We have been away for a while now but haven't had the opportunity to post anything to date. We had planned to get away even earlier than we did but life just got in the way. We have made the trip to Cape Keraudren a number of times, but this is the first time that we are not confined to school holidays. As a consequence we decided to take our time on the journey rather than the "express" run that we were forced into in the past.
Our first night saw us make the relatively short sojourn to New Norcia. As usual we camped on the oval after making the obligatory donation to the monks for the privilege. Having been there a number of times before, we didn’t bother touring the monastery but headed straight to the pub to celebrate the beginning of our adventure. We also returned for tea later that evening with Paula deciding that they make the best pizzas that we have eaten. They were nice!
On day 2 of the drive we drove through Cue to camp at Lake Nallan, 20 km to the north. We stopped in Cue for Steve to take some photos and for a wander around. In the past this was a luxury we couldn’t afford. Cue is a town with plenty of old world character and so many vacant buildings that are a reminder of boom times past. Due to the amount of rain that the area has had in the past few months, Lake Nallan was a spectacular sight. It was as full as we have ever seen in (driving past). This was the first time we camped there and it won’t be the last! Steve got a heap of sunset photos to add to his ever growing collection!
The next morning saw us drive into rain as we headed further north. A tropical depression was drifting over the Pilbara and we drove straight into it! It rained pretty solidly most of the way but became really heavy about 200km from Newman and stayed that way. When we arrived at the Kumarina Roadhouse it was isolated by two creeks crossing the main highway; one to the south which was pretty easy to negotiate; and one to the north which was really flowing. Some video of the latter can be found below. Steve wasn’t too sure about crossing, the depth wasn’t an issue, but the water was flowing pretty fast. After watching for a while and seeing a couple of vehicles go through we decided to give it a go. We have no video of the crossing but we made it reasonable easily in the end. We are glad that we didn’t wait as the road was closed after we went through.
As we headed north we wondered if continuing was a good idea. The rain got even heavier and we crossed that many floodways (some quite deep) that we wondered if we would make it to Newman. Nevertheless we pressed on and about 50km from Newman the skies cleared and the road conditions improved and we were away again!
We travelled on to our stop for the night, Mount Robinson. A lovely 24hr rest stop about 150km north of Newman. After a quiet night spoilt only by some old idiot deciding to run is generator as close to us as he could, but far enough from his own van that he would enjoy peace and quiet. The guy next to us was so pissed off that he packed up and moved off. By 10pm Steve was ready to get out of bed and turn it off himself and just before he did the old fella turned it off! He received a very loud and sarcastic “Thankyou!” from Steve.
The last day of our drive saw us head into rain once again. This time we seemed to be just ahead of the worst of it and had no dramas. They did close the road between Karratha and Port Hedland sometime later in the day though, so we were lucky.
After a short stop in Hedland to grab some supplies we made it to the Cape. It wasn’t very busy and we thought we had finally scored a prime position. We were about to set up when we were approached by a Victorian man who asked us not to camp there as it would spoil his view. We explained that we were well within our rights to camp there as we were the required distance from his camp and that we were intending to stay for a couple of months. His retort was “Well I could be staying a couple of months too.” After some deliberations we decided to be nice people and move to a less desirable location. We set up most of what we needed and settled in for the night. The next morning we finished our setup and then realised that our friendly Victorian was packing up. When Paula asked if they were leaving they said they were. For once Paula was speechless. Why hadn’t they told us and we would have waited for the spot. Just an arrogant, ignorant pr*ck!
As it turns out we are quite happy where we are and are surrounded by lovely people who we enjoy drinks with every evening.
Since arriving we have been busy collecting wood, water and relaxing. We haven’t put the kayaks in the water yet, but will do so soon. The wind is a bit strong at the moment, but hopefully it will drop off a bit next week.
We will post on here from time to time with updates of what we are up to and will add photos in our picture gallery as well.
At least it’s warm!
