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Published: April 22nd 2007
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We were starting to wonder at this point why we had decided to drive a camper from Perth to Darwin… Australia is huge with a whole lot of nothing in between places. ‘Nothing’ is quite interesting from the perspective of people like us who live in an overcrowded country like the UK, but you can have too much of a good thing… We had some more big 600-700km days in front of us and the long straight roads weren’t very relaxing when every termite mound looked like a kangaroo about to jump out or a cow ready to stroll into the middle of the road. When animals did run across the road in the middle of the day it just didn’t seem fair and we’d drive a little slower for the next 10km, wishing we had some roo bars on the front.
The heat was getting worse every day, Geoff was getting cooked arms at the wheel and I was needing a shower after cooking which turned the camper into a sauna. On the way to Broome we stopped off at Port Headland, the place where 6 of those 2km long iron ore trains deliver one meeeeillllllion tons of
rock a day onto waiting supertankers. The whole town revolved around this activity and everything took on a rusty red colour that was becoming all too familiar inside and outside the van!
At this point I think I should also mention the roadhouses that are a key part of life on outback Australian roads. These are essentially fuel stops on desolate parts of the highways often surrounded by nothing but the odd 400,000 acre cattle station. They inevitably become the hub of activity for the area, because you have to stop otherwise you WILL run out of fuel before the next place. As well as the essential fuel, they sport signs like “Tank and tum stop” and normally have a café, shop, toilets and showers for the dusty red traveler. Most had a fair bit of history behind them, being the first places that were set up to allow people to travel the vast distances between towns and have become landmarks over the years.
Our stop over in the coastal town of Broome was luxury, with our camp site having a large pool, just what we needed after too much heat and dust. We did briefly venture out
into the sea, but it is an area where box jellyfish can be found and we didn’t risk it for long. We did get stung but by fairly harmless little stingers that we were washing out of our swimmers days later…. Also Geoff had already had a nasty sting from something which had left a scar on his arm, so we stuck to the pool!
After spending time camping rough and only having each other for company (believe me that’s pretty tough after 12 months.. 24/7) we were always glad to meet new people. One such interesting chap was a retired butcher staying at the same campsite as us, who despite the fact he could hardly read or write had made a fortune in the industry , had a nice house, but was now touring the country at the age of 55 with the proceeds. Who needs qualifications heh?
We did have one big night out in Broome and the last of the big spenders went to see “Mr Bean on Holiday” at the Garden Cinema and even bought ourselves a bag of chips…. to share of course. The cinema had been built in 1916 and I think
claimed to be the oldest remaining garden cinema in the world. It was a funny film, the deck chairs were only a tad uncomfortable, the geckos wandering across the screen added to the atmosphere and the whole evening was topped off nicely with the reassuring smell of anti-mosquito repellent.
After the pool and irrigated grass bliss of Broome it was back to reality and the road inland toward the famous Fitzroy Crossing near where Western Australia borders with the Northern Territory. We got there with an hour or so to spare before dusk and we thought that we’d take the scenic route to the campsite, via the local ford, the famous Fitzroy Crossing (the clues in the name). Well it looked perfectly possible on the map and the road signs didn’t warn us off either, but after driving up an unsealed road for what felt like forever and the campers suspension sounding like it was about to give in we got to the ff..f..f..ff…ff….famous ford, but couldn’t get across due to the fallen trees and mud. It doesn’t seem too terrible now, but after a hard days driving it wasn’t what we needed and it was a rather black
moment or should I say blue! Anyway with the campsite we were heading for just on the other side of the river we spent half and hour retracing our steps, teeth, crockery and camper rattling like buggery and made it to the campsite just as the mosquitoes were really beginning to bite and the frogs were laying siege to the toilets. Ahhh.. travelling is such a joy.
The next morning it was another full day of driving to just this side of the border with Northern Territory. Our last stop in Western Australia was a quick look at the gorge and rock formations at Mirima National Park, right alongside the border town of Kununurra.
The Australians have very strict controls about transferring fruit, veg and animals between states. This is aimed at preventing the spread of disease and insects, particularly the fruit fly. We had heard various different ideas about what you could and could not take over the border, at the roadhouse. I was told you can take whatever you want into Northern territory, but you can’t bring any veg, fruit or honey the other way into Western Australia. We were both a bit skeptical about that
advice as there had been signs for the last 200kms about throwing your fruit into honesty bins and Geoff had memories of having his car searched last time, with the option of eating all the fruit of chopping it into 1cm squares! It seemed to make sense that the regulations would be strict both ways and this was confirmed by everything we had read. So feeling like Bonnie and Clyde we chucked some grapes and were ready to plead ignorance with a couple of potatoes and a tomato… I know it doesn’t exactly sound like crime of the century, but there was genuine tension in the air as we approached the border……. Guess what, didly-squat, just as the lady had said, nothing in our direction, but quarantine facility checking cars on the other side. We parked up shortly after the border and breathed a sigh of relief, stopping for toast and coffee as the driver needed more fuel and happy that we still had our potatoes and tomatoes. Whilst there an Ozzie guy going to WA came over and gave us his honey which he wasn’t allowed to take into WA, so all in all quite a timely stop and
the honey on toast was great.
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