mango, white chocolate and coconut with vanilla icecream) which was recommended by our gracious host.

In the evening it cooled down a little bit, not much.

I didn’t shower in the ensuite as I encountered two tiny frogs (willing to cope) and then saw a larger frog in the shower recess (not doing it). Stephen took our awning pole with him to have a shower and said he was able to keep the frog holed up in a pipe whilst he showered.

Still, I appreciated the fact that we had a separate toilet with it’s own basin, so I didn’t have to go into the shower room again.

Before leaving town we went to the General Store, where there were limited supplies, and to the dump point.

Much of the local area is open savannah woodlands/grasslands, but Batchelor is quite lush, with large trees and lots of green grass. I hope it was like that when we were little children. I feel grateful to have had the chance to come here.

On our way south we stopped at Adelaide River for hot drinks and fuel. There was a store, but limited stock, so we stuck to just getting our hot drinks and enjoying being outside on the verandah. So far, the mornings are quite fresh, as they were in Darwin. Even in the afternoons there is a strong breeze that helps us manage in the heat.

The Bridge Creek Rest Area is just south of Adelaide River and not very far from Batchelor, but as it is a designated 24hr rest stop we decided to take it. We sat outside in the breeze, rather than inside where it was still 34 degrees, so pretty warm. For the first time in ages there was a distinct cooling down at sunset, very welcome of course.

This morning at about 5.00 a.m. I woke up feeling a bit chilly and switched off the fan and pulled up the doona. This is what we’ve been hoping for as we head south, that the nights would be cooler even though the day time temperatures will be in the low to mid thirties.

We don’t know if there is water in the creek. It’s a bit dangerous to walk out on the bridge and the long grass at the edge of the rest area could have snakes. It’s not sensible to explore. Some people at Florence Falls yesterday warned us they had seen a brown snake. We had though of walking through to the lower campsite, but gave up immediately.

Tuesday 6^th August, 2024

We are finally on the move again. We ended up spending the afternoon/early evening at the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens. It is such a lovely green space. We took another walk around before driving back to the caravan park.

Yesterday morning we didn’t rush and were mostly ready to leave by 10.00 a.m. The mornings in Darwin are usually cool and fresh at this time of year, but when you are busy it is still possible to work up a sweat, which I did.

The Stuart Highway remains a four lane highway for quite a distance out of Darwin. That made for easy driving. We fueled up at a place out of the city. On our way there we noticed a supermarket not far from the caravan park. We had been looking for one on Google Maps, but the closest one we found was in Nightcliff. A reminder to search more diligently!

We had lunch in Batchelor next to a lovely green park. We were in deep shade and were quite comfortable for an hour or so. Our impressions of the place are that it is a pretty village. I read up on the history of the town. It seems that when our father worked at Rum Jungle the mine was quite new. Batchelor was the residential village for the workers. Marie and I lived there with our parents until we were 3 and 4 years of age. Then Daddy needed to go to a hospital in Queensland and Marie and I travelled in the care of the ‘air hostess’ to Perth to be with the grandparents, now living there. The grandparents lived just a few kilometres from Stephen’s family home in what was then Queens Park, but is now Cannington.

When we returned about 7 months later our parents were living in Alice Springs, and that is the town we remember.

Litchfield National Park

Batchelor is now The Gateway to Litchfield Park and thriving, with about four caravan parks, a general store, swimming pool and small, local population. The mine closed in 1971 and is one of the most polluted places in the world, according to the potted history I read. Fortunately, the National Park was established and has become a very popular place to visit.

Our impressions are that most attractions are contained in a much smaller area than Kakadu. We drove through the park slowly to our campsite at Florence Falls. It was very hot, so we waited until sunset to walk to the falls. Very beautiful, one of the best we have seen on our travels. We will go back this morning to take photos in daylight.

On the way here we also stopped at the Magnetic Termite Mounds. They are very different to the ‘cathedral’ mounds of other termites as they face north/south, with thin edges. They look a little bit like large tombstones. I’ll post some photos in a separate post.

Overnight we set up our new fan with the battery I had bought for it, so as not to draw on the van batteries. On the low setting it worked for nine hours straight. I switched it off towards morning as we were a bit cold. The battery was expensive, but I’m glad I bought it now as it has really proved it’s worth.

There are no campsites available in the park for the next week or so. We want to explore more of the places here, so have booked a night in the Batchelor Caravan Park. A powered site, as we are feeling the effects of the heat and it will be nice to be able to look forward to air conditioning at the end of the day.