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Another cold night. But the doona work a treat once again. Because we have pretty much everything loaded into the car we have breakfast over at the restaurant before checking out. The delivey man for the bread etc that comes in from Tom Price was telling the story of his staff in the bakery wanting to warm up in the coolroom where it was 4°C rather than the -4°C that was the outside temp.
Our final farewells to Debbie, Steve, Veronica and Moyle then it's time to get moving. By the time we head off it is 8:10. The day has started to warm up it's now just past 9°C. At least in the car the sun coming through the windows and sun roof along with the heater makes it feel much more pleasant.
Once into Tom Price it's time to off load the rubbish that we have accumulated over the last 6 days and refuel. Fortunately the rubbish bin is next door to the petrol station. As we are unloading the rubbish the rubberised mat that we found on a 4x4 track near Denham is about to go into the bin, just before throwing it in I decided
to ask a lady who was sitting outside her Tarago campervan if she would like it, I'm glad I did, as it was warmly accepted. It had served us well on the hard grounds around the North West but no longer required.
Once refuelled it was time to get moving. This time under Debbie and Steve's recommendation we took the unsealed road from Tom Price. Watch out for the dips! Coming out of one of the dips, obviously travelling a bit quicker than than I should have been the car became very light. A flying Rangie or just nearing take off point I'll never know but the landing was smoth 😊. I did slow down a bit for the ensuing dips. Once leaving the dirt road it was 660k's onto Carnarvon for refuelling with a coffee break and lunch along the way. By the time we reached Carnarvon it was only 4:30pm, so we decided to head on further down the road towards home. On the way up we had stopped at Billabong Roadhouse for lunch. It appeared clean and had a motel attached to it and was only 235k's from Carnarvon. This would be where would try and
Home safely
A bit more red coloured than 4 weeks ago!stop for the night.
As the daylight decended into dusk the kangaroos, sheep, goats and cattle start appearing more regularly on the side of the road (not all of them dead). The moon coming over the horizon is full and bright orange, bright enough that I have to put the sun visor down to stop the light shining in my eyes. The trip to Billabong Roadhouse had been a bit stressful avoiding the wildlife so I was looking forward to dinner and a bed for the night. "Sorry we're booked out". The State of Origin match between Qld and NSW was on the big screen in the restauant and it appears the "locals" in the area were about to make a night of it and booked out the motel. Meals would take a minimum of 20-30 minutes for even a take away burger so we decided to keep going to Geraldton a further 250k towards home. As a major rural city Geraldton would surely have a motel room for the night and something to eat.
Arriving in Geraldton around 9:30pm we call in at the first motel. Reception closed at 7:00pm. So we try ringing around the other
There's a bit missing
Shock absorber removed from car. motels. Geraldton is fully booked. I think I know how Joseph and Mary felt except that Sandy wasn't about to give birth! One of the only places open for take away was MacDonalds. So Maccas it was for dinner. It reconfirmed why I haven't eaten at Maccas for a long time. It will no doubt be a long time before I eat there again.
With no option but to push on we decide to head for home. The last stretch before getting home and the climate control in the car starts behaving erratically. Every time the outside temperature gets below about 7°C the system gets jammed on blasting out hot air! Some fiddling around with the temperature controls and opening the sun roof provides some immediate relief from the frustration.
We finally pull into the driveway around 2:10am. Exhausted from the 1700k drive and relieved to be home to a warm comfortable bed.
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Jason
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Thank you for sharing...
....your journey! Heading ther ourselves in 2 days time, from Exmouth to KNP. How long was the drive in total? Jason