Broome to Karratha

July 17^th

Left Broome this morning after fuelling up and driving up to the Golf Course for the best view in town!  Took us a while to leave however, because getting through the road works just outside town was slow.  Big day today!!! Drove an incredible 130 km before pulling into Barn Hill (where we discovered a large population of grey nomads hanging out for up to 4 months).  The annual Barn Hill lawn bowls championships were in progress and there was a great deal of seriousness and excitement in the air.  The Flynn’s caught us up at this point and we all set up camp.  Most of us went for a swim and then all enjoyed the sunset on the beach with a few drinks. 

Barn Hill sunset

Rock formations at Barn Hill

 

Keith checking out the rock formations

Lots of bities (sandflies and mozzies) and fairly windy later in the evening, with people getting up to do a bit of canvas tweaking during the night.

Camp at Barn Hill

July 18^th

Made a much bigger move down the road today.  Stopped in at the De Grey River for lunch and then after a look at the Port Hedland harbour we went to the Esplanade Hotel.  We were all laughing at Flynny’s fashion sense and discussing whether he would be allowed in.  (Unfortunately we didn’t get a photo so you need to visualize, 'Harry high pants' yellow and grey checked board shorts, blue and black flannelette shirt, black socks pulled half way up his calves and sneakers.  On special occasions Greg also tucks the shirt into the board shorts!!)   Interestingly, he was the only one who met the dress code requirements as he had ‘real’ shoes on. 

The convoy in Port Hedland

After beers and coffee we drove on to find a bush camp, but had to wait for the two locos pulling 125 wagons of iron ore at the rail crossing.  Maximum temperature today was 22ºC which was a huge shock after the 35ºC we have been enjoying.

July 19^th
Off to Mike’s old stomping ground today.  Drove through Roebourne, down to Point Samson and then back into Wickham.  The Point Samson jetty is a mere fragment of its past glory!  In Wickham we drove around Acacia Place (where Mike had lived, not that he had any idea which house), then up to the water tank lookout overlooking the open-air cinema (which has had a 9.3 mil upgrade to become digital) and out to the Port Walcott Yacht Club.


Wickham Open-air Cinema

Bay at Port Walcott

Port Walcott Yacht Club

This was when Mike had a few ‘oh my lord’ moments, because the dusty dirt track down to the beach  and yacht club had been replaced by a bitumen highway, inclusive of major bridges, and now runs smack bang through the Rio Tinto Cape Lambert expansion mine site.  A little weird and we kept wondering if we should be there, but all the signage was insisting it was public access.  Needless to say the Yacht Club at the end of the road had not changed much at all!!



Cape Lambert Mine site

While we toured Wickham, Sue and Keith were catching up with a friend, so we finally met back up with them at the ‘Pilbara Perk’ coffee shop.  Next stop was Cossack where many of the buildings in the historic town have been beautifully restored. 


Cossack Courthouse



Cossack

From here we went to the Reader Head lookout and Cossack cemetery before driving on to Karratha to find some lunch at the shopping centre and set up at the caravan  park.  The same caravan  park where Keith and Sue lived for 6 months 31 years ago!!  Last night camped together as we are going separate ways tomorrow.

In Karratha