At last some warmth!

Tuesday 4th August

Having done all we needed to do in Newman we headed for a camp site that had been recommended. Sadly, we were disappointed, there was no water in the creek but the dry bed was too soft to drive on which limited the camping area. We decided to stay over night but left this morning.

The road was being worked on when we were up here last year and has been completed most of the way to Marble Bar. We stopped off at Nullagine and filled up with water, then carried on up the road towards Marble Bar. About 70ks out of Marble Bar the new road ran out and were reminded how big an improvement the new work was!!

There’s not a lot of traffic on this road but most of is big mine stuff, 4 trailers and very long (see below), we never bother to overtake these guys their average speed suits us. Incidentally, I took this when we were stopped at roadworks!

This afternoon we found a gravel pit that we were looking for but it has changed a bit because they’ve been using it. We found a level spot and had a late lunch. Pat has a conference call in the morning so we’ll stay here until that’s completed then move on.

These are views from our gravel pit.

This is a strange weed? that we have never seen before and we don’t know what it’s called but its modus operandi is like ivy and may well have a particular relationship with the host plant. It looks hard but is actually quite soft.

As an aside, here are a couple of examples of why some of our favourite stops are being closed!

Thursday 6th August

We got a flat about 50ks out of Marble Bar (MB), normally this wouldn’t be an issue but on a dirt road in the bush it can be a real drag. Quite a few fellow travellers stopped to offer assistance but Roger managed to change the wheel on his own. We set off again for MB and found someone to repair the tyre. Whilst we were waiting we noticed the spare that had been fitted was also going down!!! When the guy came back with first tyre we had to ask to fix the spare. When he came back with it he had repaired the puncture but the tyre was really not roadworthy. This meant we needed a new tyre. Roger located one in Port Hedland (PH) 200ks away. This meant we had to stay in MB and then set out for PH in the morning.

You can see the bulge that rendered the tyre unusable, however, having had the puncture mended it was holding the pressure and it had to be the spare for the 200ks into Port Hedland!

Talked to my brother this evening, he had a bad day too. He couldn’t avoid driving over a piece of sheet metal which flipped up and made a hole in his diesel tank and he has to get a new one fitted! As he pointed out a good date for the Lubbocks to stay home!!

So we had a night on the caravan park at MB and set out for Port Hedland early next morning. We had been asked to get to the tyre place by 1200, as it happened, without rushing, we arrived at 1030. I took the wheel in and quite surprisingly the lady asked the boys to change it straight away. So, within 40 minutes we were back on the road again, heading for our night stop at the de Grey RV park. We were quite early and there was plenty of space. This is a fairly large area, probably 10-15 hectares of flat bush and is well laid out.

We don’t know what this is called either, very poor, we must do some research!

Saturday 9th August

No rush today, its only 45 mins down the road to Pardoo Station where were going to spend four nights.

We checked in but were not offered their Shiraz, perhaps they remembered Roger from last year! This year we also had to pick up the Census forms for Tuesday! Anyway, we got settled and because we were going to be here a few days Roger put out the awning and, since it was breezy, he also fitted all the extra supports etc.

We should have checked the weather forecast! At about 0430 the wind became very strong and Roger had to go out and check everything was OK, fortunately it was. In the morning the wind was forecast to increase even more (40-60ks), so we decided to take the awning down completely rather than risk any damage. The good thing is that the unusual conditions have highlighted some issues with the fitment of the new awning. Things that will need addressing when we get home.

It has remained very windy for the last couple of days and though the sun is nice and warm you still need to try and get out of the wind.

This place is probably 80% fishing folk but I don’t think many of them have been fishing lately! Our neighbours said they caught enough whiting for their evening feed.

Since it is a little bit less windy today we decided and look at the ocean, there weren’t many people fishing!

These are all fairly long flat beaches, so fishing for most is on the rising tide.

Recently Roger bought a ‘selfie-stick’ because we’re often on our own but since he bought it, kind people have offered to take our photo so we haven’t used it yet – watch this space!

Tomorrow we’re leaving here and having to head south again, it has been quite cold even here for the last two nights so we don’t expect it to get much warmer from here on!