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.