Good Morning Onslow!
Low 8°c (46°F) – High 25°c
(77°F)
Thankfully everyone had a good night’s sleep – read here that Kitty had
a good night’s sleep so consequently everyone else did as well!
A late discussion last night about where to from here resulted in phone
calls to campsites and messages left to see what we could arrange. We received a call back this morning from
Exmouth – nothing available at all – but did manage to find 2 nights at Carnarvon
later in the week. I’m happy to leave
the van at a caravan park to go sightseeing but not so keen on the idea of
leaving it at a free-camp. So after a
look at maps we decided to head for a destination south of Exmouth – Manilya
Roadhouse, where we could leave the van and potentially make a day trip to
Exmouth (which is over 200km to the north) and by staying there 3 days would be
able then to transition to Carnarvon. I
might also be able to get a bit of washing done on the third day which would
then leave the next week free to look around.
It’s not ideal but we need to be flexible and pick the best options
under the current circumstances. It’s
all part of the trip – the good and the bad.
The road today could only be described as tiring. I know it was almost 350km but even though
the terrain changed significantly along the way and much of it was quite pretty,
the straight stretches and distance between anything interesting, not to mention
the wind yet again, made for a very tiring trip. We did see a few more BA loads heading north,
new mining machinery and a number of dongas of some description, some taking up
more of the road than others. Lots of
creeks and rivers, mostly dry beds but a few with varying degrees of water but
all once again mostly wide and deep with huge capacity for the wet season.
Getting tired, I opted for a bit of a break so we stopped at a rest
area to have a quick lunch and a coffee to keep the tiredness at bay. It turned out to be a popular spot for both
lunch and overnighters. One guy pulled
up his van into a “Buses Only” lane right alongside a covered picnic table, and
commenced putting down struts and getting out his solar panel. I was secretly hoping a bus would actually
come along. It’s people like that who
give Caravanners a bad name. I almost
got my wish a few minutes later when a mini-bus towing a trailer pulled in on
the opposite side of the picnic table and out stepped 25 East Asian men, women
and children, all quite animated, excited, chatting (read very noisy) and
setting up a feast for lunch right beside him.
A little further down the road we saw a guy driving a car that was
clearly trying to pollute the world one km at a time. At first we thought the car was on fire, but
no – just lots and lots of exhaust smoke which trailed along behind him for at
least 500 metres before it dispersed.
A family of Bush Chooks (aka Emus) thought about crossing the road in
front of us, but changed their mind instead posing for the camera as we slowly
edged by.
Not sure what we would find at the Minilya Roadhouse caravan park, we
were pleasantly surprised to find a few grassed sites. There is a lot of construction work going on,
graders, workers etc. It’s not clear
what they are doing, but I’m sure we will find out during our stay. We have power, water and plenty of room and a
base to investigate the area a little.
It’s sad but the cooler weather meant we’ve had to ditch the shorts and
t-shirts in the evening and tonight a blanket came out of storage to put on the
bed as we’re expecting 4 degrees over night.
We did for half a second contemplate doing a U-turn and heading back the
way we’ve come since tonight pretty much marks our half way point distance wise
and this Thursday marking the half way point of my holiday time. It’s tempting but we don’t know if we will
ever have the chance to do this trip again and so it makes sense to see all we
can see while we can.
A pretty sunset and some home cooked fish and chips to end the
evening. Fingers crossed for another
good night’s sleep tonight. It will be a
big day tomorrow.
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