Pizza for Pocahontas

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DAY 182


The light was edging its way through the open window flap, the sun was not quite visible but I was sure it was on its way. It was 7.00 and today is moving day again, neither of us wanted to get out of bed immediately, well it was so cosy and after yesterdays walk it was great just to leave our weary bones lie in a little.

At 7.30 we jumped to it, things to do! A quick breakfast, a quick shower and pack everything away. We had a quick chat with Liz who was also moving on today, we were heading in the same direction, but Liz would be ahead of us as she had nothing to pack up, just jump in the car and drive. Andrew and Kirsty were already at Denham, they went yesterday, but Liz could not remember which campsite they were on. 9.30 and we were on the road.

As soon as we pulled out of the campsite I reached into the back and grabbed all of my maps and tourist information brochure to do a little bit of “planning” on the move. We had already decided that we would punt out the mileage to make it as far as Denham today, it was 380 kilometres away, but we still needed to decide where we would stay.

I wanted to go and pitch up in the Francois Peron National Park, it has been mentioned to be one of the best places in Australia, so who wouldn’t want to stay there?

Getting back onto the main highway we just drove and drove and drove, I take over from Andy for a while so that he could have a rest, the journey being quite uneventful we only stopped at the Billabong Roadhouse for a quick breather, this roadhouse was in the middle of nowhere had a motel and a caravan park next to it, there was loud piped music coming into the forecourt and there were a number of people just milling around in the heat of the day.

We turn off at the Overlander Roadhouse to do the final part of our days journey up to Denham, we stopped to make a quick sandwich at Shell Beach, funnily enough named I think because of the shells, millions of small white Coquina Shells which have accumulated over time creating a unique environment. They estimate that in some spots the shells are ten metres deep. Shell Beach stretches for 120 kilometres around the L’Haridon Bight.

We came upon a sign saying that we werejust about to cross the 26th Parallel, whic is a circle of latitude that is 26 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses through Africa, Australia and South America.

In Australia, the northernmost border of South Australia, and the southernmost border of Northern Territory are defined by the parallel.

Arriving in Denham at around 3.00 in the afternoon. We had decided that we would stay in one of the caravan parks in Denham, knowing that Monkey Mia was fully booked until at least Sunday we also thought perhaps that we would check out the Francois Peron National Park before camping there as we knew it was 4WD only and we still have to pull the trailer.

We drove past the first campsite and said we would check out the second, we were disappointed that we did not know which campsite Kirsty and Andrew had gone to, but they thought we were heading into the National Park to camp. So we picked the campsite on the beach front (well it did look quite nice and what a view). When I went in to check out the cost and availability, she said we only have a few sites left. Told me to check it out and if I was happy then to pop back in.

I walked around to find that the site was a nice little spot in the corner of a short row, nice big area as a matter of fact near the camp kitchen and ablution block (perfect!)

A quick chat with Andy who was waiting in the truck, but as we were chatting 2 caravans pulled in, we quickly decided to run with it so Andy drove in behind them and we were closely followed by another caravan.

This place looks busy, so I think we were both relieved that there was space for us, it was a long drive and we wanted to get pitched and rest up for the rest of the afternoon.

This time we put the awning up, the sun is high, it is a hot day well into its 30’s, job done and kettle on time to relax with a book. We know the blog needed to be done for yesterday but just sometimes we needed to do our own thing.

I went for a wander on the beach, Andy stayed at camp, he does not particularly like walking on sand and I wanted to feel how cold the see was, just in case it was warm enough to swim.

The view of the beach and sea from our campsite is beautiful. I wandered along the beach, there are so many shells here, even the campsite is covered in white shells and sand (did not make it any easier to get the tent pegs in though! Andy bent rather more than a few trying to get the pegs in).

The beach has a few people lazing around on it, enjoying the last sun of the day, it won’t be a good sunset tonight as there is no cloud, the water is also too cold for me to swim, so I will wait until I find warm water (as long as there are no crocodiles in it - we may not see crocodile activity until Broome, however I have been warned that there have been some sightings on 80 mile beach, but we will check that out when we get there.

We pop out along the sea front, and town centre, for a drive also with the possibility that there maybe a pizza place here, as we were driving we see Kirsty and Andrew drive past in the opposite direction, a quick reaction from Andy on the horn and we see them turn round.

We stopped for a chat and decided that we should get together tonight, but we are on different campsites, a fifty fifty chance and we chose the wrong site, never mind. Liz has also booked into the same site as they did.

Andrew and Kirsty are looking for a particular bird that frequents this area so off they go to the golf course in search of it while Andy and I go in search of a Pizza place.

They drop by our campsite on the way back and we finalise the arrangements to meet at 7.15 outside the Pizza Shed, which is at the side of the sunset café.

However at 7.15 we waited and there was no Andrew, Kirsty or Liz, I asked the people at the pizza place if there was any other pizza place in Denham “yes” was the reply, this is the only pizza place for 400 Kilometres. But I was not satisfied with that I was sure something had gone wrong somewhere. I was just about to suggest to Andy that we take a walk (this is not a big place so it would not have been hard to find Kirsty, Andrew and Liz), and then I saw them walking down the road, laughing they had been waiting outside the hotel which also does Pizza!

Anyway, problem solved, and we order our pizza. Andy jokingly said “what do you want Pocahontas?” which seems to be my new nickname. The girl behind the counter thought it was funny and when our pizza’s were ready she shouted “Pizza for Pocahontas!”

Back at our campsite we all tuck in and sit around chatting drinking copious amounts of tea. There is live music going on down the road which we can hear quite well, perhaps we won’t have a quiet night.

Eventually we find that it is 11.20 and the rest of the camp appears to have gone to bed, the loud music has stopped and we decide that we should call it a night.

Kirsty and Andrew have given us there schedule so that there maybe a possibility of meeting up a little further on. They are heading to Exmouth so that they can swim with the Whale sharks (a costly thing to do but will be worthwhile, I would like to do that at some point but cannot justify the cost while we are not working). Andy and I need to do a little bit more trip planning as we may make a slight detour into Karrajini National Park, which has been recommended to us.

Anyway we head off to bed, all is quite for a short while until some of the party revellers return quite drunk I am sure and being very loud while they all retreat to the confines of their tents or campers.

Silence reigns again and sleep takes over on this lovely warm evening (well once the cool wind had died down it was rather nice).

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Photos

The 26th Parallel
The 26th parallel south is a circle of latitude that is 26 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses through Africa, Australia and South America.
In Australia, the northernmost border of South Australia, and the southernmost border of Northern Territory are defined by the parallel.

Emu
Rod Hull was no where to be seen