Friday 31 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 122

Day 122 – 31/8/2012 – Pardoo Roadhouse

The jockey wheel finally turned up late afternoon the previous day so I fitted it just after we had packed up camp and were hitched up. We pulled out of the van park right on 10am. We had a final walk along the Cable Beach foreshore while we were having smoko and, finally hit the road again at 10:30am.

Now that we were fully back on the road again, we would like to say a big thank you to Luke and Daryl at Australian Offroad Campers in getting us back on the road.  They did everything possible to get us going as quickly as possible and were great to deal with throughout the whole situation.  The main delay in getting us going was the time waiting for the parts to be transported from one side of the country to the other!

Now that we were fully back on the road and a fair bit behind our schedule, we had to make some hard decisions on what we had to leave out in order to get home on time.

We were hoping to make it to Port Hedland but because of our late depature, we only made it to the Pardoo Roadhouse. It was the location where the category 4 Cyclone Lua hit on the 18th March this year. It was looking pretty good for only being 6 months since it took the hit. All of the trees had been shredded but were starting to grow new shoots.

The Pardoo Roadhouse
The Pardoo camp grounds

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Thursday 30 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 114 to 121

Day 114 to 121 – 23/8/2012 to 30/8/2012 – Broome (again)

The camper had been fixed and we were able to pick it up at 8am. After picking it up we went back to the Hotel to repack everything back into the camper. After checking out and on our way out of town we had to swing past the van park to pick up all of our frozen food out of the camp kitchen freezer in the van park. The bar fridge in the Hotel wasn't big enough to hold all of our frozen meat.

Boabs up the main street of Derby

Thursday 23 August 2012

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Wednesday 22 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 112 to 113

Day 112 to 113 – 21/8/2012 to 22/8/2012 – Derby

The place that was going to do the repairs to the camper opened at 7:30am. By the time we packed up camp and distributed our food between the car fridge and the camp kitchen fridges in the van park it was 8:30am by the time that we got the camper to the repairers. After we had dropped the camper off, we went to see if we could check into the Spinifex Hotel. It was pretty much the only self contained accommodation that we could find in Derby. Luckily they were able to get us into our room pretty much straight away. It was to be our home away from home for the next two days.

The Spinifex Hotel accommodation

Monday 20 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 111

Day 111 – 20/8/2012 – Horizontal Falls Tour

We were up early for an 8:15am pick for a Horizontal Falls trip. On the way out to the airport one interesting fact that I learnt about Derby is that has the largest runway in the southern hemisphere. The runway is located at the Curtin Air Base and was built in case the space shuttle couldn't land at its home base in the northern hemisphere. It also contained a 20 bed underground fully functioning hospital which was activated every time the space shuttle was launched. With the shelving of the space shuttle program and the planned US military base at Darwin, the runway will still probably be used as the landing strip for the US military planes that are too large and heavy to land at Darwin and then they will transport the equipment back to Darwin via road.

Our Seaplane

Sunday 19 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 109 to 110

Day 109 to 110 – 18/8/2012 to 19/8/2012 – Return to Broome and Derby

Basically just returning to Broome for a night before heading back to Derby the following day.  While in Broome again I managed to get a quick snap of the outside of the outdoor cinema.

Sun Pictures

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Saturday 18 August 2012

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Friday 17 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 108

Day 108 – 17/8/2012 – Cape Leveque (Kooljaman) Day Trip

We set off after breakfast to Kooljaman at Cape Leveque for a day trip. When we arrived we were greeted with fantastic ocean views over the red sandstone cliffs. After obtaining our day pass we walked down to the fishing beach. It wasn't a good a beach for swimming due to the strong currents.


Thursday 16 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 107

Day 107 – 16/8/2012 – Middle Lagoon

We were able to change the dates and type of our accommodation from a camp site to a cabin so we packed up and headed to Middle Lagoon. On the way to Middle Lagoon we stopped off at Beagle Bay to check out the church. We don't normally visit churches, but this one appeared in the movie 'Bran Nue Dae' and the church is decorated with and the alter is made out of mother-of-pearl shells.

The Beagle Bay Church

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Wednesday 15 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 106

Day 106 – 15/8/2012 – Cable Beach

We had a bit of a slow morning as we didn't have any major jobs to do. After lunch we did a bit of a drive around to make sure that the Pajero felt ok after the service.

First stop was Entrance Point, it was just past the Broome Port. It had a nice boat ramp area and it looked like a lot of people brought their dogs down for a run on the beach.

Entrance Point

Tuesday 14 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 105

Day 105 – 14/8/2012 – Pajero Service

We had the Pajero booked in for a 90,000km service before we even left Kununurra. Due to our change in timetable we were lucky enough to be able reschedule it.  We dropped it off at 8am and then walked down to Town Beach. It is a nice little beach that has a van park that is right on the water and a little cafe.

Town Beach - Broome

Monday 13 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 104

Day 104 – 13/8/2012 – Broome

We packed up the camper and left the van park at about 10am. We had to leave the camper at the van park so we left it plugged into power to keep the fridge running.

We arrived at Broome and checked into an on-site cabin in a van park at about 12pm. After unpacking we had a bit of an explore of the town and picked up some mail from the post office.

The onsite cabin

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Thursday 9 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 100 to 103

Day 100 to 103 – 9/8/2012 to 12/8/2012 – Derby

Basically not much over the next couple of days. Catching up on jobs, blog posts, working out what we would need to take out of the camper because we will be leaving it behind for a few days and heading to Broome.

The CARP Resurfaces! (on the black and white sign)

Wednesday 8 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 99

Day 99 – 8/8/2012 – Derby

A late start to the day due to the last couple of big and stressful days. We spent the morning rearranging our bookings and itinerary to make use of our extended stay in Derby. The required parts for the camper were going to take nearly two weeks to get to Derby.

I also found a tyre place to order me a new tyre to replace one on the camper that had a cut in the sidewall. I only noticed this cut on the sidewall when the camper was up on the flatbed.

The cut in the side wall

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 98

Day 98 – 7/8/2012 – Derby, The way I didn't want to arrive!

The flatbed truck was meant to pick us up at 12pm. We were up early so that we could pack everything up just in case it turned up early. Pat, one of the drivers from the company that was going to tow us, turned up on his way through to Mitchell Falls, and told us that our truck will be arriving at 10:30am to pick us up.

After we packed up and limped back to the roadhouse, we saw Pat there taking the wheels off his truck as something had broken in his wheel assembly.

The flatbed turned up and proceeded to winch the camper onto it. You just can't describe that feeling in the bottom of your stomach seeing your pride and joy being winched up onto the back of the flatbed.

Getting towed out :-( Also note Pat fixing the wheel on his truck - having a smoke under two big tanks of AvGas!

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Monday 6 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 97

Day 97 – 6/8/2012 – Disaster Strikes!

We left Mornington Wilderness Park at about 9am and made it back to the Gibb River Road at about 11:30am. We stopped in at the Imintji Roadhouse to fill up with diesel. In the shop we stocked up on the standard road trip food, ie chips and drinks, and I also bought a “I survived the Gibb River Road” sticker. Little did I know that was going to be our downfall!

The cursed sticker

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Sunday 5 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 96

Day 96 – 5/8/2012 – Diamond Gorge

This morning it was off to Diamond Gorge and also too see if we could find a nice spot to have a bit of a swim.

Passing landscape

Saturday 4 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 95

Day 95 – 4/8/2012 – Mornington Wilderness Park

Again it was a bit of a late start as on our way out of the camp ground we had a bit of a chat with some people that we had met in Home Valley Station and taking a few photos of the big boab trees. So we didn't get on the road again until about 9am.



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Friday 3 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 94

Day 94 – 3/8/2012 – Manning Gorge

Because we knew we had to do an early morning swim before we could start the walk to Manning Gorge, we had a bit of a slow start so that the day could warm up a bit and take the chill off the water. Basically in order to start the walk to Manning gorge, you had to swim across the creek to the other side where the track starts. You had to put all of your gear into some styrofoam boxes and swim it across without tipping it over. Hence the reconnaissance swim the afternoon before. I also wasn't game to risk my good camera to a styrofoam box with a crack in the bottom of it, so all photos today are taken on our pocket camera.

Swimming our gear across to the start of the walk

Thursday 2 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 93

Day 93 – 2/8/2012 – Drysdale Station to Manning Gorge

We were packed up and ready to roll by about 8am. We had to top up the water tanks so this added a bit more time before we could head off.

About 40km away from Drysdale Station a Norwegian family in a Britz camper flagged us down. They had over taken us just after we had left the station gate. Unfortunately a large kangaroo had jumped out in front of then and they had hit it. They were so lucky that they didn't end up rolling the camper as they showed us their tracks where they swerved to try and avoid it and they had basically gone off into the bush and back out again. They were also lucky that they didn't do any damage to the vehicle by going off into the bush at high speed. Unfortunately nothing could be done for the roo.

About 20km out from Mt Barnett Road house the road started to get massive chunks of rock on it. It was a bit nerve racking trying to miss the largest and sharpest of the rocks so as to look after the tyres.



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Wednesday 1 August 2012

Oz Trip - Day 92

Day 92 – 1/8/2012 – Rest day at Drysdale Station

Basically just a bit of a rest day with a few small jobs thrown in and checking the camper and the Pajero for any broken things. Luckily none found. The battery tray seems to be holding up ok, but the camps book wasn't!

The corrugations undid the spirals!