Travelblog 9 Broome to Onslow

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Day 49 Broome to Barn Hill 17/08/06

We were awoken early by vehicles driving around the park and as we were on the move again today, I decided to get up. William and I went for a shower a little before Leanne and Daniel, as Daniel likes to sleep in. After we all had breakfast, we began the pack up. Even though we hadn’t had to do it for seven nights, it all fell into place. The boys did some diary work while Leanne and I got the major packing done. Once the trailer was organised, William and Leanne went to the kiosk to check our e-mails, while Daniel and I hooked up the trailer. Before we had completed our pack, there was a new camper parked adjacent, waiting to take over the site!

Once Leanne and William returned, we hit the road for Barn Hill. We stopped at a vegetable farm, just before Roebuck, where we bought a few fresh veggies and a water melon. We refueled at Roebuck Caltex and then headed south toward Port Hedland. Approx. 96k’s along the road we came to a white tractor tyre marking the turn off to Barn Hill Station Caravan Park. On your way down the 9k of red dirt road, you go through 3 gates that must be opened and closed as you go. We arrived at the Caravan Park at 12.30pm and after booking a site for the night, we were shown to a grassy site, right next to the toilets! As we were almost set up, we noticed a smell wafting across our camp site now and then. As we were only staying one night and it was windy, we decided to persevere with it. Once set up we headed down to the beach with our surf mats for the afternoon. We walked back up to the trailer at around 4.30 for showers. We cooked up a BBQ dinner and the boys did some diary work before we all turned in for an early night.

Day 50 Barn Hill to Wallas Downs (Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park) 18/08/6

We awoke around 6.30 and got out of bed around 6.45. After breakfast, we completed a reasonably quick pack-up. We drove out of the park around 8.45am and headed down the 9k long red dirt road. We were overtaken by several vehicles, as we were driving quietly along because it was a corrugated, dusty track. As we approached the third and final gate a van pulled up behind us. As Leanne was opening the gate, the driver commented on the angle of our bike rack, on the back of the trailer. Leanne took one look and called to me, with a very worried look! I drove through the gate and pulled to the side of the road. On checking the bike rack, I found the Hayman Reece mount bracket had torn away from the box section across the rear of the trailer. This could have been disastrous, had it failed while we were traveling on the highway at 100k’s! I carefully removed the bikes from the rack and then tied them on top of the front box. After tying the bike rack onto the trailer spare wheel, we set off south along the Great Northern Highway, toward Wallas Downs.

We stopped for lunch and fuel at the Sandfire Roadhouse. About 20mins later we departed and a short time later we arrived at the turn off to Wallas Downs, another dirt road. This road was a lot wider and in better condition than the road we had traveled down to Barn Hill. After 14k’s of dirt, we arrived at the Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park about 12.30pm. We booked in and made our way down to our site and setup. At around 2.00pm we walked down onto the beach and the boys enjoyed themselves on the surf mats while Leanne and I relaxed in the sun. At around 5.00pm we walked back to the park, had showers and organised dinner. After dinner, we walked up to the park Kiosk and we all enjoyed ice creams in the TV Room watching ‘Temptation’ & ‘What’s Good for You’(we hadn’t seen one for a while!). At around 8.30pm, we walked back to the trailer and turned in for the night.

Day 51 Wallas Downs to Port Hedland 19/08/06

We awoke at around 6.15am and decided to take a walk along the beach before breakfast. We all enjoyed the walk and collected some colourful and unusual shells along the way. On return to the trailer, we had breakfast, packed up and were on the road at about 10am. We stopped for fuel at Pardoo Roadhouse at around 11.15am and bought some of their ‘famous sausage rolls’ for an early lunch. We hit the road again, arriving in Port Hedland at 12.30. As we had been advised not to camp in Port Hedland itself, because it is so dusty, we booked in at the ‘Big 4’ Cooke Point Caravan Park, just east of the main town. We managed a very quick set up and then drove into the Pt Hedland Visitor’s Centre to gather info on the place. We were given ideas of what was worth seeing, as well as information on Tom Price and the surrounding National Parks. After a driving / walking tour of the town, taking in the wharf and the spoil bank, we returned to the park so the boys could have a swim in the pool. On our return trip we stopped at the local Woolworths to purchase needed supplies. For dinner we bought fish & chips from the local Fish Shop. We ate them sitting by the caravan park pool, looking out at the night lights of Port Hedland, which was quite a nice backdrop. Leanne and I then read the brochures we had collected and decided to deviate from the itinerary, venturing into Karijini National Park, as well as visiting Tom Price on our return to the coast. In taking this route, we had decided to forgo Karratha and drive from Tom Price back to the Great Northern Highway and then across to Onslow for a night, as originally planned.

Day 52 Port Hedland to Karijini National Park 20/08/06

We awoke early and after breakfast packed up the trailer. We departed at 8.50am and headed toward South Hedland, where we refueled. We drove to through toward Newman stopping at Munjina Roadhouse for fuel and drinks. From here we drove, via the turn off, to Karijini National Park. A little way into the Park, we paid our $9 National Park Visitors Fee and were directed onto the Dales Camp Ground area, with the news there was only about 3 sites left for the night! We drove to the camp co-coordinator’s office and were fortunate to get a site for 2 nights. We were placed in the Euro Loop in site 100. Although it was quite warm, we set up the trailer in good time and then walked down to the ‘Circular Pool’ for a swim. The walk in took around 20 minutes or so and although the trek down into the gorge was steep, the walk along the gorge floor was relatively easy. The water in the pool was very clear and ‘refreshing’. The boys and I climbed up onto the ledges, at the base of the falls, and stood under the falling water, which was notably warmer. After about 20 minutes swimming, we dried off and walked back to our camp. As it gets dark early in W.A., we had a BBQ dinner and got into the trailer reasonably early. After the boys had done some diary work and Leanne had read them some more ‘Harry Potter’, we all turned in for another night.

Day 53 Karijini National Park 21/08/06

We awoke around 7am and I cooked eggs & bacon on the BBQ for breakfast. After the domestics were done we drove to the Karijini Visitors Centre. We spent an hour or so looking through the Centre, which was interesting. Before leaving, we made some reservations, by phone, for both Exmouth and Coral Bay, as we had been told they were both very busy. We also booked a mine tour at Tom Price for the following day. We then drove back to camp and prepared for our days walking and swimming.

We walked from the camp to the Circular Pool Lookout and then along the rim of the gorge to Fortescue Falls. This place is so picturesque and the water was so clean. As there was a lot of people here, we decided to walk through to Fern Pool, where we all swam and then ate lunch. This place was also very picturesque, with clean water and green ferns and foliage abundant. We sat on the viewing platform eating our lunch with our feet dangling in the water. After lunch we returned to Fortescue Falls where we all had another swim. After drying off and dressing, we then walked along the floor of the gorge back to Circular Pool, which took us around an hour. Again we all had swim before drying and returning to camp, via the same steep track we had taken the day before. On return to camp we sat down and relaxed with cool drinks and dip. We had an easy dinner of toasted sandwiches, before settling down to another early night, as we had an early start and a big day planned for tomorrow.

Day 54 Karijini via Tom Price to Onslow 22/08/06

We were awoken by the alarm at 6.00am and all arose quickly and quietly. As Leanne began packing inside the tent, I got breakfast organised. Working as a team we managed a quick pack-up and we were on the road at about 7.45am. We drove through to Tom Price, straight to the Visitors Centre, arriving at 9.20am. After confirming our bookings for the mine tour, we bought some needed groceries at the super market over the road. Once these were in the car, we returned to the centre, donned our safety hard hats and glasses, and then waited with 30 odd other people for the tour to begin. The tour coach arrived and we were ushered on board. After a short wait, we were driven to the Tom Price Mine, with the coach driver giving us all plenty of information about the town and the mine and its history. We were taken past the main workshop and then up into the mine where we stopped and watched a big loader loading ore into a dump truck. From here we drove to two viewing points, where we were allowed out of the bus. The first viewing point had an old dump truck parked at it so we could appreciate its awesome size and take photographs safely. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to climb up onto it or under it! This dump truck was an Electra Haul, diesel / electric powered unit. The V16, quad turbo diesel engine drives a generator which supplies the power that drives the rear wheels. The wheels and tyres were slightly taller than our tour coach! From the viewing platform you could see down into the open-cut pit, it was deep. At the second viewing point which overlooked the area where the ore is graded and sorted. Once this is completed the ore is stockpiled ready for transport by train to Dampier. From here we were driven back into town.

After buying some cold bottled water and refueling we drove out of Tom Price toward Parapurdoo. We didn’t stop at Parapurdoo and continued driving to Nanaturra, arriving at 4.25pm. We refueled and all had an ice cream before departing for Onslow. At around 6.10pm we arrived in Onslow and booked into Ocean View Caravan Park for the night. By the time we had set up it was dark. As it had been a very long day, we decided to get dinner in town. We drove back into town and found the hotel was about our only option. We had dinner and a few cold drinks at the Onslow Hotel, before retiring to the caravan park for showers all round and a good nights sleep.


Thanks for the phone calls, e-mails and blog comments. Our Optus phones are useless up here in Northern Australia and once again we have no service. We will call when we can. Leanne’s mum is okay and should return home in a few days. We should be able to publish blogs more frequently as we get back to the larger cities. Till then, hope this latest blog finds you all well.

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Photos

Barn Hill
Our Campsite (abolution block in background)

Barn Hill 2
The Boys on Surf Mats

Barn Hill 3
The Dirt Access Track to Barn Hill

Barn Hill 4
The Bike Rack Mounting Failure

Eighty Mile Beach
The Boys on the Surf Mats

Eighty Mile Beach 2
Back of the Caravan Park

Port Headland
Boys in a Small Bucket

Karijini National Park
Circular Pool

Karijini National Park 2
Fern Pool

Karijini National Park 3
Fortescue Falls

Karijini National Park 4
The Visitor Centre

Tom Price
A Dump Truck

Tom Price 2
The Quarry Pit

Tom Price 3
A Toyota Squashed by a Dump Truck