Noosa to Broome - Day 5 & 6 (Halls Creek & Derby)

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DAY 5. Halls Creek was going to be my next stop it’s only about 440 km’s down the road so I headed off at 0825.





Some beautiful landscapes again to be enjoyed in these parts mixed of course with stretches of nothingness, Australia is a huge country so we have our share of it. I did not pass much traffic at all along this stretch.





I booked in to the Halls Creek Caravan Park. It was very quiet at this time of year, the office lady explained and gave me a few tips on what to see in the area. It was very early in the afternoon so I had plenty of time to set up camp before dark so I took off exploring for a few hours.





Old Halls Creek township was a place of interest so I drove out there and beyond as a number of other attractions were located out in that region also. It was a dirt road and the vistas were magnificent I was however keeping a close eye on the black clouds bucketing with rain that were heading in my general direction.





Eventually I stopped about 50 k out of town before heading back, fortunately the rain had gone around me. A number of old car wrecks had died and were parked in various locations beside the road.





It was near 1630 when I got back to camp and two other lots had also booked in one bloke was maybe 25 metres away we gave each other a friendly g’day howya goin’ and the other was about 80 metres away. Old mate near me had a Troopie and was going to sleep in that while the other one had a small motor home, I was going for my tent again.





Now I have learnt over the years to trust my gut and often though not always I do but something about this place I was a little uncomfortable about. I just couldn’t figure out what it was. I’d bought some snags at the local supermarket and was going to fry some eggs to go with them for dinner. After I’d set up camp and had a relaxing beer or two I did just that.





The park had neighbours close by and one of the occupants of a house was enjoying some tunes, loud tunes. The poor bugger must have been deaf because I reckon the whole town would have been able to hear this music. So on into the night it continued. I hit the sack about 2300 I figured it would not continue much longer.





So about my gut instinct. I carry a piece of timber (it’s actually half a shovel handle) with me for levering purposes and I also carry a tomahawk in case I need to split firewood I figured they might be handy allies for me tonight. They kept me company in bed. I left two windows with flaps up but the one behind my head closed and I had pegged down the longs flaps to the doorway but had not zipped them shut.





We had been getting some lightning so I thought possibly I may have to get up and close everything during the night. It was hot and still and the music continued with rapid change sometimes after a minute or so we would get a new one and on and on and on this went.





Eventually at some point I don’t know what time I nodded off but awoke on a number of occasions. Next to my two trusty companions I had a camp light, car keys, phone and tucked under the mattress for safe keeping was my wallet.





At 0300 I woke up wide awake! The music was still going and Inwas confused as to why mozzies should be harassing me in my tent.





I fumbled around in the dark and discovered my tent had been partially unzipped – what the hell. Bloody mongrels, I figured someone had opened my tent for a bit of a sticky nose. I thought my friendly bed buddies had convinced them to scamper rather than risk me waking up and brandishing them about their ears like Bruce Lee did with nunchuckas.





So I semi frantically searched about to make sure everything was still in place. Camp light check. Car keys check. Phone check. Wallet check. Phew! I opened the car to make sure nothing had been stolen from it and basically all looked in order. Well that could have been a lot worse I thought to myself.





I lay back down to contemplate the whole scenario and of course there were many and varied conclusions. I figured maybe I was lucky but I sure was not going back to sleep.





As first light of the new day dawned I decided to head back along the road I’d been on yesterday arvo to see if I could get some nice sunrise shots. Nothing spectacular but I took few shots and then headed back to camp with the intention of heading out of town as rapidly as possible.





DAY 6. Packed, ready to go and a little pissed off I departed at 0750 the town that is Halls Creek, I shall remember you for a long time. Fortunately some of my memories were good ones. I called into the local service station to top up with fuel which I paid for by credit card.





Fitzroy Crossing was to be my next stop but after last night’s effort I really wanted to put a bigger gap between Halls Creek and myself so I decided to continue on to Derby. I was excited about being on the coast of WA and smelling salt air again.





It was about 560 km’s down the road and I arrived in Derby around 1330. The long drive combined with some bad sleeping habits had just started to cause my back a little grief so I thought I’d see about getting that rectified by a professional.





Now Derby is a reasonable sized town but alas they did not have a chiropractor available. The helpful young woman in the VC informed me about a decent physio down the road just a little way. I’ve only had one experience with a physio before but I figured it had to be better than nothing.





This very slightly built woman was able to see me immediately and checked me out to diagnose what she thought the problem was. She did agree driving was a major contributor. Man she had elbows that pushed, burrowed and manipulated parts of my body – the pain was fabulous.





It certainly felt better by the time I’d left. She suggested I go for a walk so I drove out to the Derby wharf overlooking King Sound for a stroll, it’s not a big walk. The original wharf was built in 1894 but the one that exists today was constructed in 1964.





On the way back in to town to find some accommodation I purchased some internet recharge in a local supermarket. It was only at this point did I realise when I went to pay cash that my wallet had been emptied of the said cash at Halls Creek. I was then a little more pissed off than I had been this morning, they had knocked off over $200 and thrown the wallet back. In hindsight it could have been a lot worse – in many ways. At least I had my cards and licences etc otherwise I would have been right up smelly creek and for that I am grateful, not a lot but a little.





I stopped for the night in a cheap motel room. The weather was real hot and steamy I wanted a comfy bed and aircon and that’s what I got. It gave me the chance to really relax and catch up with a few things, like blogging, recharging batteries and other important stuff.





The complex had a pool but when I checked it out I felt it was safer to stay out of the water. I dined in the restaurant that night and had steak, I was a hungry man and it satisfied me. The pain in my back had returned a little but tomorrow I would be arriving in Broome I was very excited at this prospect and I knew I would find a chiropractor to put things back in place.





Take care, travel safe and remember it's nice to be important but it's important to be nice.

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