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Published: September 4th 2009
Babbler at De Grey
These birds surrounded us constantly with their babblingDe Grey to Port Hedland, 27th August - 2 September
Stopping at De Grey River for an early lunch Judy suggested a walk along the track. We found a beautiful spot overlooking the river so decided Port Hedland could wait a night and we went back for the rig and set up camp. By this time it was very windy and Rags wasn’t sure whether the “drag” had been because we were punching into the wind.
We met some delightful people, Maria and Ernie and spent the evening playing “Sequence”.
The next morning we’d decided to stay on at De Grey but Rags wanted to go into Port Hedland to purchase parts for the caravan wheels as he’d pulled one apart the previous afternoon and noticed a broken seal and also wanted new brake pads.
Calamity now occurred as we readied for the trip Rags attempted to start the Jeep but it wouldn’t start! A chap from nearby, Jim, who’d come over while Rags was taking off the wheel offered to jumpstart us but that didn’t work. Various things were tried but we couldn’t get a sound out of the motor even when we tried using the
battery from the van. The starter motor was hard to find under all the covers and wiring so decided the only thing to do was contact RAC but of course no mobile reception here so Ernie offered to drive Rags to Port Hedland and so they took off leaving the two women to their walk and game of Upwords. Maria, being a keen Scrabble player and puzzler even beat Judy!
On getting to Hedland Rags got the run-around from the RAC contractor, he obviously didn’t want to go out to De Grey. He even got to the point where he said he it was ‘roadside’ assistance and as we were 400m off the road it was not up to him. Rags kept his cool, although Ernie had a few things to say. In the end, Rags rang the RAC again and organised a recovery vehicle to pick us up.
The evening was spent playing Sequence with Maria & Ernie after sharing a meal where another damper was consumed (as well as several reds!)
The truck arrived at 10am and we were soon on our way. Pilbara Towing was very efficient and careful with our van and after
leaving it and us at Black Rock Caravan Park, took the Jeep to the automotive electrician. As today is Saturday nothing will be done until Monday at the earliest so we have resigned ourselves to 3 or 4 days here at least.
Port Hedland After a bite to eat we walked for 30 mins to the shopping centre for a few things, 30 mins back with the temperature rising to the low 30s followed by a long cool shower before ‘veging’ out for the rest of the day. We watched TV for the first time since we left Hedland on the way up, enjoying a movie before crashing at 10-30pm.
Sunday morning consisted of a day of washing clothes, starting to clean the outside of the van, before having lunch with Maria & Ernie who dropped in on their way south.
Monday Judy went for a jog and then into town with Elaine from the van next door. She booked the Port tour for Wednesday as several people have told us how good it is and Elaine has said that if we don’t have the Jeep back she will take us in when she goes to
collect her mail at the Post Office.
Tuesday morning after another walk/jog we again contacted the auto electrician who said he would look at our car next. He called back later in the morning and told Rags there was nothing wrong with it but a fuse had worked loose. Elaine, next door took Rags up to pick it up and after lunch we popped into town to do a few errands. Great to have our wheels back again....
Just before we left we had our drama for the day. As Judy went to come out of the van she saw a snake slithering on the mat in front of her. She called out to Rags as it slithered toward the camper near us. Next thing there were a group of us watching where the snake would end up. It settled in a garden and Judy went for the camera but by the time she got back it was off and had crossed the road and slid straight into a tent. The chap who was sitting outside dived in after it and came out with it held by the tail. We told him to go and put it in
some bush but when he came back he said some guys and told him it was a Gwarda and had killed it. Sad as there was plenty of bush over the road but it couldn’t have been left in the caravan park.
The next morning we packed up and drove the rig down to the Esplanade in Port Hedland where we left it while we did our Port Tour. The girl who did the tour insisted on telling us how lucky we were as she was the Visitors’ Centre Manager and didn’t usually do the tours. She had no idea how to talk to adults and treated us like children and gathering from some comments as we left the bus some people didn’t like it at all! However the tour through the working plant was interesting although we couldn’t leave the bus to take photographs so the ones you see below were taken through the window.
Arriving back at the van ready to leave the car wouldn’t start - oh no, not again! But this time it was the battery and we were able to start it with our jumpstarter (the old one that wasn’t working had been
replaced with new one by Repco only the previous day). We determined that a new battery would be one of the first things we’d purchase in Karratha! After this we were finally one our way towards Point Samson, our next stop.
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Kerry Clark
non-member comment
Hi. You have had a rough trot. I hope that it's plain sailing from now on. We had an overnight at the DeGrey River too. It's a lovely spot isn't it? We're back to reality with a crash. I've just been doing my tax return. Love Kerry.