hopkinsonfamilytravels: Putting in the K's

Up early, and got packed for our departure from Broome. Said goodbye to the Shawcross family who have one more day in Broome before flying back to Adelaide. Part of the process was checking who now had 7 spoons instead of 6, the correct chairs etc.

Joseph in particular very upset to have lost his playmate Harry, and reminded us of this fact several times!

Then it was hitting the road for the main drive of the journey, with, on departure no real idea where we would stop for the night.

The countryside does change bit by bit (honest). Boabs have petered out. The countryside is sometimes bush, sometimes huge prairies where ground has been cleared for cattle farms. In terms of wildlife no Kangaroos spotted despite our best endeavours, but skillful driving avoided us running over a 3ft lizard that was crossing the road. The weight of the campervan means that it takes so long to stop safely - thus by the time we could have gone back for a photo it had scarpered. We did see loads and loads of birds of prey - which indicates their is life out there - its just hiding!

We did a straight 323k to our first stop - the Sandfire Roadhouse. The Km posts are every 10k, and for 320 k we were being counted down to this Roadhouse (SF300, SF 290, SF280 etc) so you may have been forgiven for assuming this was a happening place - instead its just an expensive petrol station with a captive audience, grotty cafe and grotty campsite in the red hot, red earthed middle of nowhere! Of note was a very weathered looking cyclist doing the west coast (and perhaps wondering exactly what he had bitten off!).

After lunch and a quick bit of advice from grey nomads about free camping spots we were off again, and the kids were able to use some of the sparse laptop battery life on a film (better than I spy, holding breath for 1km at a time, trying to enthuse them about dry river beds / vegetation / the chances of seeing a kangaroo, or refereeing a squabble).

Then it was onto Pardoo Roadhouse - another 150km or so down the track (loo break and chat to the danish backpacker working there), but did not fill up as the metropolis of Port Hedland was in range where we anticipated (correctly) that it would be at least 20c a litre cheaper,

As we approached Port Hedland, the empty roads suddenly became much busier with mining traffic, roadtrains (lorries with up to 4 container sized trailers) carrying iron ore. We had to stop at a level crossing for a huge iron ore train - all 60 carriages. They talk about the red centre - the iron content makes the earth very red in places.

We negotiated ourselves through the traffic and road trains of Port Hedland, stopping to look at termite mounds that had been turned into memorials for miners who had died - their hard hats and boots put on termite mounds, which then get embedded by the termites into their hills - a bit eerie.

On past Port Hedland to a grey nomad recommended free camping spot - Yule River now a dry river bed - but clearly huge when in full flow. It was a great spot (although no water, no loos - just a flat bit of ground) - 100m or so off the highway. There were about 20 campers there, so we swapped stories with grey nomads and the kids played with an Australian family who had a 10 yr old girl and 7 yr old boy who had sold up and taken to the road. This was the second family of this type we had met - but this family had given up the home schooling!

It was so dark that this really was the best night too date for seeing the fantastic stars.

As it was pitch black by 6.30, after tea and washing up we just went to bed - so were all asleep by 9pm, and we had a great nights sleep.

All in all we drove more than 650k today! We spent not a penny on anything, other than fuel for our thirsty vehicle (that's a hundred quid gone then!)