CARRYING ON DOWN THE COAST OF W.A.
FRIDAY 10 to THURSDAY 16 OCTOBER
We stayed overnight and when Karen and Geoff left the following morning to head on down the coast we left and went to the Palm Grove Resort – quite a bit smaller and the pool stayed open til 7:30. We pulled in alongside Marion and Terry and once we were set up, headed for the pool. That evening they took us with them to Cable Beach where they were able to drive onto the beach and we set up table and chairs, nibblies and wine and watched the sun got down. It was a great atmosphere – the beach was lined with 4-wheel-drives, their occupants all doing the same as us.
Went to the local cinema one evening to see ‘Mamma Mia’ – great pic in a great setting. The cinema is one of the last open air movie houses in the country – we all sat in deckchairs and ate popcorn and icecream.
Jeff has bought himself a bike and goes for a ride every morning – usually along Cable Beach. He had to get a rack to carry it on Betty G, but she don’t seem to mind.
We both had much-needed haircuts and a very good job the hairdressers did, too.
We gave pyrography and knot-tying lessons to Marion and Terry – I think they may be taking up new hobbies
On the 15th and 16th we joined that crowds at Broome’s Town Beach to watch a local phenomenon called “The Staircase to the Moon”. It only happens from March to October when the full moon rises over Roebuck Bay and is reflected on the mudflats exposed by the low tide. A lovely site (we’ve seen the photographs) but this month it didn’t happen – too much cloud. However, on both nights we could see huge columns of smoke arising from bushfires along the coast.
FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER
We decided to move on today towards 80-Mile Beach and stayed overnight at the Pardoo Roadhouse. As we passed the Roebuck Roadhouse and turned south, we could see the results of last night’s fires still smouldering. Luckily it was just open bush and no buildings were in the area. We refuelled at the Sandfire Roadhouse and then a few Ks further down the road we came to the turn off to 80 Mile Beach and bravely decided to go for it. The 6Ks of dirt road turned out to be 10Ks of bone shattering corrugations. We had been advised to travel at 10 – 15 Kph so we did and it took nearly an hour. When we eventually arrived at the caravan park, Jeff took one look and said “Book us in for a week” – this in spite of the fact that there ain’t no SWIMMING POOL! And there’s too many nasties in the sea for safe swimming!!!!! OK, we’re right by the sea, but the temperatures are still in the high 30s.
SATURDAY 18 OCTOBER
Had a go at fishing from the beach. Both of us had several bites but I reckon that them fishes was just getting a free feed from us. It was rather hot and there was no shade so I wasn’t really sorry when all our bait was gone. Standing in the water was lovely and cooling, but a pool would have been soooo much more betterer. Marion and Terry arrived in the afternoon and set up just across the pathway. There was a wonderful sunset this evening and I took several photos. It made up for missing out on the Stairway to the Moon – this was a Stairway to the Sun. The setting sun’s reflection on the water left by the outgoing tide was amazing. Today was the wedding of a friend of mine back in the UK so I sent one of the best pics to her.
SUNDAY 19 OCTOBER
Jeff went fishing on his own today – I opted for spending most of the day in the TV Room which had A/C going full belt, reading or doing computer stuff – luverly. When I finally emerged and went down to the fish-cleaning area, there they all were, cleaning off their catch. Jeff’s tally was a baby shark and 3 blue-nose salmon; Marion had caught 3 or 4 of the same. Actually Jeff caught 12 catfish as well, but threw them all back. We all ate very well that night.
MONDAY 20 – THURSDAY 23 OCTOBER
More of the same – Jeff fishing and me escaping from the heat in the TV room.
One evening one of the other fishermen made us some sushini using some king white salmon Jeff caught that day – using white vinegar, soy sauce, finely chopped onion and lemon juice. The fish was thinly sliced and marinated in this mixture for about 30 minutes – abso-bluddy-lutely superb. We all enjoyed it so much that Jeff made some more the next day – the only problem was we only had some pickled onion vinegar so it wasn’t quite as good – still great though.
FRIDAY 24 OCTOBER
We finally took our leave of 80-Mile Beach and carried on along the road to Port Hedland. On arrival called in at the Tourist Information Office to get directions to the Big4 Caravan Park. We did a bit of shopping and proceeded to the park which was situated near the Turner River. It was a bit pricey ($35 per night), but it did have a nice pool. We parked alongside the Ks who had arrived the day before, and headed for the pool.
SATURDAY 25 OCTOBER
Carried on to Point Samson, just off the road, before Karratha. Only a short hop this time, but I had read about a ghost town called Cossack which I thought might be quite interesting. We parked up next to the Ks and headed for Cossack in their car. What a flippin’ disappointment!!!
OK it was interesting enough, but not exactly a “ghost town”. People lived there and the old Post Office has been converted to a Backpacker’s Hostel.
It would have been nice to stay on a little longer, but it was uncomfortably windy so after a lovely fish meal at the local chippy, we decided to move on to Karratha tomorrow.
SUNDAY 26 & MONDAY 27 OCTOBER
Stopped at another Big4 site in Karratha – even more expensive. The facilities are good, but certainly no better than other far cheaper sites. Spent some time in the pool, of course, but also went with M & T to Dampier and called in at the LPG Plant Information Centre. Fascinating place – very interesting visit.
TUESDAY 28 OCTOBER
Stayed overnight at the Nanuturrah Roadhouse – Marion and I had a little walk down to the Ashburton River which runs alongside the caravan park – beautiful scenery. There is a footbridge over the river which used to carry the old road before the new bridge was constructed a few years ago. ~We walked halfway across and I looked down to some rocks in the middle of the river and spotted what looked very much like a 3-toed dinosaur footprint on a large flat rock. I took a couple of photos and then told the guy in reception – dunno how interested he was though.
WEDNESDAY 29 & THURSDAY 30OCTOBER
Carried on round to Exmouth and booked in at the Ningaloo Reef Resort Park. The first thing we mentioned was the pool. We didn’t need to ask because friends of M & T had stayed here and reported that there was a particularly good pool. You can imagine our reaction on being told “Sorry, the pool’s closed”. What a shame we said – or words to that effect. We booked in for 2 nights anyway, and cast longing looks at the pool every time we passed. That evening Jeff and I had a nice spaghetti meal at the Italian restaurant attached to the caravan park.
FRIDAY 31 OCTOBER
We left Exmouth for a look at and an overnight stay in the Cape Range National Park. There was ‘free’ camping in several sites all along the various beaches – well not ‘free’ in the monetary sense, but ‘free’ in the ‘no facilities’ sense. We thought we needed to find out if we (and Betty G) could manage this ‘free camping’ lark, and having the Ks and their rig and generator there as backup it seemed an ideal time to try it out. There’s a small fee to enter the park, plus a charge of $6.50 per person for camping. We checked out a couple of sites and settled on ‘Mesa Beach’. There were only two other caravans there, one of whom was just packing up as we arrived. We settled in a choice spot, sheltered somewhat from the wind by several tea trees, and went for a walk on the beach – what a place, white sand, blue, blue sea, cloudless sky – magical. The only problem was it was windy, very, very windy and I hates windy!!
Jeff and Terry went fishing, but by the time Marion and I joined them, all ready to have a go too, they had decided that enuff was enuff and we all retired to the relative shelter of the campsite.
That evening after dinner we all sat out in the middle of the campground and did a bit of stargazing – no light pollution whatsoever. We saw a total of 5 satellites within an hour – two at the same time, their paths crossing the sky. Several shooting stars, too. Unfortunately, none of us know the southern hemisphere star constellations. So although we could see literally millions of stars and the Milky Way was very clear, nothing meant anything. Must see about getting some sort of reference book – the nights are so clear here, most of the time anyway.