Tropical North for Winter

So far I have been back in Broome for two weeks and apart from the first day when it absolutely hosed it down with rain for about an hour its been blue skies and temps not dropping below 29c during the day. If one must tolerate a winter every six months well this is one of the better ways to endure it. Anyway what has been happening

When I was last on the old keyboard I was just leaving Meekatharra and continuing my journey North. First stop was Gascoyne River rest area which as per normal in this part of the country there was a distinct lack of water in the river, however the actual parking up area of the rest stop was huge and you could have fitted innumerable amount of RV’s. The other added bonus you could get far enough away from the trucks that pulled in for the night and not to be disturbed by their refrigeration compressors running all the time. Just a thought, why is there a d in fridge but not in refrigeration? Answers on a postcard please.

Kumarina Roadhouse was the next stop on the list. Typical roadhouse conditions but for $20 a night with power and water you can’t really complain. Looking at the comments on Wikicamps for this place I can’t believe the amount of people who complain that you have to use the card machine before pumping fuel. It does make me wonder when most of the time these people would pay by card if there was an attendant, and lets face it they are not exactly hard to use as long as you don’t forget the pump number between the vehicle and the machine. like a certain person did (no names). Ah well I guess some people just like to have a bit of a moan. Anyway I had a peaceful night here so it definitely served its purpose.

On leaving Kumarina its was drizzling and it soon turned into proper rain and it rained all the way to Newman. I stopped on the way at huge truck stop and rest area called Capricorn Village mainly to get a coffee, and to give the dogs a break and a drink. Still raining quite heavily so was looking forward to getting to the caravan park. On leaving Capricorn village I had officially crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and was back into the tropical North. Still raining when I got to the caravan park and it was one of the strangest caravan parks I had ever been to. It was basically a large carpark area with hardly a blade of grass or tree to be seen. There was only one row of 12 powered sites and a row of the same number of un-powered sites, but ample room to park up in other places if you didnt want power and water. Well it was pretty busy and when I got to the site I had booked it was completely flooded so on speaking to the booking people (council) all the other powered sites were booked so I had to go unpowered for one night before moving the next morning to a free powered site for the rest of the weekend. Thankfully later in the evening it stopped raining and the water seemed to drain away pretty rapidly. The site was hardly placed for the CBD only being about 3kms away but it must surely rank as one of the most unattractive caravan parks in Australia. There is not a lot to see and do in Newman, like a huge proportion of townships in Western Australia it is purely geared up for the mines and their employees.

I was now about 450Kms South of Port Hedland where I had booked myself into a caravan park and a week to get there so a nice leisurely drive was ahead. I was particularly looking forward to driving along the edge of Karijini National Park, as I heard it was a very scenic area to see. Anyway before that I had a place to stop at so on to the open road I ventured. The first stop was Mt Robinson rest area which although was a bit rocky once of the sealed parts certainly had a nice outlook. You could see the hills that were the start of Karijini NP in the distance. The rest area got quite busy as the day wore on but it was no problem fitting every one in with quite a large expanse of reasonably flat land to park up on. So one night here then on to Albert Tognolini rest area, which has to go down as one of the most scenic free camping spot going. Its about 2kms of the highway on a sealed road to the lookout spot, and about 100mtrs further on is the camping area. There would have been some lovely views over the surrounding area but unfortunately as soon as I had parked up it started to drizzle again so you couldn’t see a great deal at all. Next stop was Camel Creek rest area but nothing to write about from there, After Camel Creek it was on to a free camping spot called In the Rocks where I managed to find a lovely spot sheltered from the highway behind a large mound of boulders, some of which were the size of small houses. It was a beautiful place to stay if very barren the emptiness stretched away for many a mile. The recent rain I had experienced did manage to leave behind a couple of decent sized puddles which the dogs enjoyed paddling in. I stopped here for three nights and I was the only one there the whole time.

From there was on to South Hedland which I have stayed at and written about previously so won’t bore you by repeating myself.

As I had travelled the route between South Hedland and Broome previously I was looking to find different places to stay on my way up. Suffice to say there wasnt a huge amount of choice from which to pick. I did find a place called Pardoo Station so decided to give that a go. 8kms down a fairly heavily corrugated road (which wasnt much fun). I got into my allocated spot which was a pleasant location with a lot of shade from the trees all around, but the down side to this is that there are always a lot of leaves and twigs lying around and my two dogs coats attract this along with the sand and very soon the inside of the van is looking like a forest floor. Twice a day sweeping kept most of it at bay, but guaranteed as soon as one has done sweeping one or both of the dogs decides this is a good time to have a shake, so the process starts again. Pardoo station is a working cattle station of approximately 200,000hectares or 500,000acres or 772sq miles. So basically a decent sized property, and my 3 nights there were very pleasant even with the sweeping.

The other places I stayed between Pardoo and Broome I had stayed at before, so all pretty boring, except I did have a bit of an incident when at Goldwire rest area, where I managed to loose my temper like I havent done for many a year. Basically it boiled down to people either not reading the rules or more likely feeling they are the people that rules don’t apply to. I was walking my two dogs on their leads for their evening constitutionals, now bearing in mind one of my dogs (Whisper) is 14years old, riddled with arthritis and not very steady on her feet at the best of times. Well out from under one of the other caravans came a large black blob which later transpired to be a Labrador which promptly bowled into Whisper knocking her flying and then proceeded to jump on her causing her to yelp and then try to fight back. Well Im ashamed to say I gave this wretched Labrador two very hefty kicks to get it off her. By this time my other dog was barking and snarling as well and hearing the commotion the couple in the caravan came out saying its ok he only wants to play. Well then I lost it at them at that point. Shouting at them the dog should be on a leash at all times in rest areas, and maybe it does want to play but in my opinion it attacked a very old and infirm dog and it was by pure luck that she didnt appear to be damaged in any way. When I had calmed down a bit and they had grabbed their dog I asked why wasnt it either in he van or tied up, their response was he doesn’t normally do this sort of thing. I said that’s not the point the rules are there for a reason. I did take a note of their vehicle plates just in case Whisper had any reaction, but touch wood she seems ok.

So now I am back in Broome I have just spent 5 nights at one caravan park about 6kms from town, and im now at another about 30kms from town and Im booked in until the 21st of this month

So on that note I hope you all keep warm this winter and think of us going through the hardship of winter in Broome (hehe)

Oops nearly forgot, Lindalou over in the US of A loving your blogs and pics and safe travels to you and Kenn

A few pics this time to end up with

The next photos are all Grey Crested Babblers

the next ones are Red Wing Parrots (the green one is the female)

And finally a Little Friarbird

nearly forgot my Crested Pigeon