Sat, 24th Aug, 2024 72hr RV Park, Port Hedland to Bush camp on 4 Mile Common, Marble Bar, WA

Cool breeze all night (min 20 degrees). Needed out extra covers as we have all the windows open now! There is a constant hum from the rail yard further over but otherwise it was a peaceful night.

Filled up the water tanks then around to the dump point. Into Woolies nearby to stock up for our month ‘off-grid’.

Back out then turned off towards South Hedland where the cheaper diesel is (194.9c/l) - much dearer where we are heading.

Back onto the highway and headed back to the turn off to Marble Bar. The others are on their way down from Broome so we should see them tomorrow at Marble Bar.

Lots of road trains carting ore around here! We drove this road in 2016. Checked the weather forecast, max 30 degrees in Port Hedland, 35 in Marble Bar and the temperature will be creeping up though the nights are cool, 17 degrees - might need to put our blanket back on.

Open flat country.

Across the wide dray Shaw River.

Smooth rock and spinifex hills of Gorge Range appear 80km from Marble Bar. Flat country to our left with the range on our right.

These hills are different - they look like they are coated in chocolate topping! Usually they are just dotted with spinifex.

Heading through the hills now via Doolena Gap. Up and down some hills then back to the open country again.

Passed the turn off to Nullagine then the entrance signs appear for Marble Bar. Well done.

Topped up the diesel at the roadhouse, 239.9c/l (Nullagine is 294.9c/l). We explored this area in 2016.

Down the road to 4 Mile Common to park up for the night. Found a clear area with some trees so I can do our washing. It shouldn’t take long as it is hot and there is a good breeze blowing. Not many flies about which is great.

The others have left Port Hedland and will see us in the morning.

Steve sharpened the picks and made a fireplace. Washing done and drying quickly.

Drinks by the fire as the sun set. Lovely to have a fire again.

There has been a band of cloud above us all day which I first thought was a jet stream but it didn’t disappear. It has caught the sun set colours which look nice.

So many stars above us and the Milky Way stands out as there are no other lights about. Spotted some satellites as we ate dinner by the fire. The temperature is perfect though it said we reached 39 degrees in the camper during the afternoon even with all the windows open! We were outside with the wind and shade so didn't notice the heat.

The wind picked up during the night - oh yes we are in WA, windy always!

 

 

Fri, 23rd Aug, 2024 Roadside stop, Great Northern Highway, south of Broome to 72hr RV Park, Port Hedland, WA

6.30am, 18 degrees and heavy fog. The highway was pretty quiet during the night but now the trucks are on the move again.

8am the fog lifted and we continued southward under a clear blue sky. No wind at the moment.

Stopped for a cuppa at a rest area - nice big one well off the road.

We have had good phone reception so have passed the time doing a few trivia questions I found online.

Gave a chap a toot - he is walking and pushing a 3 wheel cart. At least he is facing the oncoming traffic as the wind has picked up now and when the trucks come past us we get a big blast of air. Our fuel economy has gone again with the wind!!

Stopped for lunch 40km before Pardoo Roadhouse in a roadside stop. I forgot about the lovely WA flies and left the door open to cool down the camper and of course the flies all wanted to come inside too. Will dig out my ‘fish&chip door plastic strips’ for our door - seems to keep them from coming inside.

Not the most scenic drive from Broome to Port Hedland - just flat grassy country with rocky sections, a few sand ridges, 1 wallaby and a few cows.

Across the dry Pardoo River. They started sealing this road in 1987 - imagine travelling over the dirt/sandy track before that. Would have been an adventure to head north.

At last some hills appear, 110km before Port Hedland. Then back to the flat country again.

Across the De Grey River which has a great rest area - spots all along the edge of the river. Only a pool of water on the left side.

More hills appearing in the flat countryside.

Passed the turn off to Marble Bar that we will come back to tomorrow.

Onto a new road over the iron ore railway lines into town with a big roundabout then back on the old road past the Rio Tinto Salt piles.

Around to the Turf Club/sporting area where the 72hr RV Park is. Found a spot and set up. The camp host came by to check we knew the rules and commented that she had seen us somewhere on the road. We do stand out a tad! 

Jodie posted a lovely photo of Arthur on the Geck Family Facebook Page. Added him to my family tree program and added the photo.

I worked on my blog for a while while Steve made straps to hold the new fridge in place as it has different handles to the old one.

Had drinks outside chatting with our neighbours from Brisbane.

Walked up the street and up the rise to lookout over the Indian Ocean which has lots of big ships lined up waiting to load up with ore.

Walked along the path while the sun started to set.

Cool and very windy up here. Lots of Sturt Desert Peas in the shrubbery on the dunes.

Lovely sunset.

Back to the camper where there is a light breeze cooling things down. 6pm 24 degrees.

Rang Bob and Margaret to see what their plans were. They might come up and meet us somewhere. Sent a text to Kev too in case he wanted to catch up but Linda hasn’t been well so we will see them at Christmas when we get down to Bunbury.

Dinner and a movie - what the DVDs that Jenny lent us, some have been pretty good.

Thurs, 22nd Aug, 2024 Mary Pool Rest Area, west of Halls Creek to Roadside stop on Great Northern Highway, south of Broome, WA (Sunset & Staircase to the Moon, Broome, Arthur Bryan is born)

5.30am - the corella/cockatoos are screeching as the sun rises.

6am they are quiet again!!

Back on the highway again continuing westward under a clear blue sky again,

The Tassies are in Broome for the night as they realised it was the last night of the Staircase to the Moon (full moon rising over the low tide flats of Roebuck Bay) for August (full moon was 19^th) and for this year as it only happens June, July and August. As we haven’t seen it either we agreed to meet them there.

Passed the Escarpment Lookout that we stopped at previously. Steve thinks he saw a electric car charging station there - how’s that for saving energy, it will need a big generator to charge it!!

Interesting rock formations around here. The other side of the road are dark grey limestone rocks.

A ‘cast’ of hawks were sitting in a dead tree waiting to spot their next mean. Phone reception all the way so far with the aerial plugged in so I can google up things when needed - like what is a group of hawks called. Always learning something new.

Over the one lane bridges as we near Fitzroy Crossing. Lots of roadworks.

Stopped to check out the new bridge over the Fitzroy River. The old one washed away in the big flood and then the replacement one washed away after that. Looks like this one should stand up to the next big wet.

There is a tombstone beside a big pole near the bridge of a young 20 year who obviously drowned in flood water as it says ‘If the river is flooded - don’t cross it’.

Over the bridge - Fitzroy River views.

More roadworks before town where we pulled in to top up with fuel (225.9c/l) - cheaper here than in Halls Creek.

Another long stretch of recently laid bitumen - a lot of road works recently as this area was hit bad with those floods. It is the National Highway too.

The Boabs are back.

Lunch in a nice rest area that has some terraced parking areas.

Open grassland with lots of ant hills and some scrubby trees for a long way now.

Then a couple of hills ahead where we drive up over the rise between two hills. Then we roll up and down low hills/rises for a while.

Passed the Big Boab Rest Area - we stopped previously and took lots of photos.

Back to the flat country again. Heaps of boabs still with their leaves on whereas the previous ones have been bare.

Another big boab (we parked the truck and van beside this in 2019) as we near the intersection, Derby to the right and continue towards Broome to the left on the Great Northern Highway.

Lots of leafy boabs outside the Willare Roadhouse.

Across single lane bridge over the Fitzroy River. There are lots of different lagoons to pass over along this floodplain area.

Stopped for a quick coffee break at the last rest area before heading into Broome.

No boabs along this section then we pulled into the Roebuck Plains Roadhouse to top up the diesel (229.9c/l) as it is a lot cheaper here than in Broome (245.9c/l).

Passed the turn off that the Great Northern Highway continues on down to Port Hedland. We are now on the Broome Road. Passed the big roundabout that the Cape Leveque Road comes off - they were working on it when we were here in 2022 - all finished now. Why they didn’t just let the ‘to Broome’ traffic just have a straight road and put in a turning one for Cape L makes you wonder about who designs these roads as now it is a big sweeping circle which the trucks must love!

Into town, found a nice shaped boab!

Around to Cable Beach and found a park we could fit in. Had a drink then wandered down to the beach to wait for sunset. Very windy and the tide is a long way out compared to our last visit here. Lots of people about. The work at the surf club is still continuing - not sure what’s happening at the front, maybe grassed for people to sit on to watch the sunset or surfing competitions.

Watched the camels come back along the beach - we enjoyed that experience last visit.

Lovely sunset. Quite cool in the wind too.

Back to the camper. Drove back to town and around to Town Beach. There are markets on so we continued around to the boat ramp area to find a park we could fit in. Walked back to the market area and found the others. I bought a fridge magnet of the moon rise just in case my photos don’t come out.

Got a message and photo from Brian of Jodie and her new son, Arthur Bryan Dutton, born early this morning. Sent off a message back to Grandad Brian and one to Jodie congratulation her and Bryon on this darling little boy. Jodie combined Dad Bryon’s name with her father, Brian to give Arthur his second name’s spelling - very nice. I sent off a message to Margit too as she has become a grandma now too.

We went back to the camper to cook dinner as there were too many lined up for the food stalls. Jenny said the food wasn’t very good either. They are staying another night here as Ron has had brake issues on his van and they are hoping to put new magnet things in it tomorrow. We will continue on to Port Hedland so we can stock up on food etc as we will be off-grid for a month. I also need to do my washing and get my hair coloured!!

Back to the terraced area to wait for the moon to rise at 8.19pm. At last it rose over the flats of Roebuck Bay. Very pretty. I took a few photos but most were blurry - needed a tripod I suppose. Tried my phone too (last 2 photos). Glad I bought the fridge magnet photo. Watching it was beautiful and that is another Bucket List item ticked off.

Then my camera said the memory was full which it shouldn’t be as I had downloaded my recent photos, then I realised I hadn’t put the memory card back in and I was using the camera’s internal memory. When I looked at it there were lots of photos that Dad had taken when he first bought it. Will download them tomorrow and have a look.

Said bye to the others and headed back to the camper. I took this last photo which gives a longer staircase than where we were sitting.

Headed back out of town. The moon is now guiding us back to the turn off to continue down the Great Northern Highway to find a spot to park for the night. 

We missed the first pull-off area but found a long truck stop one with one vehicle already parked up. We pulled off the actual bitumen to be level and not in the way of the trucks.

Put up the roof and had a quick shower and into bed as it was 10pm. No photo of camp of course.