This blog is brought to you by courtesy of the free wifi hotspot at the Robe River rest stop. These rest stops are all through the Pilbara and Kimberely region and they all have these free wifi hotspots and they are all a 'welcome to country' by the local aborigine group. Good stuff eh!

This morning we packed up and left Cleaverville motoring gently over the unsealed, but not too bad road. Then into Karratha where we did a little shopping at the Karratha City Shopping Centre which is about 1.5 times the size of Dianella Plaza. It has woolworths and Coles along with target and Kmart and lots of other shops. I gather that Karratha is suffering from the mining downturn, like the rest of northern WA but the amount of major construction here is quite astounding, I wonder whether it will all stop now!

Then onward bypassing a police roadside breath test to the Fortesque River. There is supposedly a campsite there but, although it was a very nice spot with picnic tables and the river looked absolutely gorgeous there was nowhere to camp. So here we are at Robe River and this is also a very nice spot, more detail tomorrow.

Another day in paradise, this one is Cleaverville which is about halfway between Roebourne and Karratha on the Pilbara Coast. I keep thinking that we are a lucky generation, we have facilities and the money to do trips like this and the countryside is still relatively unspoilt. I say unspoilt with a little tongue in cheek, it is very different from our parents day, but there are still large areas that are undeveloped but are serviced by good roads which provide access to nice camp areas like this.

This morning started with a walk along the beach, my first beach walk for this trip. We are parked about 30 meters from the water at high tide and about 200 meters at low tide! So beach walks are interesting, the morning walk was more or less high tide but there were still nice little rocks and shells to see. Later in the morning Elaine and I walked again, this time the tide had started receding and there were more shells to pick up. Also noticeable as the tide recedes are big rocks, lots of them, making the shoreline inhospitable to boats.

Then followed a leisurely day with the now habitual fire and sundowner. Surprisingly we were the instigators of the sundowner despite the fact that most of the people here are regulars and in for a month or more.

It rained heaps last night but our little campsite was great. Last night our neighbours, 4 out 6 of them, had a sundowner in the gazebo next to our van. As usual it was a very nice way to end the day. So come morning time everything, including us, was a bit soggy and we had to dry out and clean up before taking off. Our plan was Cleaverville between Roebourne and Karratha after stopping at Whim Creek.

We had heard that the historic Whim Creek Hotel had been refurbished and had reopened for business. Last year when we came this way we called there and were very disappointed to find it closed, as it turned out in the process of the refit. The refurbishment has restored it to its former glory and style. It has been purchased by 2 local aborigine corporations and is being set up for them, we understand with experienced non-aboriginal managers. Anyway this visit was  great success we had coffee and vanilla slice - very nice. Then had a good look around and a chat with the 59 year old cocky who says 'hello Harry' obviously talking about Harry Konning and Jax Harry Konning! I should add that yours truly successfully played 'hook the ring', which is a ring on a piece of string hanging from the ceiling and a hook on the wall. The trick is to swing the hook so that it lands on the hook and I succeeded.

Then on to Cleaverville where we are now camped overlooking the ocean.

What a miserable evening it is raining and has been almost nonstop since about 4pm.

We left our DeGrey camp about 9am after saying goodbye to all our new and unfortunately temporary friends. At these camp sites everybody, or almost everybody, is friendly. The last 2 nights we have had campfires started by Elaine and most of our neighbours joined in. What happens is that they bring there own chairs and drinks and we have a friendly chat, nobody has much to drink and it is a very pleasant close to the day. The first night we had about 20 people and the second about 12.

Anyway we left and headed down to Port Hedland, actually South Hedland for a bit of shopping, etc. Then on to look for a camp spot for tonight. The road south is 'open with caution' and there were a couple water over the road bits, but only shallow water so we were able to proceed without drama. We then came to a spot called Peewah River which is another of the Welcome Rest Stops. Once again drinks under the gazebo, without fire because of the rain. There are a total of 7 RVs here, 2 from Qld, 1 from Tassie, 2 from WA, 1 with French backpackers and 1 from ?? don't know.

This is a belated post for last night, it was raining and a bit miserable so I got lazy!

Anyway it is raining in this part of the world, however we didn't really experience much rain on the way here, here being the DeGrey River camp area. There are flood warnings out so we didn't camp in the usual spot down on the river bank, camping instead on the upper level where they were quite a lot of other people. We went for a walk on the old railway bridges over the river and it would appear that there is a bit more water than when we were here a couple of weeks ago. Not much different and if it is going to flood that will take a while for the water to get down here, only minor flooding is expected anyway.

On the move again we travelled a massive 70 kms today to the Stanley Rest Area which is our stopping point before driving 300 kms tomorrow to the DeGrey camp. The weather has been overcast all day so the generator is working overtime to get the batteries fully charged. There are about 25-30 other vans (or similar) here tonight and most of them have generators running.

Nothing much else to report, there is not much to see on this road although there is lots to see by going off the road. There is Barn Hill Station, Eighty Mile Beach, Cape Kerauden and some other bits and pieces, but we saw them last year and didn't feel like revisiting again this year. There are some other places that we do want see again and at which to spend time.

Gee I'm really glad that we have been practicing and can enjoy these days of doing very little, and I'm glad that there are lots of people working and paying taxes to support our lifestyle. That is not to mention all the tax that we have paid along the way. By now you have probably guessed that we stayed put today and are still at Goldwire.

Some of the day was spenton long discussions with one our neighbours about batteries and chargers etc. As usual a lot of people moved on, mostly heading towards Broome and a lot of new people have come in. We now have about 11 neighbours including one motorbike towing a very neat camping trailer. Again as usual we cooked over an open fire, very nice.

In this part of the world it has been both hot and humid today with lots of cloud and a beautiful sunrise and a n equally beautiful sunset.

Quiet day today just hanging about at our campsite, which is the Goldwire rest area about 130 kms South of Broome. There are a few other people here staying for more than overnight and we are of course joined by others strictly here for the one night only. Some of the one night stands are backpackers or young people with some sort of tent camping arrangement. Most of these are well behaved and come from all over Europe, so far we have not come across any Aussies.

We are on the move again, heading south to a rest stop about 100 kms South of Broome. As we are waiting on an email from someone interested in our boat we will stay here for a few days. Tonight we have 10 neighbours which says something about the relationship between free camps and caravan parks. The parks are of course very much against free camps, but it seems that only a small proportion of people use them so the effect must be very small. Inguess the analogy is that some people travel first class others travel economy.

The countryside in this part of the world is fairly low trees and scrub, not very exiting. We did see some rather large groups of cattle on properties along the road, but we don't seem to be seeing other bush animals.

Today was different. We were booked into to have the van checked at about 7am, so off we went at 6.40am with time to spare. But we got lost, my fault, and by the time we had recovered and found the mechanic it was nearly 7.30am. However they did what they had too, changed the gearbox oil (without finding bits of gearbox in it) checked things out again and off we went with a partial clean bill of health (there is still a noise in 1st gear and sometimes when idling) for our van.

If I thought that meant an inexpensive day I was wrong, very wrong. We didn't need much but still managed to clean out the shelves at Woolworths and Coles, plus a bit of grog and some fuel. Never mind we are all set now to travel on with Kunnunnura our next big town.

Broome has suffered badly and is having a very slow start to their tourist season. All of the caravan parks are more than half empty.  Their race week is only days away and the parks are usually full by now. Part of that is possibly due to the high cost of using the caravan parks. These days the parks have large swimming pools (ours is almost big enough to float a boat and this is not an up market park) and various other facilities catering for families and well healed tourists. All of which makes life a little difficult for the average grey nomad who then avoids the expensive towns. The other factor here is that they were gearing up for James Price Point and that hasnt happened leaving a few people out of pocket and some others just demoralised.

Despite all that the town was fairly busy with a number of visitors wandering around and presumably spending money. The other thing worth noting is that the airport is fairly busy. The traffic there is the usual commercial with flights from all over Australia plus helicopter traffic both commercial and tourist. The Coast Watch planes fly out of Broome and today 5 fighter planes made the pilgrimage.

Tonight we are staying in our second caravan park, the Broome Caravan Park.

Our day started early when the truck arrived at our camp to take our poor little van to Broome. So up she went and off we went for the 220 kms trip into town. It turned out that the warning light that caused this issue was not serious in fact it didn't need attention at this time. However we have had worrying noise from the gearbox and that will be checked tomorrow. So here we are luxuriating in a caravan park.

Monday May 18

We are camped tonight at the Stanley Rest Area which is an official 24 hr rest area about 220 kms South of Broome. It consists of a big flat area, with a couple of concrete pads (we are parked on one of them), toilets and that is about it. However it is a nice stopping place and tonight we have 20-25 neighbours.

But our day has been spoiled, as we drove in here a warning light came on and it appears that we may have gearbox issues and will have to be trucked to Broome.......bummer.

Other than that we had a nice day driving here. On the way we saw the start of mustering on one of the stations, little helicopters are the tell tale signs of that. No longer just horses and dogs! We also stopped for morning tea with our travelling friends, consisting of scones jam and cream, plus chocolate muffins and some lovely savouries. Fuel was topped up at Sandfire which has a couple of peacocks running around, one of them is pure white!

Sunday May 17

We are camped in the DeGrey rest area which is an official camp spot connected to the local aborigine group, shame on me, I can't remember the name (something like Ngarla), run I presume by the local shire. Amongst other things it, and others in this part of the world, have free wifi and a large notice board telling everybody who they are and welcoming visitors to their land. 

Today I had important things happening about our boat and needed to be available on the phone, so we went up to the gazebo where the wifi is and set up to use Skype for the phone. All went well until we actually needed it, then it started plying up and dropping out. So we drove 30 k's back towards Hedland to get proper Internet etc. all went well after that and we made our phone call.

Then we had lunch and headed back to our camp spot, which we had saved by leaving our chairs and table and a towel hanging up! Cut some more wood for tonight's fire, enjoyed a fireside chat with our friends and.......thus ends another fabulous day on the road. 

First thing this morning in a flurry of activity that included me running to catch the van (and that is a sight to see) as Elaine drove off to a new parking spot that we had identified as being better than where we were. Our neighbour and someone we had met at Indee then came out and announced that they were leaving. Seeing that they were in our favourite spot we then regrouped and moved there. Then followed a typical camping day, walk, find wood for tonight's fire and relax a little. A little bit of today, actually a lot, was spent trying to organise phone coverage via Skype with small intermittent success only.

We are at the DeGrey river rest area which is a large space from the highway down to the riverbank. The upper highway level is flat and has facilities and free wifi while the lower level has lots of trees with some nice natural sites nestled in amongst them. The only down side of these lower sites is that we don't get full coverage for our solar panels, so we need to run the generator a bit - nothing is perfect, although this is close.

Tonight we shared our fire with our travelling friends then enjoyed one of Elaine's nice fire cooked dinners.

Yesterday was spent relaxing at the station including a close look at the huge collection of dead cars lying around. It seems that when they stop working people just walk away and leave them where they are to eventually be used for parts. In addition to cars we found a couple of motorbikes and a broken helicopter. Then the day was finished with happy hour again with the stations owners and their staff.

Today Pat, our traveling companion, and I walked walked out toward the railway line that runs across the back of the property from the mine in the back corner of the station. To put that all in perspective the property is 400,000 acres and has about 3500 head of cattle, their are also 3 railway lines, phone repeater towers, etc. Very interesting and an enjoyable place to spend a few days.

Then it was time to pack our van and head into town, Port Hedland, that is. A bit of shopping, fuel and water then off again heading north. I nearly forgot a couple of phone calls as we got proper phone coverage for the first time in days.

Our camp for tonight and the next few tonight's is at the DeGrey River camp. Two other couples from the station are also here and tomorrow our travelling  companions Carrol & Pat will arrive. The other of our trio, Jill, has headed south from Karajini.

We are still at Indee Station and will probably stay tomorrow night, in fact definitely as are friends from Karajini will be joining us.

From where we are parked there is a hill to walk up and I did it twice today, once as my morning walk and again with Elaine at midday. There is a fabulous view from the top of the hill. You can see the damage from the cyclone that came through here about 8 years ago. The surrounding is mainly flat with sparse, low vegetation and in the distance are some of the ever present mines that are common place around here.

The station puts a little bit of effort into the tourist bit and we have just returned from a very pleasant happy hour.

Well we have driven a long way today about 230 km which is a lot more than planned. Our first planned stop turned out to be a badly littered truck stop so we didn't stay. On later examination we found that there was a stop on the river bank a few kms before the truck stop but camps 7 the so called bible for campers got it wrong. So we perceived and eventually decided to go off the main road to Indee Station, and here we are.

Today, before taking off I joined my travelling mates for a swim at Fern Pool. A fairly big climb down to the gorge floor, then a 300 mtr fairly easy walk to the pool. The swim there was absolutely great, the waster not quite chilly, short easy swim to sit under the waterfall then a swim back to to swimming platform.

In the last 3 days blogs I have included some photos, please let me know via email if they come through ok.

Tonight we are camped in really nice place called The Albert Tognolini rest area. We are surrounded by well shaped hills overlooking the round many many metres below.

From last nights gravel pit camp, which was actually quite good if very basic (ie: flat ground, lots of it, and no facilities whatsoever), we drove into Newman. Naturally we found the shopping centre and although we didn't need anything spend time and money at the ever present Woolworths. There was a little delay as Elaine tried to organise the pharmacy who were unable to understand the script which has been filled without question by a large number of pharmacies around Australia!

Then fuel and water and on the road again, but not before a few phone calls were made. The drive was about 175kms making the total for the day around 240kms which is a little more than we usually travel, but the stopping point is well worth it. 

Thursday May 7

We are still in the same magic place. After anice long walk this morning with one of our travelling companions we settled done to a few chores. First we vacuum packed yesterday's shopping, then I was given a haircut. I had a small soldering job to do and I remembered to bring my gas soldering kit but......forgot to bring the gas! Tried to do the job using the gas stove, but it will have to wait until I get the proper gas. Then a bit of cleaning up, collecting wood for the bonfire, cutting it with the little chain saw followed by a major cleaning of the chainsaw. Tonight another nice bonfire with some additional people who have camped in our section under a brilliant starlit sky. 

Friday May 8

I have driven past the sign that says Karajini National Park lots of times during my working life and now finally we are camped inside the park! Hooray! 

We left our camp after a morning walk down into the valley, and obviously back again, with my walking companions pictured below. On into Karajini and firstly the visitors centre which is a fabulous steel building with an interpretative display inside. I have been told that the building photographed from above looks like a serpent. On the way to the visitors centre we saw our first ever dingo and I tried but did not get a photograph. 

Next stop the Dales Gorge Campsite where we booked in with our friends for a coke of days. One of our friends is actually related to the camp hosts. It is a great system this camp host business, in season the DEC camps have a resident host who is a volunteer and looks after the camp and welcome the guests. The price is also very good, particularly for seniors. Enough business, after settling in and having lunch We headed off for a walk to one of the falls close to the camp. Once again I was impressed with the preparation that provided a set walk down very steep cliffs to a pool at the foot of the waterfall. A short swim and then the climb back up the cliff. 

Saturday May 9

I have just finished one of Elaine's delightful meals, we eat very very well thanks to my wife's cooking skills. 

We are still in Karajini and really could probably stay for a few days more, there is so much to see. Today with my walking companions we walked the length of the gorge with a swim in the pools at either end. Magnificent stuff! The took walk took us about 4 hours and included a climb done into the gorge which is about 60 metres deep. The walk was what is classed a category 4, which is experienced bush walkers and requires a good level of fitness. We were up and down small climbs, over uneven rocks and some small amounts of water, all in all a very nice walk. The rock formations are stratas of different colours, the tree root formations are quite extraordinary, fantastic. 

Sunday May 10 - Mothers Day

.......and I am in trouble because I was very naughty and did wish my lovely lady a happy Mother's Day until mid morning!

It was our lucky day today, we were taken on a tour of the Karajini national park by people who knew what it was all about. A really lovely day during which we visited all the magnificent gorges in this huge park. It is the second largest national park in WA encompassing some 627,441ha and that is a lot of territory. The gorges and the scenery are super spectacular. The last place that we visited was a lookout at the confluence of 4 gorges that are 100 meters deep! That is a long way down from the lookout. 

Another pleasant evening spent around the campfire with friends. This time at a 'gravel pit' rest area 200 kms North of last nights camp and about 60 km South of Newman. It is just a flat piece of ground that was probably used by the road making crew as a dump. It is however well off the road, level and quite pleasant.

Tomorrow we go to Newman to do some shopping then on to to edge of the Karajini National Park.

Just heading for bed after spending a very pleasant evening round Elaines fire with the people we are travelling with at the moment. They are a couple from NSW in a van and a lady from Vic in a motorhome. We are camped alongside the south branch of the Gascoyne River, some water but not flowing!

Today we had a good look around Meekathara, had  morning tea by the creek then drove up here. Other than passing another big open cut there was nothing much to see.

The road is very busy with lots of oversize loads, mainly minning equipment, heading south. Shortly after we settled in here, to be precise just before dusk, 2 big trucks carrying haulpaks and there escorts pulled in for the night. Apparently they are not allowed to have these big loads on the road after dark. I had a chat with the guys and they are apparently moving 200 items belonging to McMahons fron the Christmas Creek Mine. Considering what these toys toys are worth and the cost of these huge trucks plus escorts there is a lot of money on the road!

I also tried, once again, unsuccessfully to add photos to my blog but somehow I can't do it on the iPad.

Greetings from the racecourse at Meekatharra. We are about 5 kms out of town with another couple, from NSW, in a caravan camped on what is just a parking area with no facilities.

This morning I did the so called heritage walk in Mt Magnet based on a simple booklet that the shire puts out. The only problem was the none of the features were signposted, it was still a nice walk. We then moved on to another feature from the booklet called The Granites where we expected to see aborigine rock art. On arrival there was a mud map, we then went to one of the picnic spots and spent nearly an hour unsuccessfully looking for the paintings. Pity that they hadn't taken the tourist thing a bit further and signposted the attractions in town and out of town.

We also stopped at Cue for lunch and to have a little look around. There are some beautiful, old, buildings here then wonder of wonders I drove. On the way to Meekatharra we saw an open cut be that seemed to rival to Kalgoorlie super pit in size. We had a look but weren't able to find out anything about the operation here which is fairly big.

Saturday May 2

I'm a bit late doing this blog as we got in fairly late yesterday, contrary to our usual routine. Settling in to the caravan park at Mt Magnet. 

We started the day at The Lookout heading for Sandstone which turned out to be a very small town with very nice lady running the visitor centre. This was also a heritage museum and we spent s lot of time looking at the exhibits. Theses included a little school cas like the one Lyla uses for her extra dominoes and a singer sewing machine even older than the one we have from early in the days of mums marriage. There is also a lady called lady Di who makes pies fresh on the spot after you order it and who has big colourful flags all over town. There was also a very old Vauxhall just like my dads except it is a rusted out wreck and is the wrong colour, nevertheless I photgraphed for posterity. 

Just before reaching sandstone we detoured to look at a rock formation called London Bridge probably because that is what it looked like. On the same detour we looked at the remains of on old brewery run by an Irishman at the turn of the last century. It was sited on top of s large rock with the brew stored in a cave underneath, very enterprising!

Then onward heading for a camp at Rocky Dam. We found the dam but down a track that would turn to impassable after a decent rain, such as was forecast for that night. We checked for our friend who we expected to meet there, couldn't find so moved on to Mt Magnet. While I was walking I came across an abandoned mine, deep and full of water and no safety protection right next to the track. 

Friday May 1

The morning in Leinster stared with discussions about the cyclone heading for Onslow. After crossing the coast it was apparently going to plow through the area in which we are travelling depositing lots of rain as it passed. After a check of the appropriate websites we decided that it wouldn't really affect us as we will be in Cue by the time it got to us. So making a bold decision we decided to move, I hope that decision doesn't come back to bite us on the b-m.

Heading towards Sandstone we have camped for the night, with another motorhome, at a place called Peter Denny's Lookout. It is one of my favourite types of camp perched on top of a semicircular cliff and therefore has absolutely magic views. It is an official camp site with picnic tables but no ablutions and it does have a fire pit, so Elaine is happy. 

The day is and has been overcast so our solar panels have not achieved much and the generator is now running. I am actually a little disappointed in the solar panels so far, they don't seem to be anywhere near as effective as they should be, maybe I will get someone to check the system for me. We also don't have coverage until we go down to Sandstone tomorrow.