3rd Sept, 2022 Newman to Roy Hill Rest Area, south of Nullagine, WA

1am the storm was on top of us with lot rumbles of thunder and great lightning flashes and the rain continued through the night and into the morning.

Dark and wet when we got up, 15 degrees and I don’t think it will warm up much from that.

Drove around to Woolies and got the meat and vegies we needed and packed it all away. Made lots of phone calls, enjoying sitting and chatting with everyone as it was too wet to do much else. Sounds like everywhere else is having rain too. Uncle John is doing well which is great. Erica said her cousin, John, passed away yesterday. There will be a lot of people at his funeral as he had given so much to his military museum and had lots of good friends. Got my blog and Facebook up-to-date.

The rain stopped by 4pm so we headed off as we had 100km of bitumen. The road condition sign said the road was open to Nullagine and Marble Bar. Lots of water on the road edge and a few spots it was just across the road but no problems.

Lots of green budgies zooming around beside the road and unfortunately they didn’t dart fast enough as we think we got a few.

Steve spotted a bus behind us as we were nearing Roy Hill and called him through. Then we realised it was a tour bus and the chap commented on our camper so we continued to chat with him - no passengers. Steve said did he know that it was dirt ahead and he said no but oh well. He had to get to Darwin by Tuesday to pick up passengers for a 23 day tour back through Kakadu and across to Broome and down to Perth. He was from Ballarat and was looking forward to some time off after doing a few runs up and down the WA coast. We hope he gets through ok.

Turned off into the rest area but stayed closer to the road on some blue metal so we didn’t sink in the mud.

Because the mine is nearby we just got some phone signal and Rebecca rang returning my call so we had a lovely long chat.