Sunday, 28 July 2013                                                                                                  643.0kms

We were up at the crack of dawn, well not really, it just sounds good. We were up just after 7am. We quickly dressed, packed up and were on the road at 7:45am headed for Karratha. Because we didn’t unpack anything other than the stuff at the door, we couldn’t get into the cupboards to eat breakfast. We had to stop for our morning wee at a rest area not too far up the road, as there was no privacy or toilet this morning at Sherlock River.

We arrived in Karratha and I went into Woolworths to buy cereal and milk to eat breakfast in the car park in disposable bowls and plastic spoons. It is very handy having throw-away plastics in the car, I would highly recommend it if you cannot get into your kitchen to make food on the road. Elokin and Hendrix saw McDonalds in the same car park and wanted a hash brown, so we went and they bought one each with their pocket money.

In Kmart we bought a V-sheet for the boat (a safety requirement for WA) on clearance for $6. Elokin and I did the groceries in Woolworths while Nathan and Hendrix bought a new boat battery, duct tape and a CB aerial from Auto Pro. They also went to the camping shop and purchased toilet chemicals, a gas hose and the gas connector tap, so hopefully we will now be able to run the outside burner and the inside kitchen from the one gas bottle on the A-frame. We purchased diesel from Woolworths Caltex and departed town. We had to stop within a few minutes as I was attempting to make hot roast chicken rolls, but the chicken was too hot and burning my legs. After assembling the sandwiches, we continued on the road with our lunch in hand by 12:30pm.

On the highway, we drove over a huge dump truck. It went under the bridge while we went over it. Hendrix was so excited to see so many big trucks. I still can’t believe how different the scenery is this time to last time. Everything is so green and lush and the rivers all have water in them. Last time it was brown and desert like with dry river beds.

At Nanutarra Roadhouse we bought a splash of diesel and had afternoon tea. We did a driver change and I was back in the hot seat for the next leg of the journey. Elokin did school work in the backseat while we were cruising along and today she did really well.

The next stop was for another driver change after I turned onto Minilya Exmouth Road, with only 86kms to Exmouth! We watched the sun set just before we got to Exmouth and got rather excited. We were almost there, but not going to make it before dark. We drove straight through Exmouth without stopping, heading north for Yardie Creek Road, turning south and heading down the cape towards Cape Range National Park. We had almost made it to Yardie Homestead when we hit our first kangaroo in the middle of the road. Bugger. Nath decided that he would slow down after that to run the rest of the gauntlet. There were kangaroos everywhere.

Around 7pm we made it to Yardie Homestead Caravan Park. We found Les and Maree and went to their cabin. Elokin and Hendrix watched a movie while eating dinner. Tonight we have set up the camper in front of Les and Maree’s cabin just for the night, as we don’t want to pick our spot for the next few days in the dark. We sat up chatting until midnight.

 

Expenses to date:

Diesel                    1704.42 L              $2813.29              8530.5kms

Petrol boat         20.14     L              $33.82

Take Away                                          $161.40

Groceries                                            $1561.29

Ferries & Permits                             $10.10

Accommodation                               $367.40

Parts & Repairs                                 $585.36

Entertainment                                  $343.30

Until next time…. Happy and Safe Travels.