DAY 47 – Port Smith – Cape Keraudren

Good Morning Port Smith!
 
Low 13°c (55°F) – High 27°c (81°F)
351km
 
The 22km road in didn’t seem quite as long going out although we did have the challenge of several vehicles, mostly 4WD and not towing a caravan, passing us along the way back to the Great Northern Highway.  The road being fairly narrow at the bottom and very dusty we emerged onto the highway with a pretty thick coat of dust over everything.  Not to worry – the wind was strong and aside from blowing the dust off kept me on my toes, limited to about 80km/hr and having to really focus on keeping the van on the road all the way.
 
Trees soon gave way to pretty much nothing in the paddocks either side of us and we had mostly flat terrain all the way – and that wind!
 
Only 1 BA item for the day although I’m stretching here as it barely qualified in light of some of the BA things we’ve seen.  We anticipate as we move towards the mining areas of Western Australia that head count may increase.
 
About 200km into the trip we stopped at Sandfire Roadhouse with the intention of refueling which seemed like a good idea at the time until we saw a large line of traffic.  We wondered if some were checking in as the roadhouse also hosts a caravan park - but no – they were all waiting for fuel and after a quick walk to the front of the line – Shane reported that only 2 petrol bowsers were operating for diesel, that they were placed side by side about a car length apart, and traffic was coming in from both sides of the highway face to face in an effort to top up with fuel.  And to add to that – as each vehicle moved away from the bowsers it had to pass on the roadhouse side of the long line of vehicles (the majority of which were also towing caravans) coming the other way which then caused traffic jams because inconsiderate people, in their impatience to get their fill, kept moving forward and blocking any exit for the vehicles leaving.   It was the most ridiculous situation I’ve ever seen at a petrol station and basically chaos with a disaster just waiting to happen considering amongst this there were people who were entering the roadhouse for food and trying to walk back to their cars in the parking area adjacent to the fuel. 
 
Once in the line you were committed regardless of whether your fuel cap was on the correct side (ours wasn’t and Shane had to pull the hose across the top of the car) and after a 45 minute wait in line we were finally filled up and pulling back out onto the highway having paid the highest price of any fuel we’ve purchased so far of $2.74  Shane said that someone had told him the additional diesel bowser had been broken now for over 2 months so this has been a daily occurrence for that time.  More WOW.
 
Obviously “the Great Moscow Circus” had pulled up its ropes and pegs and hit the highway from Broome as well because waiting amongst the craziness were several trucks and a couple of little pink cars all bearing the logo.  I’m not sure how they were still alive but there was also a family of peacocks wandering around the area in between cars and trucks coming and going.  They were so bold they were taking food out of the hands of people sitting at the tables at the front of the roadhouse.
 
As we rolled out of the chaos, so did most of the Moscow Circus and so for some time we ended up being part of the massive convoy and for a small moment did discuss running away with the circus.  We figured the pay probably wasn’t great (and neither of us had any special acrobat talent – it’s hard enough getting out of bed in the mornings!) so the idea soon faded.
 
I had read about Cape Kenaudren as a low cost camping area and it sounded lovely.  As promised it was an easy road in, several vans stopped at the turnoff to collect wood for camp fires and given it was now much later than we would prefer to arrive at any camp (our usual preference is to get where you are going by lunch time to ensure a spot and some time to explore), we headed down the access road just after 2.30pm hoping to find a decent park for the night.  As it turned out there were already lots of campers but still a few openings to back up to the bank overlooking the ocean. 
 
It’s always a gamble who you will pull up next to and in this case where to pull up.  Initially I parked between another caravan and a large motor home and on closer inspection I realized by parking in the middle of the two I was effectively taking up enough space for 2 caravans and re-parked us a bit closer to the motor home knowing there were still 4 vans on their way in.  We got ourselves set up and put a much reduced pen out for Kitty to be able to spend some time outside.  It was windy so we didn’t bother with the awning as the sun was well over the other side of the van and the pen was already in shade.  Sitting down for a late lunch, our neighbours arrived back in their 4WD which had been towed behind the motor home on a trailer and the husband says to us in a loud voice “Would you like me to move over a bit for you?” clearly unhappy that we had parked close to them.  I’ll add that we were no closer than all the other vans spaced along the edge – but clearly closer than he was happy with.
 
About 5 minutes later we hear him start up the motor home, reverse up and actually move it over about a car length away from us.  They then pulled out their awning and parked their car between the awning and our van where the motor home had originally been parked and disappeared into the motor home.  I think back to so many other places we’ve free-camped where people are parked quite close and no-one cares because everyone gets the opportunity to have a piece of real-estate with a view but occasionally you get situations like this where someone gets offended.
 
It was quite windy and although we were enjoying the fresh air, it was probably time to close a few windows as a chip packet Shane had been eating from blew up and attached itself to the window in an effort to escape.  About an hour after lunch, me taking some photos of a couple of Zebra Finches that were darting about around the van and Kitty being settled, Shane and I went for a walk to take some photos and Mrs GetOffOurPatch was sitting outside on a chair reading.  As I passed by I said to her “I’m sorry we seem to have offended you by parking so close, but we had 4 vans coming in behind us and I was concerned that there wouldn’t be enough space for them all to get a view and I’d be accused of taking up two spaces”.  She mumbled something about it not being a problem to move the motor home and we walked on.
 
The beach was certainly an opportunity to explore with a reef taking up part of the foreshore and the rockpools, patterns in the sand, shapes and textures provided lots of interest.  The rocks were incredibly sharp and difficult to walk on so we mostly picked our way between them.  I probably spent way too much time following a tiny crab who put on quite a show for the camera.  He had such amazing camouflage blending in with the sand at times it was hard to see him – not to mention he was about the size of a 10 cent piece to begin with.  An hour and a half later given the sun was going down and the tide coming back in, we retraced our steps and headed back to the van where we were greeted by both Mr & Mrs GetOffOurPatch who had obviously had a chat about our conversation as well as an attitude change and shared their praise and information about the campsite. 
 
Honestly – this is why we became hermits years ago – I struggle with all this crap and life is way too short to get grumpy with someone you don’t even know about something so trivial.  We kept to ourselves for the rest of the evening especially as the mosquitoes moved in.
 
Sunset was blocked by a rising cliff to our western side and so photos were limited but it was lovely to sit in the van listening to the tide come back in and the waves moving over the rocks.  We are definitely “water” people and love the sound of the ocean.
 
All seemed to be going well until about 8.00pm when suddenly the freezer stopped working and the orange warning light came on.  After a bit of investigation we realized that clearly the battery in the van was not going to make the rest of the trip and we would need to get it replaced.  We knew it was on the cusp of needing replacement and in hindsight should have just gone with a replacement before we left, but with all the expenses we’d had before we left, we had hoped it might last.  The freezer being off for several hours until we got back on the road again tomorrow wasn’t ideal but it would take longer than that for food to spoil so we went to bed and made plans to deal with this little irritant tomorrow in Port Hedland.