After 2 nights in Exmouth we set off on our longest day driving so far. About 700km to Karijini national park in the heart of the Hammersly Ranges i.e. mining country. Apart from Paraburdoo (a dormitory town with lots of mining vehicles and a surprisingly cheap petrol station) we saw nothing on the way. It was a long day and it was depressing hammering the tent pegs into the cold bare red earth at karajini 'eco-retreat'. When I thought things could not get worse a large coach full of 11 year-olds on a school trip arrived and camped right next to us.
We spent the next morning exploring Karijini national park, with its extremely bumpy tracks and spectacular gorges:
After lunch we got back to the car to discover the left rear tyre was flat, probably a result of my impatient driving as 20km over rocks can get boring. It was pretty annoying as I had to first locate the jack under all our stuff and then work out how to use it (never seen a hydralic one before) all in 35° heat. Lucky I'd just had lunch or it would have been really stressful. We decided to carry on that afternoon up the main (only) inland road to Port Hedland, the next place likely to do tyres. It was a few hundred kilometers of crossed fingers and we saw a ton of road trains on this stretch. We stayed the night in Port Hedland, which is a pretty ugly place, with the exception that all the mining dust in the air makes for spectacular sunsets. The town is dominated by large piles of rocks and huge trains bringing in more large piles of rocks.
The next morning we stopped off to get the flat tyre repaired, and replaceed our airbed kmart, which also had a puncture. We also checked out the port, home to some of the world's largest boats, designed for carrying prodigous quantities of iron ore to China.
After that we set off on the big empty road up the north-west coast to Broome, planning to stop the night at an isolated campsite on eighty-mile beach. After about 200km the spare tyre (which was still on from the day before) blew out. We could only be relieved that the other tyre had been repaired that morning. Unless you enjoy lying in the dirt under a broken-down car in the middle of a hot day in the outback, it would be stressful situation. We nervously drove the next 50k to the campsite, the last 10k on a corrugated dirt road, and decided to stay for 2 nights and wind down. It was a pretty nice place, they obviously made a lot of their own water so it was nice and grassy (unusual in that area at this time of year) and the eighty-mile long beach next door was absolutely awesome.
The beach is also a nesting site for turtles, so we set our alarms to wake us up at high tide and went to wait on the beach, only to see a lot of very obvious tracks. We were too late! Anyway after our first day of doing nothing in a long time we set off early (before the roads get too hot) on the remaining 400k to Broome, extremely nervous now about not having a spare wheel. We had seen a lot of cars in WA carrying two spare wheels, which always seemed a bit excessive, we resolved to join them. Fortunately we arrived in Broome without a hitch and the next day bought 2 brand new tyres for Sheila, put one of the old rear tyres on the spare and bought a used steel rim for the other. Now we were prepared.
The further north we got, the warmer the nights felt. By the time we got to Broome it wasn't dropping below 25°c at night. We had given up on using the tent's flysheet, just using the inner to keep the bugs off. At the campsite some assholes commited the most heinous of crimes and stole the steaks we had bought for dinner! We also camped next to a group of backpackers who thought it was ok to play their noisy music and videos until 11pm. Given that it gets dark at 8pm and light at 5am this is seriously uncool. We started to become experts on what kinds of people to camp near. In order of preference:
Broome has a reputation as being an awesome tourist destination. Perhaps it was because we visited in the low season, but this was not obvious. The rainy season (just known as 'the wet') starts late October/early November when we were there. Most Australians wouldn't consider going up north from October to March, as it's hot and wet and people get weird. We took a bus (rare in Australia) to Matso's, really nice brewery, and the driver gently warned us that it was not safe to walk around there after dark and we should definitely get a taxi home. The taxi driver also complained how a lot of the local kids like to throw rocks at his car. Our experience of Broome was that is was well equipped (supermarkets, places to buy tyres, tourist services etc) but not particularly charming.
We spent the next morning exploring Karijini national park, with its extremely bumpy tracks and spectacular gorges:
The next morning we stopped off to get the flat tyre repaired, and replaceed our airbed kmart, which also had a puncture. We also checked out the port, home to some of the world's largest boats, designed for carrying prodigous quantities of iron ore to China.
After that we set off on the big empty road up the north-west coast to Broome, planning to stop the night at an isolated campsite on eighty-mile beach. After about 200km the spare tyre (which was still on from the day before) blew out. We could only be relieved that the other tyre had been repaired that morning. Unless you enjoy lying in the dirt under a broken-down car in the middle of a hot day in the outback, it would be stressful situation. We nervously drove the next 50k to the campsite, the last 10k on a corrugated dirt road, and decided to stay for 2 nights and wind down. It was a pretty nice place, they obviously made a lot of their own water so it was nice and grassy (unusual in that area at this time of year) and the eighty-mile long beach next door was absolutely awesome.
The beach is also a nesting site for turtles, so we set our alarms to wake us up at high tide and went to wait on the beach, only to see a lot of very obvious tracks. We were too late! Anyway after our first day of doing nothing in a long time we set off early (before the roads get too hot) on the remaining 400k to Broome, extremely nervous now about not having a spare wheel. We had seen a lot of cars in WA carrying two spare wheels, which always seemed a bit excessive, we resolved to join them. Fortunately we arrived in Broome without a hitch and the next day bought 2 brand new tyres for Sheila, put one of the old rear tyres on the spare and bought a used steel rim for the other. Now we were prepared.
The further north we got, the warmer the nights felt. By the time we got to Broome it wasn't dropping below 25°c at night. We had given up on using the tent's flysheet, just using the inner to keep the bugs off. At the campsite some assholes commited the most heinous of crimes and stole the steaks we had bought for dinner! We also camped next to a group of backpackers who thought it was ok to play their noisy music and videos until 11pm. Given that it gets dark at 8pm and light at 5am this is seriously uncool. We started to become experts on what kinds of people to camp near. In order of preference:
- Nobody. This is how camping should be
- Grey nomads. Retired Australians like to hit the road in their caravans or ridiculous campervans, sometimes for years at a time. They are typically lovely.
- Foreign couples. Usually quiet, unless they get arguing.
- Small Australian families. The kids get up early and start running around but realistically you've already been woken up by the birds so get over it.
- Large Australian family groups. These guys come out during the school holidays, and are ridiculous. They come away with trailer-tents the size of a small house and turn campsites into horrible favelas. Some even bring their own fridge-freezers and TVs from home, not to mention enormous fishing boats on trailers. Avoid.
- Drunk backpackers. Friendly enough but with no concept that tents are not soundproof, or you might not want to hear every thought that enters their tiny brains.
- Drunk middle-aged Australians. Unable not to shout, they come away in groups for the weekend and basically compete to be the most brash. We overheard 4 women of 50+ having a farting competition whilst screaming approval at each other. Possibly the worst people on earth.
Broome has a reputation as being an awesome tourist destination. Perhaps it was because we visited in the low season, but this was not obvious. The rainy season (just known as 'the wet') starts late October/early November when we were there. Most Australians wouldn't consider going up north from October to March, as it's hot and wet and people get weird. We took a bus (rare in Australia) to Matso's, really nice brewery, and the driver gently warned us that it was not safe to walk around there after dark and we should definitely get a taxi home. The taxi driver also complained how a lot of the local kids like to throw rocks at his car. Our experience of Broome was that is was well equipped (supermarkets, places to buy tyres, tourist services etc) but not particularly charming.
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