Lyne River

MONDAY 17 JUNE 2019

Up early much to Jenny’s delight for today Deb and PJ took us fishing in the Lyne River. Larry, Jen and PJ hopped in the front of the old Landcruiser towing the boat to the port’s boat ramp. Once the boat was in the water and ute parked we waited for Deb (who had to drop the kids to school) and then we were off. Jenny and Larry had a comfortable seat each in front of the driver’s station and the 250 on the back pushed us along quickly but the boat rides extremely well. We enjoyed the scenery as it was a 2 hour trip as we went close to the beginning of the Cambridge Gulf.

The water turns from muddy brown to a green colour as more of the ocean water overcomes the mud stirred up from the tides. A trip up here really gives you an idea of the size of this part of the world.

Once we reached the first fishing spot Paul sorted our fishing gear and we were soon bottom bouncing our rig on the rocks below and the fish started being hauled in. During the day as were moved to various spots all four of us caught a lot of fish but we threw back a lot as they were undersized or occasionally bad eating fish. So Jenny’s big catch of a Mother in Law fish lives to swim another day.  Deb and PJ even caught a Mangrove Jack each which are highly sought after due to their taste and fighting qualities.

We went as far as we could up the Lyne River to the gorge and Larry put the drone up to see what was up there.

2:30 was the cut off time for leaving due to the 2 hour trip back to Wyndham so we hauled in the gear and off we went.

Very tired as we got back to the house and unloaded the gear.  Paul filleted the fish whilst Larry and Jenny got themselves sorted and packed some van gear.

A quiet couple of drinks whilst once again Deb and PJ provided us an delicious meal of the Mangrove Jack fish and salad.  Some of the other fish we caught are being vacuum sealed for us to take with us in our caravan freezer.

 

A truly awesome day spent with great people who are very generous who made our day a highlight of the trip and one we will remember for a very long time. Thanks Paul and Deb.

Flies, Flies and More Flies

Friday 14June

Another free camp wake up. Early stirrings from around us so the 2 obligatory Nespresso’s were made and as we didn’t have far to go we decided to have bacon and eggs which Larry slightly over cooked (the eggs) as he was doing a few things at once. Oh well, it happens.

Reasonably early start and we toddled off down the road as we only had 94kms of bitumen before the dirt. That was easy going as we were conserving fuel due to the distance between fuel stops.

Stopped at the turn off to air down the car and van tyres and Larry accidently dropped one of the Jeep tyres too low so out came the compressor to pump it back up, grrrrrrrr.

Jenny retrieved the spanking new vent covers and placed them around the van in various spots until the last one that covers the hot water system and water in/refill compartment. The positive pressure dust prevention system switch is located in there and when pressed the fan didn’t come on. Well we must have blown a fuse so Larry pulls some things out from under the bed and checks the fuse box and all ok. Larry then get a meter to check for voltage all ok. By this time Larry is sweating profusely as now the van is a hot box with no air flow and he has misplaced the torch. Well a @$%@$# was let off and Larry felt better and he continued to fault find the problem. Turned out it was the new expensive water proof switch had failed internally, no problem Larry pulled the two connectors off the back of the switch and joined them with a fuse so the fan comes on and all good. So instead of a fancy switch controlling the dust suppression system we have a fuse that when we pull up we remove. Oh well could have been worse at least the system turned on.

Well of we go now with tyres deflated , covers on and fan blowing merrily away pressurising the inside of the van in the hope the dust stays outside. We stopped a few kms down the road to check inside the van as the road was quite corrugated and rough. Well the shower door had fallen off, luckily into the shower and scratched the floor. The bottom drawer had slid out but stayed on its runners and another drawer was on the floor. Yep good start to the off road section of the holiday.

Put the shower screen on the bed covered by towels and put the drawers back in and off we went again. Roughly 20kms more we stopped again to check and this time the drawers had stayed in, well they were not closed but at least they were not on the floor but worse was to follow. There was beer on the floor of the van and it smelt like a brewery. The smell was good but, oh no!, wasted beer. Pulled the lounge apart and found only one can had died so catastrophe averted and we continued on. The road was good and bad and for roughly 10kms we were on the very side where others had gone and the road was about a foot higher on our right.

We then turned off the Tanami Desert road, through a gate and then for a few kms the road was great. Then it got worse and we dropped our speed accordingly for roughly 15 kms and then it turned into the most corrugated road we had ever driven on. We were doing 5 kms an hour and getting shaken to bits but we had come too far to turn around. Eventually we arrived at the campground of Wolfe Creek Crater and set up. Dreading opening the door to the van but happily only the 2 wayward drawers had opened and nothing else had broken. No dust in the van so the positive pressure dust suppression system or the now named PPDSS worked.

A couple of drinks and a late lunch of noodles were consumed before Larry sat on the floor and repaired the wayward drawers and looked at the shower screen throwing itself into the shower problem. Fixed 2 of the drawers including one that didn’t need fixing, oh well at least it will hold if it ever decides to join the others on the floor. Couldn’t repair one of the drawer latches on a bottom drawer that really only has stuff in there that we hardly go to so for now that has gaffer tape on it and it can stay like that for the rest of the holiday. Larry can see the problem with the shower screen door but can’t fix it in the middle of BFN so we will gaffer tape that in place when we leave in the morning and fix it in Wyndham.

Then it had cooled down enough for us to walk to the crater and have a look and we were joined by close on 3 or 4 thousand flies. Prior planning had included putting two fly nets into the van so that made it bearable. Hope the hole in the ground is worth all the effort today.

We made the climb up to the rim and yep it is a depression in the ground. Tick, crater seen so down we and the flies went and headed back to the van. As it was last light Larry quickly put the drone up and took some photos and a video so hopefully they turn out as the sky was a pretty pink colour on the horizon.

A lovely meal of spaghetti bol was had and now Larry is writing the blog and Jenny is off to bed as we have an earlyish start as we have to negotiate the rough roads and make it to Wyndham tomorrow.

Jenny just reminded me that a bad day on holiday is still better than a good day at work so all good and tomorrow is another day.

Another Bloody Crack

Sunday 16 June

Awake at 0630 as it was bright sunshine in the van due to us being so far east of Perth. Leisurely start as we did some washing and Larry scrounged a second hand switch from PJ to fix the original on the PPDSS so that is easier to operate in the coming weeks.

Paul came down and sussed the shower screen door issue and came up with a couple of solutions. He did both and now we are confident the door will not come off so a big thanks to Paul for his efforts and ingenuity.

We then ventured into Wyndham itself and down to the port hoping to go to the cafe we went to in 2016 but it has been turned into a shop selling souveniers so we bought a soap instead.

Back into the 3 mile area and called into the cafe/bakery for a pie and pastie so lunch was sorted. Next stop was the grocery store to stock up for the Gibb. That completed we headed back to the van to unload the food and we decided to head to the King River area. 

We went across the salt flats as per 2016 visit and just after we joined the dirt road there was a fire burning fiercely next to the road so we turned around and went back across the salt marsh until we found some tracks that lead us to the King River.

We didn’t see any crocs so back into the trusty Jeep and headed back to the van. At this stage we noticed a crack in the new windscreen. We did get hit yesterday but it didn’t seem to do any damage. Found the impact point which is about 0.5cm from the edge of the bottom corner so that is frustrating to crack a new windscreen. Applied some superglue to the end of the crack in the hope it may stop it from getting bigger and if not it will have to be replaced when we get back to Perth.

Larry went with Paul and the kids to 6 mile creek and put the drone up in the hope of spotting at least one of the crocs that live there but to no avail as the sun was in the wrong direction so made it hard to see.

Around 4:30 we headed up to the Bastion for a couple of drinks with half the population of Wyndham and watched the sunset and it was very nice watching the sun go down with the cloud turning an orange colour.

Deb cooked us a yummy lamb roast for dinner.  Off to bed fairly early as we are going fishing with Paul and Deb tomorrow which will be long day but thoroughly looking forward to it.

What Dust, None In The Van

SATURDAY 15 JUNE 2019

We were up early and did without coffee so that we could pack up before the flies got too friendly and so were headed out of camp just after 7am.  We tackled the corrugations a bit faster this time and found that it was actually better as the car rode over the top of them.  Still very rattly though and at the first gate opening we opened up the caravan to check for collateral damage.  Larry’s fixed drawers were still in place and the taped up drawer and shower screen were also behaving themselves so we relaxed a little and drove onwards.  Still a very long and bumpy road back to the bitumen and we were thankful to finally hit the highway and were then very shortly in Halls Creek.  First port of call was the diesel pumps as we had used a lot of fuel getting down to Wolfe Creek.  In retrospect, it would probably have been better to leave the van at Halls Creek and just take the Jeep and do a day trip down to the crater but, oh well, you live and learn and we can now tick off that particular ‘been there, done that’ box.

Whilst Larry was pumping up tyres etc, Jenny went over to the cafe/tourist office and bought well deserved coffees/iced chais and then back in the car for another 3 and a half hour drive up to Wyndham.  We stopped at Warnum for lunch of roadhouse fare.  We noticed that both here and in Halls Creek every caravan was sparklingly clean – not even dust on the tyre rims – so we felt quite superior with a our dusty van because we are experiencing the ‘real north’ and not just pootling along the highway from caravan park to caravan park.

 

Onwards up the highway to Wyndham.  I had a memory of this road being pretty bad on the last trip – particularly between Warmun and the turn-off to Wyndham.   Well what a difference 3 years makes.  Serious money on infrastructure has been spent up here.  The road has been raised, there are new bridges over every stream likely to flood during the wet, kerbs, culverts, new large slip roads and rest stops.  On the road in to Wyndham there is a whole new cutting through what the locals call “Maggies Jump Up’ and a new carpark/lookout constructed.  Apparently they shaved 14 metres off this hill.   They have also taken out dangerous blind corners and added overtaking lanes.  As we went through they were doing the rumble strips onto the edge line – cool seeing how these are dropped out of the machine!

We passed a funeral procession heading out of Wyndham to the cemetery that was at least 300 cars long and wondered if anyone was left in town!  Soon after we were pulling up at Paul and Deb’s and parking the van up in the same spot as 3 years ago.  After setting up Braydon, Deb and Paul’s 11 year old grandson, came down to visit.  He was staying last time we were here but didn’t really remember us so we dug out some photos from our blog and he finally remembered when we he saw a photo of Ben.  We watched the rest of the Dockers game on my tablet as Braydon’s cousin plays for them (first Wyndham boy to be on an AFL list!) and so were happy that they had a win.  (Larry not so much as he hadn’t tipped them).  We then kicked Braydon’s footy around and his sister Mikala also joined in, before we headed up to the house for dinner, drinks and a catch up.

 

Had a lovely evening and we managed to get through a couple of the bottles of red wine we had brought with us but Paul  A very warm night so it was good to have power and be able to run the air conditioner in the van for a while to cool it down before sleep.

had to get up really early to bring a ship into port (he works on the pilot boat) so we were all ready for bed just after 9.30pm.

All Shapes and Sizes

THURSDAY 13 JUNE 2019

Although we were cheek by jowl with other vans in the caravan park last night, everyone was very considerate and quiet so we had a good sleep and probably slept in later than we have all holiday – 6.45am!

A bit longer to pack up this morning as we had unpacked power cords and hoses for the caravan park but still on the road by about 8.45am.

Another long driving day today so not much to report on the blog.  Highlights were:

1.       Roadworks west of Wilare Bridge Road House

2.       The Boab Rest Stop actually having a giant boab tree in the middle of it.

3.       A nice lunch in freezing cold air conditioning at the Fitzroy River Lodge pub; and

4.       Just when we thought we were in the middle of nowhere with no one else around east of Fitzroy Crossing, a convoy of at least 20 motorhomes passed us heading west.

Other than that, just another 5-6 hour drive heading east and we arrived at Mary Pool 24 hour rest stop at about 4pm.  There were probably 50 vans there already but it’s a huge place so we found a quiet corner and set up our chairs and table and drank beer and ate crackers and dip and just chilled for a while.  Around twilight we went for a walk around camp and checked out everyone else’s vans and set ups and, as usual, were amazed at the sheer variety of vans on offer with some brands even Larry (who regularly peruses caravan for sale sites) had never heard of.

Back to the van and cooked up sausages and salad for dinner and watched the Crows v Richmond on the AFL app as, although we have driven for days to get ‘away from it all’ we still have mobile coverage so have basically brought the world with us.

Third Coldest Pool in WA

WEDNESDAY 12 JUNE 2019

Although it was always one of Jenny’s criteria for a caravan that it should have a window above the bed to allow for fresh air, it must be said that we ever bother opening said window either because of wind, rain, moonlight, rising sun etc etc.  Last night, however, conditions were perfect to have the window open and it was lovely snuggling under the doona with a cool breeze blowing.  Some time in the middle of the night, however, I awoke to the sound of grass being steadily consumed right outside out the window and there they were, the famous night time De Grey River cows!  No sign of them by morning and just some trampled grass and footprints to prove I hadn’t dreamt them.

We had gone to bed early again so up at dawn with coffee and books in bed and a leisurely breakfast.  Left camp just before 8am and headed on east and then north east and finally north towards Broome.  Stopped once at Sandfire roadhouse to refuel and was a totally different experience to 3 years ago when there was a queue of about 10 cars/caravans queuing for the bowsers.  This time we pulled straight in with only one or two other vans in the parking lot.  Bought a drink and hot chips and then just kept going with Jenny doing a 2 hour shift before stopping very briefly to change drivers and consume our ham and cheese rolls.

Made the Roebuck Plains Caravan Park by 2pm and parked the van up on the grass and under a palm tree and settled in the for the afternoon.  We have mislaid a small plastic bag with the key and tighteners for the roof rack and searched unsuccessfully through the car and caravan for it yesterday.  Having decided we might have left it in Perth we rang Ben and had him look around but no luck there either so had another hunt around the car again.  The bloody thing refuses to be found and so Larry used the hammer key instead and tightened the roof rack and then, feeling hot and bothered (32 degrees here) we consoled ourselves with a dip in the freezing cold pool and swapped travel stories with a grey nomad who was desperate for a chat (I think his wife must have turfed him out of his van for some peace and quiet!)

We then made use of the amenity block for long hot showers and then headed over to the tavern for a lovely counter meal.  Jenny had asked Larry if we could stay here again because she remembered how good the food was 3 years ago and the steak and creamy garlic sauce didn’t disappoint.  We then headed back to the van to get the blog sorted.  Although we have been diligently writing it each day we either haven’t had adequate internet coverage or battery life on the lap top to get it posted.  Larry also had to chastise Jenny for not clearing her phone of all the America photos before we left home so if a rogue picture of California creeps into the blog it’s all my fault!

Rollin Rollin

TUESDAY 11 JUNE 2019

The thing with being out in the middle of nowhere is that sound travels a long way so that what seemed to be helicopters buzzing around the camp all night was actually just the sound of trucks way out on the highway.  The sound intensified at dawn and we had had enough sleep by then anyway so we had a leisurely start to the day with coffee and reading in bed.  It was much too chilly to leap out bed anyway! 

Packed up and on the road by 8.20 am and then just pootled up the road to Port Hedland only stopping to swap drivers and for a mid morning snack.  We met up with Larry’s workmate Shae and her son Ethan at Dome Port Hedland for lunch which is a nice spot right on the headland overlooking the water.  Amazing to see the long line of ships on the horizon waiting to come in to be loaded with iron ore.  Larry worked his usual magic on Ethan and soon had him won over – he really is quite wonderful with kids and animals so we had a lovely lunch and Shae enjoying catching up with all the office goss as she and her husband have relocated to PH from Newman only recently and she is missing her crew.

We gave Shae and Ethan a quick tour of what Ryan’s son calls the ‘big cubby’ and then said our goodbyes and drove on to DeGrey river campsite.  Last time we drove from Port Hedland to De Grey it was dark and there seemed to be a cow on the side of the road around every corner so of course this time there wasn’t a cow to be seen.  There were already quite a few vans parked up when we got there but our plans of getting a spot down near the river were thwarted as there has been a biohazard issue with a weed getting out of control so now it is all fenced off with no entry signs and so we are parked up on the camping area road and you wouldn’t even know there is a river nearby except for the bird life around.  Oh, and judging by the cow pats, some animal visitors also.

Larry did some running repairs on the toilet cassette(silicon on the join) and tightened a screw on the awning that has already worked loose and Jen got the blog up to date and now we are just sitting enjoying the serenity.

We Are Off

MONDAY 11 JUNE 2019

A bit of a rough night as we didn’t quite work out the air conditioning in the chalet and it was a bit too warm and stuffy to be comfortable.  L got up pre dawn and headed off to work and J stayed put for another hour or so before getting up and donning her ‘work’ attire. 

L headed back to collect me and the stuff from the chalet at about 7.30am and then headed out to Yarnima power station to visit Larry’s work.  Met some of Larry’s workmates – some old familiar faces and some new and then donned hard hat etc for a quick tour of the ‘plant’.  It was a bright sunny morning but quite chilly so plenty of steam escaping from the towers.  Was very interesting seeing the gas and steam turbines up close and got an explanation on how and why the water runs around the plant cooling and heating and steaming things up to make power.

 After about an hour, however, the interest levels had been reached maximum and L took me to his work mate  Ryan’s place to pick up the car and caravan which we then took back to the units (by now some pen pusher in Perth had signed off the paperwork to let the guys back into their units!!).  L headed back to work and Jen spent the morning moseying around Newman – dropping off the keys to the chalet, putting petrol in the car and doing the grocery shopping at Woolies.  Most annoyingly, the shopping list I had prepared weeks ago in Perth so that I bought the food required for the pre-prepared menu plan went missing (I suspect it’s floating around the Caltex somewhere) so I ended up just buying lots of whatever looked good in terms of meat, veg, fruit and bread and will have to write a new menu plan to suit.

L texted to say he would finish work by 3pm so treated myself to a late lunch at Dome and read the paper and had some down time.  After all, I AM on holiday!  At approximately 3.05pm (keen to leave work much?!) L was walking through the door of the unit and stripping off the high vis and not long afterwards we had the van hitched and were headed out of town. 

It wasn’t until we made it past the turn off to Yarnima that Larry decided he was finally actually really on holiday!!  Made it to Mt Robinson rest stop before dusk and wouldn’t have wanted to get there any later as there were already about 15 cars and vans parked up.  Not a very attractive setting where we parked and the flies were very friendly so we sat in the van to eat our heated up dinners (thanks Kurra Camp!) and then read and relaxed until another very early night.

And Now There Are Two

SUNDAY 9 JUNE 2019

It was cold, wet and windy in Perth this morning so had a bit of a lie on with Ned and Jess snuggled with me.  Kate eventually surfaced only looking marginally better than she had yesterday so felt a bit guilty shipping her off to her father’s but was also very keen not to get infected with her cold/flu germs so close to the beginning of the holiday!

Had lunch and watched the first half of the Eagles v Sydney game but was more than happy to turn it off at half time and do the final pack up and head off to the airport.

Luckily Ben has now got his driver’s licence so he could drop me at the airport.  Typical me got there with heaps of time to spare so treated myself to a trashy magazine and settled down in the lounge with the high vis boys to await my flight to Newman.

Plane was about half full so had a window seat with no one next to me and, once we got above the heavy cloud cover over Perth, it was a smooth and uneventful flight.  We were just coming in to land in Newman when the plane started accelerating and regaining altitude and we were told not to be alarmed but a sudden gust of wind had made them decide to do a lap and try again.  So we did a scenic loop of Newman by night and landed safely the second time around.  Funny thing was that it was dead calm at ground level so I wonder whether we had the trainee pilot rather than it being a rogue wind gust!

Larry was glad to see me, mostly because it was chilly waiting for the plane to decide to land, and we headed off in the work ute to our chalet for the night which is located behind the visitor centre in grounds scattered with old mining trucks, cranes etc.  It kind of reminded me of the Goodies episode where all the big mining equipment starts dancing and wondered if they would all come to life in the middle of the night!  Larry’s work has chosen this week to send the boys back to Kurra camp while they replace the air conditioners in their units so the original idea of my sleeping in L’s unit on an airbed didn’t eventuate.

We headed over the road to the Newman Hotel for a light dinner and then back to the chalet for an early night as Larry still has to get up early for work tomorrow.

Crack

Day 2

Another leisurely start as once again Larry couldn’t see the need to rush.

Did I mention it was cold with an arctic wind blowing in Cue. I decided, as I was in the middle of BFN, that I would start the day driving in my tracky dacks and ugg boots. Not the best look for normal people, but I wear that combination with style and panache. Arrived in Meekatharra and pulled into a parking stop long enough to change and off again. 

There really isn’t a lot between Meeka and Kumarina which is just a roadhouse. Once again the strong headwinds caused the fuel economy to be poor so I was toddling along at 90kph singing out loud to beat the boredom in between phone calls to Jenny, when I had reception. I have realized, alone in the car, I am actually quite a brilliant singer.

Refueled at Kumarina and toddled off again at 90kph for an uneventful drive until 100kms south of Newman when a car and caravan heading south put the left wheels of their van onto the edge of the bitumen and flicked a rock onto my windscreen. It was quite large as I watched it come across the road and hit the screen. Unfortunately it caused 2 large chips and some cracks like a star and it was almost exactly in the middle of the drivers vision.

Well that stopped the toddling along as I had to make Newman before the businesses close. When I was in phone range I called Jenny to get the details of the auto glass repairer in Newman, called  and went straight to them. They got the details as it had to be replaced due to the position of the chips.

After that, delivered the car and van to my work colleague’s house which conveniently, is a corner block so plenty of room and I wandered off to Kurra camp. Sitting in the donga was a bit surreal as I was in holiday mode and then in a little room going to work the next day.

Now Friday and the car has had a new windscreen fitted minus the auto windscreen wiper rain sensor but we can live with that.

Boring

Day 1

Larry left home at 7:45 as he didn’t see the need to get up early and rush. It was an uneventful drive to Cue(read extremely boring) and arrived just before 5pm.

As there were strong head winds, Larry decided to do the grey nomad speed to conserve fuel. Just north of Mt Magnet about 6 or 7 goats crossed the road in front of the car so I slowed down in case there were more and then roughly 20 or so bolted from the side that the others had crossed to.  Luckily I was just about stopped as they practically ran into the Jeep and van.

Another nice meal and pint at the Cue hotel followed by an early and very cold night. The wind didn’t let up all night so it made for a rushed night time trip to the ablutions block.