Alas the end of Morfar and Mormor’s two weeks had come to an end and we bade farewell to our grey nomads at the Exmouth Airport in awe over all the ground we had covered and the experiences we’d had. We aimed to have a short drive as we only managed to start the journey just after one o’clock in the afternoon. On the way out I was reminded of something I had neglected to ‘blog’ when we did the drive into Coral Bay or Exmouth – the Oompa Loompa houses which had become a recurrent characteristic of the landscape. I am referring of course to the hundreds of termite nests that speckled the countryside. Jen’s first impression was of Oompa Loompa houses and it stuck. The building materials used for construction of houses in Exmouth all made sense now. The frames were all metal with sheets of metal for the walls – we did see one house with tar-soaked pillars and veranda but virtually no other wood in sight. It’s a long way out of Exmouth and the first roadhouse was just beyond our range fuel-wise so we were forced to stop about 20 kms out to fill up with our trusty fuel can (it finally found a purpose!). As we stepped out of the vehicle the heat surged upon us and if I’d had an egg in my pocket would’ve cracked it open to see if I could cook it up on the tarmac. Our temperature gauge measured the temp at 37 degrees Celsius – mighty warm even with a breeze. We’ve been noticing these grids on the highway and never gave them much thought until Mormor pointed them out and was confused as to their purpose. I had assumed they were simply to help keep the animals in check but there were no fences to contain any from making the break on either side of the grids. I think they may be there for flood-waters as I’m sure there must be times when it does actually rain here but this is only a theory as well. Ahh – the mystery remains! With regards to rain and water in general this area seems bereft of any and it is an uncommon sight to see any water on most of the creeks and rivers we cross – it’s actually suprising that there are bridges and nomenclature suggesting these land masses we cross are actually rivers or creeks at all!
We made it to the first roadhouse and discussed at length the pros and cons of taking a right and heading to Karijini National Park to enjoy its scenery and gorges but felt we’d only be able to give it a cursory look given our time restraints to get to Broome. Our guidebooks seem to be a bit out of date for this region as we were counting on a Caravan park in a place called Fortescue – 100 odd kms from Karratha. When we arrived the proprietor informed us they were only a camp for the miners now and didn’t take caravans anymore and had been that way for a couple of years! It further confused us as on the way in the highway signs also suggested respite was in sight. It was already past 6 pm in the evening and it was getting dark – not a fun time to drive in this part of the world as not only do roos predominate but numerous cows seem to hang out adjacent the highway with plenty of evidence left behind that not all are learned on how to avoid traffic. Regardless, we needed a place to stay for the night so plugged on. Our average HR increased a good 50% for the drive as a number of cow hazards were seen in the dim, near black conditions. We found Karratha and our caravan park eventually and with a sigh of relief settled down for the evening. On bunking down we pulled out our trusty Lonely Planet and some other guidebooks to determine what things we might do in Karratha and surrounds and found very little to appeal. One place sounded promising, Hearson Cove. It was written up as an ‘interesting place’ to snorkel and that the beach itself was composed entirely of seashells. Unfortunately, the guide failed to mention that at times the water was almost entirely clouded and quite rough with a definitive rip. It appeared to be a bit of a local hangout with plenty of evidence of alcohol-fueled fishing, picnics or other shenanigans. It was actually a bit disconcerting the amount of refuse idly scattered in what did appear to be a fairly nice setting. The rock formations were fairly interesting though, appearing as if the mining companies had simply dumped piles of boulders randomly around the countryside. I think they were naturally occurring rock piles but still looked rather odd compared to the other rocky outcroppings we’ve come across thus far on our journeys. We were disappointed not being able to swim or snorkel and headed out towards Port Hedland. Our books suggested there were amazing aboriginal rock carvings to be seen, anthropologically-speaking, comparative in value to places such as Stone Henge or the Lasaux caves in France and possibly a chance at a tour of the BHP iron ore plant in town. Unfortunately when we arrived and quizzed the information desk on these options, were told that the Aborigines had discontinued allowing visitors to the site for the past 2 years (since BHP offered to build something special for the site so masses could come to visit – seems this went contrary to the environmental ethic of the aborigines of the area) and that BHP had not trained up any staff to do the tours so these weren’t on either. Disappointed but not unbowed we found our caravan site, set up and jumped in the pool for a cool off and means of expending some accrued energy. We’ll likely continue on up the coast towards Broome tomorrow and even arrive a bit earlier than expected – seems that not much else exists between here and there for us BGNKs (balding and greying nomads with kids).
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