# 34 to Broome, via Pt Hedland and a roadhouse…

I must admit that even though we drive long distances with not much in between we are always amazed at how not boring it is - certainly if you are looking for birds the whole time it's not - and the road out of the park was the same…

John - I don't think you washed this container well enough!

We passed a million "road trains" (transports/tractor-trailers) with FOUR trailers behind them (& 86 tires according to mr. joe-math-dafoe) - full of iron ore or empty on their way back to fill up with ore.  (Not a lot of railways our here!) 

86 tires here!

I met one of the drivers at a roadhouse when I sympathised with him that he had to go to work (& I didn't) and he said it was OK he got $40/hr for doing nothing!  I told him that I thought driving one of those things was a lot more than nothing and he explained that all he had to do was sit there and steer!  Well I was really happy each time they passed me that we didn't collide, so I told him I was very grateful that he could steer so well.  $40/hr eh?

Then there were the cows!  We knew we had to watch out for kangaroos but nobody mentioned the cows - forget roo-bars  - we need moo-bars!  So many cows!  So many dead cows on the side of the road.  I wanted to take a photo so people could understand but some of them were so repulsive I couldn't bring myself to look at them long enough to take a photo. At one point as we neared Pt. Headland we noticed them walking in lines; lines and lines  - and we couldn't figure out where they were going.  

Where are they going ?

Maybe there were going to the mountain (of salt?)

They were also a hazard driving, especially as it was getting darker and we had to slow down a few times with groups on the side of the road. At one spot we thought there was a beautiful large white rock on the side of the road but as we slowed down we realized it was a friggin' huge Brahman BULL sitting there - and he watched us go by.

At Pt. Hedland we spent a fruitless, frustrating few hours trying to print a file and fax papers for a house rental application.  You can print at the library - if you can find the library.  You should be able to fax at the library but it "doesn't always work" and it didn't this Friday. But you can fax at the Post Office - it's just a few kilometers away in the middle of town. Yes you can fax the pages for $5 for the first page!! and $1.50 for the next three!! - after you fill out the ridiculous cover page. OMG - beauracracy!!  After the pages finally went through I found out that I was supposed to include photocopies of my three pieces of ID - urgh! That meant going back to the library, so we said forget it… sad because it would have been a really nice house!

So now we are behind schedule and it's too far to Broome so we need to stop somewhere overnight.  Two choices - 80 mile beach which is really nice but it's 10kms on a dirt, bumpy road or a roadhouse (& attached caravan park) just a bit further on.  We wanted to go to the beach but bumpy dirt roads are very hard on the van.  We did it to go to Cactus beach (on the nulabor) because we had heard so much about it from the Fritsch's, but it was 22kms (there and back) of jarring washboard, that while absolutely worth it, loosed a few things as well.  So we reluctantly stayed at the roadhouse which was literally in the middle of nowhere - the view out our backdoor was the void that is the outback… and they had joint male/fermale toilet/showers. Yuk!

The only interesting thing at the roadhouse!

The drive next day to Broome was long, uneventful, and full of stops to check for birds - some successful - like the one where we saw the Red Shouldered Parrot. Unlike the real birder I was able to open my door and not even leave the van and had a great view!  The birder always needs to leave the van.

We crossed the edge of the Little Sandy dessert but we couldn't see any sand dunes.  There was the now ever-present red sand/dirt but it was always covered in bushes, plants, small trees or cows!  So that was a tad disappointing. But then we turned left towards the coast and Broome and all of a sudden it became just that bit more tropical and just that bit more hot!!

#32 & 33 Karajini - swimming in the gorge.

Karajini is famous for it's gorges and I couldn't figure out why I had never heard of it before. That's because it used to be called Hamersley Nat. Park - back when I was at school.  Now they are using the Indigenous name, (as they are doing with lots of other places) and I like the name Karajini much better.

Down at the campsite we registered with the volunteer rangers -- who lived in a tent and didn't have power! (What possible enjoyment do they get from doing that job?)

I think our van looked rather ridiculous parked in between the tents on sites either side of us.

You can just make out a tent on the left! There's one on the right
and the "eco-toilet" is just another two sites along.

 And I felt rather sorry for our neighbours during the night when we both woke up with upset tummies that required one of us to visit the "eco" toilet, and the other one of us, who just couldn't bring herself to use the "eco" toilet, to make use of the one on-board and that meant that the pump (it's not a quiet pump) came on about a hundred times, and the monitor beeped a hundred times (because we can't figure out what the alarm is for so can't turn it off) along with our door sliding open and shut and us talking. I did notice next morning that one of the tents had moved back quite a few feet.

This is for Colleen...
- we didn't see the bees so you don't need to come!

A black and while tree -
just like Port Adelaide (what are they called now?)

It was hot and I couldn't wait to swim in the pools but of course the pools are at the bottom of the gorges and of course that means you have to climb DOWN to swim. 

I have to climb down there!

I have to climb right down there!

If I want to swim like everybody else ... I have to climb waaay down there!

Normally I would have been afraid (annoyingly afraid) but all shapes and sizes of people (and kiddie poohs) seemed to be skipping up and down the steep-rocky path that hugged the side of the gorge, and we were meeting Maika and Miguel down at the pools so I figured if Miguel can handle the path I guess I should just do it - so I did.

There's Maika and Miguel and me - perched!

 It was so lovely down there and I enjoyed the pool that wasn't too deep, once you manoeuvred over the slippery rocks, and joseph's "sleeve" kept his cast almost dry and so next day, Anzac Day, we went back down again with books to read and food to eat and we stayed about five hours perched on a little ledge.

Five hours later and I'm still there
- I finished that book not much later!

Of course one of us was impressed with...
the layers!

Oh the layers!

Oh yes ... and the bats!
These are Australian fruit bats (the black blobs on the tree) and they are the size of crows
... and they were flying around as we walked under this tree!

I could have stayed longer in the park, except that no matter how cool it was down at the pool, back at the van it was hot - and that night there was no breeze at all and the clouds meant it didn't cool down like it did the night before. We used our shower at the back of the van and cooled off before bed but it was a long night.

Au revoir Karajini (Joseph wants to bring Jasper here one day) we're off to find power!

#31 Tom Price

It was 640km drive to Karajini Nat. park and with lunch and birding stops...

Who knew this was a good birding stop!  It's supposed to be a  river!

it meant we were too late to reach the park (we don't like to drive at night -or dusk if we can avoid it) so we spent the night at Tom Price a town that mostly services all of the mining in the area (and there is a lot of mining in the area!).  (No photo of a mine - we missed the tour! and the only other way to see one is to climb the mountain!)

The caravan park was at the base of Mt Nameless and it (the caravan park) had power! 

Nt Nameless - shortly after dawn.

Maika & Miguel had arrived the day before us and were up early to see dawn at the base of the mountain and then hike up the mountain. A 4.5 hr. hike and she thought we should try it because the dawn was quite spectacular!!!  Well luckily the alarm went off too late so we missed being at the mountain for sunrise but I had a pretty good view from my bed in the back of the van, and the colours as the sun turned the rocks bright red were quite spectacular.  No point hiking up the mountain now so off we went to Karajini. Maika & Miguel would be there so I hoped that a few more drinks with them would help me survive being off-grid.

So many anthills.

Spinifex - it looks like velvet as you drive by
 - it feels completely different!
It is very prickly.

Over drinks with M&M we discussed something that had been bothering me for a while... there were lots ( and lots and lots) of French under 30s travelling around Australia.  We saw them in the car park at Semaphore beach (one even advertising haircuts!!)  and staying overnight there for a few days. Along our route there were more French couples, and groups, some Swiss, German & Dutch … but so many French. I wondered why there were so many?  I figured it must be because there were no jobs and so they took advantage of the youth working visa (under 30 yrs) in Australia (and why not) - but if that was true then why there were no Spanish? (We know there are a lot of unemployed youth in Spain!!)  So Maika explained that back when Spain was doing well and so many people were trying to come to Spain to work (and make use of their generous social network)  Spain was trying to stop as many as they could; Europe was off-limits and so was England but Australia was one country they were able to say no to. So Australia reciprocated!   (I remembered, that when Pablo came to Australia to work he used is Finnish passport - but I hadn't made the connection.) Phew - glad to have that all sorted out!  

#28,29,30 Exmouth - whale sharks

Well I survived the boat trip, but on the way to Exmouth "we" had to survive a kidney-stone attack...

There were hints of a stone a day or so before but it went "away" and then came back on the road to Exmouth - and there isn't a lot of anything "on the way to Exmouth" so that was a bit tricky!  Joseph managed to find his pills, in pain, as we drove along, but there were a few different pills and we couldn't remember exactly what they were for so we called our on-duty pharmacist.  "She" said we could call any hour of the day or night - "just call", "she" said!  (I think that's what she said.)  So we called my friend Carol (Field) and she dispensed the critical information from the other side of the country.  Before the pills started to work there were a couple of stops while he vomited and I smiled at the passers-by but he made it to the caravan park and to our site with it's own ensuite bathroom (that was critical at this point) and then voilà it was gone! A miracle? Un milagro? Or a testament to Oxycontin? We were just grateful to have Carol as a friend.

So here we are in Exmouth and the main reason we are here is for Joseph to snorkel with the whale sharks, and now also, for me to do a glass-bottom boat tour to see the Coral. 

                  Joseph went off on his tour -  snorkelling with his trusty "sleeve" 

Provide your own caption!

and even though it was windy and rough they went past the reef into the huge swells and found the "beautiful" whale sharks (I must admit the stuffed ones at the store were pretty cute) and he loved every minute of it including; minor sea sickness, being hauled in and out of the boat with one arm and a swim with a dugong (which is not so common).

Spotted the whale sharks!

There they are! ... the black spots!

The lovely whale shark

Dugong with" hangers on"!

There were all sorts of people on the boat including two young girls (~10) who had no problem snorkelling Joseph said - I don't care - I had a lovely day doing laundry and sitting in the shade.

There's those young girls (on the right) - big deal!

Joseph's lunch

Joseph's tour

On the boat he met a couple from Spain who were also at our caravan park so he invited them over for drinks.  They were lovely, although they could have escaped convicts and I still would have enjoyed talking to somebody different.  But they weren't  - they were from the north-west of Spain, near Bilbao  and their English was very good and we enjoyed quite a bit of wine with Maika and Miguel . Except for Miguel who can't drink alcohol because not so long ago Miguel survived an 8-metre fall that left him with not just a leg that didn't work so well, but also a brain injury and he was pretty much starting life all over again and couldn't start drinking for another 18 years!! 

That's Miguel next to Joseph and Maika in the blue top.

A lovely breeze sprung up during the night and while it cooled us off nicely (it was 35c during the day) it made me even more nervous about my boat trip that morning.  

Jill's tour!

I took a couple of pills (thanks Mrs. Murray (Ottawa Senator's)) and thank goodness there was a father and son waiting for the tour who were also nervous and so the guide was very good at putting us all at ease and really, with the reef off-shore it was very protected where we were going.  I don't know if the pills worked, but I almost enjoyed the hour with the different kinds of coral, the sea turtle (!!) and the amazing fish and I finally understood what Joseph was going on about.

Exmouth was previously an American army base, complete with roads and cars driving on the wrong side of the road. They finally left a few years ago and left behind a decent airport and some serious wireless antennas. It was also a fairly strategic site for the Australian Army during WWII. Now it was a serious tourist and fishing spot and so we had some pretty yummy fish (sand whiting- my new favourite), seafood (the best scallops since LaPointe's in Ottawa Joseph declared) and chips.

Not sure if you can see the huge antennas in the distance - you can see why it was such a strategic point... it's about the most westerly point of Australia.

Cockies at the campsite - our neighbours!

Next stop - Karajini National Park and NO power - oh joy!

#27 Coral Bay

We drive across the Tropic of Capricorn so it's getting hotter now and a beach is very welcoming.  

Again it's out (and back) to the end of a peninsula  - again to a beautiful beach - and this time the big carrot is a coral reef that you can snorkel on/in right off the beach.  The town is just two caravan parks, a (small) resort and a few houses (mostly for the workers) and it's busy (school holidays!!) - but we have a nice enough spot for overnight with nice facilities (ablutions) and an easy walk (an even easier bike ride - so lazy!!) to the beach. 

Joseph can't wait so we are off to the beach right away.  There's hardly anybody on the beach (dinner time for most people) and he's in snorkelling before I can take off my thongs!  The water is warm and I enjoy my "swim" (lying/floating in the shallow water) and he seems to be going further out so I figure it must be enjoyable.  Darkness approaches and finally he appears out of the water (not looking at all like Bo Derek! ) to tell me how amazing it was and how he really should wear his flippers (it was just a quick dip) because he found it really tough swimming back into shore!  It's very sad to think that I am his "life line" ! 

Getting ready - that rashie is tricky to deal with!

So next morning he is fully dressed and I'm the lookout on shore (with binocs) and at least this time there are other people around.  He goes out - way out.  His huge plastic sleeve is useful to hold up and warn the tour boat that he is there.  I lose sight of him a few times and just as I'm about to panic I spot him again but I'm happy on the beach in some shade so he can stay out as long as he likes - he has his flippers on this time!!  Back he comes to tell me that of course -  this time it's even better than last night and he can't believe the coral and how close to shore it is and he describes all of the fish and now I'm moderately jealous but have nobody else to blame except me.

Off he goes ... you can see how the boat was able to spot him

So I/we decide that I probably can survive a one-hour glass bottom boat cruise. I took note of the one that nearly ran over him - it wasn't far off shore and it didn't seem to be bobbing too much.  Unlike the poster announcing tours almost every hour -  the next tour today is 2.30 and that's too late for us (we thought they were busy!) so we decide to try again on Monday in Exmouth.  Pretty sure I can guarantee that the weather will change and there will be huge swells and … well... if there are no more postings you'll know how it ended.

#26 Monkey Mia - the dolphins

It's a bit of a drive from the road into Monkey Mia and we debated whether it was worth it.  The main attraction is the dolphins who come into shore to be fed. (I remember Katrina debating whether it was neat of more of a sideshow.) The campsite has a powered site available so we decide to stay for two days and see for ourselves.  

The beach is beautiful (again/of course) and  the caravan park/resort is the only place in town and it's big with villas, chalets, units, tents, vans/caravans, boats and lots of people (remember it's school holidays).  Our site is conveniently located behind the "ablution block" (the australian term for the amenities block (shower & toilet)). It's not the smells that bother us but the lights - oh so many lights in these caravan parks and especially around the "ablution blocks".  The bigger smell is from the fishermen next to us - they are thrilled they caught so many fish and are running two huge coolers full of them - but that doesn't stop the smell. 

"Ablution block" right behind us - fishermen to the right. - still a pretty nice spot really.

Luckily the next day the wind changes and it's not so bad and the emus come to everybody's site - they go into your food no matter where it is - inside or outside.  They made it just inside ours to the bag of garbage I stupidly left near the door.  They also walk right up to the table where you're sitting if you have food there.  It's funny at first and then … mildly amusing after that.

...  no ... you are not my "friend"!!

Dolphin feeding is at 7.30 a.m. so Joseph of course goes out alone - I'll be there for the 9.30 a.m.one.  

There are people lining the beach and it's quite the production with a talk and then the "assistants" (beautiful young (mostly blonde) girls!!) bringing out the buckets of fish. One dolphin sits next to the speaker and the rest stay out past the jetty until they hear the words "assistant" or "bucket"  - we aren't sure - but as soon as the girls start walking out, the dolphins come in.  There were too many people so we just enjoyed the event from the jetty - watching the dolphins roll over and jump over each other.  

A spectacle for sure, but lots of fun as well, and those kiddies (& lots of adults) sure did love it.

Joseph went snorkelling to try out his new water-proof sleeve for his cast.  There wasn't a lot to see snorkle-wise but it was a nice quiet beach "around the corner at bit" and the camel rides said they would walk around us so we didn't have to move our towels and the other couple in the water said they saw a shark but we didn't… and the sleeve worked. There was also a small nature walk  -we went twice (on our bikes!) and Joseph went once at 4.00 a.m. (he saw four meteors) but he never saw anybody else on the trail - we suspect that fishermen don't like nature walks very much.

For us, the best part of Monkey Mia was the small jetty.  We walked out there both nights to lie down (you can't fish from this jetty) and look at the sky as we are wanton to do.  There was a wonderful breeze and nobody else there (!!) and the last night we took our dinner out there. That made the diversion worth it - for sure!