Wednesday 16th August

Having done the washing, checked and tightened the wheel bearings and refuelled we left Nullagine and headed for Newman. We had been told that the graders had done the track down to Newman but if they had it wasn’t recently! We had to take it easy until we got to Roy Hill (one of Gina Rinehart’s mines) where the tar starts. This tarred road has changed its route several times because of the expansion of the iron ore mine. This time there had been noticeable additions to the scenery with ore conveyer belts which bridged the road and massive pipelines alongside the road.

Just south of the mine there is a Rest Area where you can get a long way back from the road, we planned to stop there for the night. The ore is taken from the mine by train to Port Hedland so there are no noisy road -trains to keep us awake. The rail line is several ks away.

Thursday 17th August

Today we’re going into Newman for shopping and to top up the cellar! When we came back from the shopping centre Roger noticed that we had a leak from the caravan coming from the diesel heater tank, which proved to be the isolation valve that had been damaged, probably by a stone from the road. Anyway, it meant Roger having to try to isolate the tank and replacing the valve with a piece of tubing from the nearby hardware store. It has stopped the leak but we’re not sure whether it’s safe to use the heater.

All this while parked in the middle of Newman! Anyway, it filled the time we would have had to wait for the bottle shop to open at midday.

Tonight we’re staying at a spot called Hidden Gem, about 30ks south of Newman. It is a few ks off the main road (Great Northern Hwy) which is always busy no matter the time of day. We’re glad to get there and we turn off and drive along a track that continually has other tracks off it. These take you in and out of the low trees and shrubs and you just pick a spot. Several of the more open spaces have old campfires made by previous campers. The trick is to remember the way back to the main road! The kettle is on almost before we’ve stopped!

Friday 18th August

Today we’ve decided on a fairly short run to Gascoyne River Middle Branch where we can camp beside the river. We’ve had a look in here before, probably a lunch stop, but we don’t think we actually stayed here. We’re here early and have the pick of the places to park. The river is still quite full and the bird life keeps us amused. The flynet/hat is needed outside during the day.

…….and guess what, no yabbies, the water is probably still too cold.

Saturday 20th August

Today we’re meeting Carol and Barry, our friends from Mt Barker who are currently staying at Dulgunna on a private property as guests of their friends, who are the Caretakers for this ex-cattle and sheep station. It has been a bit of a problem to keep in touch with each other as we have been on the move and often camp in places that do not have a particularly good signal and they are on a station with virtually no signal and they have to drive to the main road and then along the Rest Area where we are meeting them to get a good signal. But we finalised everything yesterday.

Today’s excitement en route is provided by a couple of wide loads. We had to stop at some roadworks when we hear on our UHF radio that there are “two 8.5m wide” loads approaching which means that we will definitely have to get off the road. Fortunately here, unlike an awful lot of WA roads, there is room at the side to safely get off the main part of the road. We talk to the pilot vehicle and he’s happy that we are out of the way and we just wait for the police escort and the two loads which turn out to be large dumper trucks.

We wondered if these two trucks were for lady drivers!! Oh dear, I suppose that’s sexist these days!

We had arranged to meet Carol and Barry at the Rest Area north of the entrance to the track to Dulgunna. They were already there when we arrived and they explained that their hosts had told them to take us to the homestead for the night.

This was great, we could catch up with Carol and Barry at our leisure.

The homestead is about 5 ks off the highway and the track is not bad so we left the tyres at road pressure.

We had a great catch up before lunch, after lunch and at a barbecue in the evening – good stuff. Ann and Wossa, the caretakers, also came to the barbeque. To round it off we went outside into the darkness and we went over to the windmill, where Wossa shone his torch at it for a photo with the milky way and thousands of other stars that filled the sky above it.

Sunday 20th August

We said goodbye to Carol and Barry this morning and left Dulgunna taking the track out that goes past the old shearing sheds.

Perhaps we will get asked back again sometime, apparently there is plenty of exploring that can be done. There is a working gold mine near by.

We’re heading to Meekatharra and our usual camping place at Peace Gorge. On our way through town we managed to pick up a Weekend Australian which has three Times crosswords in it!

We get ourselves settled in and set about relaxing. Tomorrow we’ll take the car off the caravan and pop into town to top up with milk and a few other basics and to fill up with diesel.

Monday 21st August

This morning Roger did an electrical repair on his razor and then, as planned, we went into town. This little IGA is not bad considering the population of Meeka is probably around 300, although there are some mines in the area. However, there were some things, both from the IGA and the Hardware shop, that were not stocked.

There used to be very good coffee van in the centre of town but it wasn’t around this morning, it was for sale last time we were here, so we went to the bakery instead. Unfortunately the coffee hasn’t improved since the last time we had to go there!

Tuesday 22nd August

We had planned to meet some other travelling friends, Richard and Marge, who were supposed to be setting out with couple of their friends but one of the party was not very well so our meeting was cancelled. Instead we decided to change our plans and head to one of our favourite places, Lake Ninan.

We stop in Cue as we been told that you can buy good fish here, frozen of course. This is surprising because the permanent population of Cue is probably less than 100, it’s about 500 ks north of Perth and at least 350ks from the coast! Nevertheless it is certainly worth checking out. There is certainly plenty of fish / shellfish but where it’s from is a bit doubtful, except for some Barramundi which is definitely Australian.

Just after leaving Cue we get a warning message on the car instrument panel telling us to take the car to a Toyota dealer! Nearest one is possibly Dalwalinu! It is not too far to Mount Magnet and we don’t have any other fault indications so we carry on. We have some lunch and then visit the local mechanic. Most most mechanics these days possess the computers that they plug into the car for fault diagnosis and, yes, the motor mechanic in Mount Magnet has one. We have a short wait while he finishes with another customer. He plugs in the computer and can’t find anything wrong, resets the warning and we get on the road again, having lost an hour or so.

This means its a bit more driving than we really want to do in a day so we decided to spend the night at a spot a few ks north of Paynes Find. It is well off the highway and is called Quiet Camp, which it is.

Wednesday 23rd August

A fairly early start today, 0900, but only about 2.5 hours to travel. A fairly easy stretch of highway not too much traffic southbound.

A bit more excitement with another couple of very wide loads, at 8.5 metres they take up both sides of the road and it is necessary for us to get off the carriageway completely, we comply with the Pilot’s instructions.

Dare I say it, perhaps these are for the boys!

The rest of the trip is very quiet and we get to Lake Ninan late morning, time to get settled in and have some lunch and a casual afternoon of reading and crosswords in the sun.

Thursday 24th August

It was 0 deg C when we got up this morning, we’re well inland and, of course very low, being next to a salt lake. It soon warms up and becomes a beautiful day again, just right for catching up with the blog, emails, texts, etc.. with a little help from our friend.

We went for a walk along the the edge of the lake and discovered some samphire which we were a dubious about because obviously the salt lakes aren’t tidal and so the samphire would have been dry for a while. However, it proved to be quite moist and Roger (being used to the Norfolk version) collected some to try.

Steamed, with a blob of butter it made a very nice starter………………..

………….though not as tasty as the UK version. A new discovery of what the Aussie landscape can come with.

We decide that we will head home tomorrow.

So with one last sunset, we spend our last night of this trip.

Friday 25th August

An uneventful drive back to Karnup and we’re back in time for lunch which we eat sitting out in the sun.

So another very enjoyable trip, probably a bit longer than we would prefer these days but we did get to drive the iconic Birdsville Track, something we’ve wanted to do for a few years. We caught up with our friends in Queensland. We did the Buchanan, Buntine and Duncan route into WA which we’ve had on the wish list for a while. We spent a wonderfully relaxed week on the De Grey, caught up with friends along the way and met some friendly and interesting people. Enjoyed some of the wildlife and scenery that Australia has to offer.

We did about 12,000ks in a total of 86 days, stayed at 2 showgrounds, 8 caravan parks, 32 free camps and at our friends house in Pomona.

Unfortunately my GPS is playing up so the last few tracks are missing!

Endnote. We would love to get feedback on anything you would improve this blog, seriously, please have your say.

Pat and Roger