January 21st, 2025
We left Monkey Mia with fond memories and would definitely recommend a visit here if you are on this side of the country.
It was humid again this morning with mostly overcast skies. We made several sightseeing stops on the way to Carnarvon but first we had to go south on this peninsula before going north. As we were heading towards Denham, two emus ran across the road but did not hit us and then we saw one on the side of the road.
We stopped in the town of Denham to fuel up at $1.88 then made our way to the overlook of the town on the south side where we found a “thong shack”.
While driving Doug spotted an echidna on the side of the road. We stopped and turned around but by that time, someone else had driven by and it turned around and walked back off the road but we managed to snap a couple of photos before it disappeared:
Our first echidnas in the wild!
Then it was on to Eagle Bluff lookout – here you can see Eagle Island (we saw no eagles – just cormorants) BUT in the bay we spotted about eight lemon sharks and two cow-tailed rays! That was a nice surprise. There is a board walk here to walk along the cliff top and we took advantage of that.
Next stop was Shell Beach:
Shell Beach is a beach situated on the northeastern side of the Taillefer Isthmus and the beach is covered with shells for a 60 km / 37 mi stretch to a depth of 6-9m / 23–33’. It is one of only two beaches in the world made entirely from shells.
The beach was named Shell Beach because of the great abundance of the cockle shells. The seawater here has a high salinity due to both the geomorphology and local climate of the area. This high salinity has allowed the cockle to proliferate unchecked, since its natural predators have not adapted well to this environment. The shells have formed a limestone that is known as coquina. Before Shark Bay became a World Heritage Site, the coquina was mined and used for the construction of a number of buildings in Denham.
This was a pretty cool place:
Here’s a handful of the shells at the shoreline:
We then stopped at Hamelin Pool Bay to see the stromatolites; what a disappointment. The boardwalk out into the bay was damaged in a cyclone in 2019 and has not been repaired! No sign tells you this at the turnoff and you can only see a few near the shore.
The stromatolites in Hamelin Pool were discovered by surveyors working for an oil exploration company in 1956 and were the first living examples of structures built by cyanobacteria. The cyanobacteria living in Hamelin Pool are direct descendants of the oldest form of photosynthetic life on earth. The stromatolites are similar to 3,500 million year old stromatolite fossils found in many places around the world. Stromatolites are an example of the earliest record of life on earth.
Hamelin Pool is hypersaline, providing an ideal environment for the stromatolites to grow, and inhibiting other marine life which would normally feed on the bacteria. The cyanobacteria live in communities on the sea bed at densities of 3 billion individuals per square metre. They are the simplest life forms to use photosynthesis to provide food and oxygen. They provided the early Earth with most of its oxygen atmosphere billions of years before plants appeared. Very fine particles of solids i.e. sand, crushed shell etc. are trapped by the sticky bacteria, to become cemented with calcium carbonate produced by the bacteria, thereby building up the stromatolite structures. Some structures are pillars up to 1.5 metres (5 ft) high and have taken thousands of years to grow.
We also so a few feral goats on the drive – shading themselves under trees. The wind is super strong still – tail end of Cyclone Sean.
Australia’s tropical cyclone season generally runs from November through April. On January 17, 2025, a tropical low formed over the Indian Ocean off Western Australia. By the 19th, the storm had strengthened into Tropical Cyclone Sean—the 2nd tropical cyclone of this season. This is an image from 10 am on 20th.
Later that afternoon, the cyclone had reached its peak strength as a Category 4 storm. The storm’s center stayed offshore as it tracked southwest over the Indian Ocean. Though Sean never made landfall, it battered the Pilbara coast with strong winds and rain. It was reported that Karratha received 274.4 mm / 10.8” in a 24-hour period, breaking the city’s single-day rain record. The storm flood roads and homes, damaged power infrastructure, and prompted the closure of several ports. Looking ahead, the abundant water could aid cattle station managers, allowing them to return their animals to grazing.
Now we bet you’re wondering what the difference between a cyclone and a hurricane is – we did. The main difference between a cyclone and a hurricane is where it forms. A cyclone is a tropical storm that forms in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans, while a hurricane forms in the North Atlantic and Northeast Pacific Oceans. They also spin in opposite directions. Now we ALL know.
Fran a called the campground where we want to stay tomorrow night as you cannot reserve online if it’s within 7 days of when you want to stay and they said there’s plenty of spaces and the weather is improving after a wet windy weekend. This campground was having a summer special and the price was $25 a night with power! Upon arriving in Carnarvon, we first went grocery shopping, then for diesel and then since there was a self serve car wash with a large bay right in from of the campground, we gave Matilda a much needed shower:
At the campground, we plugged in, turned on the AC and went directly to the pool to cool off ourselves while Matilda cooled off inside. It’s about 35C here / 95 F (feels like 42C / 107F with humidity) and still windy. Here we meet a young French couple; he spoke no English and she some.
We had a quiet night, did our usual morning routine on Wednesday and began the drive to Coral Bay up the Gascoyne Peninsula which will take us half way to Exmouth, our destination tomorrow. There is noticeably less traffic up in this area – we’re not sure it can all be attributed to the recent storm but we expect this area never gets too much traffic in summer when it’s so hot. On the drive we encountered a section of the landscape where there were giant termite hills and had to stop to take pics:
We came across a mama emu and her two babies on the other side of the road at one point on the drive too.
Fran had called the campground here yesterday and they said no reservation was necessary so when we arrived in town around 10:45 we first parked at the local shopping centre to look for a couple of things (found neither but did buy a small fly swatter from the front of the truck). Then we walked over to the bakery and decided to have an early lunch which included yummy blueberry cinnamon rolls!
We then drove across the road to the Ningaloo Coral Bay Holiday Park and were allowed to check in early – this place cost us $57 a night and was across the road from the park in front of the beach. They did say the water at the sites was borewater so not to drink it so it was a bit pricey for the services they offered (no Wi-Fi either) but the other open option was $68 a night so we took this one. This coming weekend is a long weekend in Australia (Australia Day is on the 26th) so we decided we should book a site for Exmouth. Fran saw that there was another RAC campground there offering summer specials so we got two nights in the campground there for $74. This $5 a month membership is paying off!
On the drive today we were attacked by hundreds of large grasshoppers committing suicide on Matilda! Apparently they only come after rain and usually it only rains about 6 times a year up here by last weekend’s Cyclone Sean dumped a bunch of rain and out they came. Here’s a couple that died on the headlights:
The distinctive Ningaloo Reef that fringes the Ningaloo Coast here is 260 km / 160 mi long and is Australia’s largest fringing coral reef and the only large reef positioned very close to a landmass. The reef is less than 0.5 km / 0.31 mi offshore in some areas, such as Coral Bay and off the shores of the Cape Range National Park. It is a national marine park. Although most famed for its whale sharks, which feed there during March to August, the reef is also rich in coral and other marine life. During the winter months, the reef is part of the migratory routes for dolphins, dugongs and humpback whales. The beaches of the reef are an important breeding ground of three types of turtles: the loggerhead, green and hawksbill. They also depend on the reef for nesting and food. The Ningaloo supports an abundance of fish (500 species), corals (300 species), mollusks (600 species) and many other marine invertebrates.
After setting up camp (which is really just plugging in and turning on the AC!), we changed and got into our bathing suits to head out to find snorkeling. The beach here used to be really good for snorkeling but the 2019 cyclone destroyed much of the reef.
Now it is midday and the spot we were told was 1.5 km away (1mi ish) so we took the beach to get there. At times we could walk in the water and at times it was rocky (looked like old coral) and at times we had walk on the sand dunes.
We arrived at Monck Point by the boat ramp and it didn’t look promising – the water was a bit choppy but clear. Fran was now too hot and went in for a dip to check it out. There were no fish except a large school of small silver round fish near the shore. After cooling off we opted to take the inland dirt road back since it was shorter. The best snorkeling is apparently a few more kilometres down the beach and requires 4×4 to get there – Matilda could probably do it if we aired down, but we had no idea how deep the sand would get and didn’t want to chance it.
Upon returning to the edge of town, we hit the beach and went for a dip to cool off before returning to the campground’s pool to “rinse off” the salt as the outdoor shower wasn’t working. It was not very refreshing, there were lots of kids and rather dirty. Fran didn’t feel quite salt-free enough so she went for a hot shower later. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading in the shade as today it was not quite as hot and the humidity was greatly reduced; even the wind didn’t feel humid and it was not too strong.
This is the link to more photos of the drive from Monkey Mia to Coral Bay.
We were both awake early again the next day and decided to hit the road and do the snorkeling stops we wanted before checking into the campground in Exmouth further up this peninsula. The sky was mostly clear and it was muggy again. The Cape Range National Park is up here too and the reef extends all the way around the point. The terrain changed and was quite green with lots and lots and lots of giant termite hills again.
Today we saw one bustard on the side of the road too. He naturally took off as we approached but here’s a photo from online of one:
We also saw some perenties on the road, and a few other lizards as well.
We stopped for diesel before Exmouth and then headed to the Cape Range National Park Visitor’s Centre to get the latest info on where to snorkel off the beaches.
We got the info we needed and headed to Turquoise Bay – often voted once of the most beautiful beaches in the world. There were two snorkeling areas here; one was drift snorkeling around the south of the point and the other was just in the bay on the north side. The lady at the Visitor’s Centre said the current was probably quite strong at the first at this time of day, so unless we were really strong swimmers, we should do the bay instead. So off we went.
No exaggeration, this was a beautiful beach; almost up there with Lucky Bay Beach; the sand was not quite as white or soft and the beach had some sea grass but the water; oh, the water was lovely and so much warmer too!
We donned our snorkel gear and went in. There were not a lot of fish nor a lot of coral and the water was not that clear. Doug gave up quickly because his snorkel was leaking; Fran’s did too but not as bad and she gave up after not seeing a lot of fish in the 45 minutes she spent out there. Some people had seen a small shark but we didn’t. We walked over to the sand bad that separates the drift side with this side and we met the French couple we met in Carnarvon who said they saw even less fish over there so we didn’t miss out.
M 
We spent a little time walking the beach to the point:
We were semi dry and got back to the rig and Doug made lunch before going over to Osprey Bay where there is sea grass and supposed to be good for turtles. Upon arriving there, we walked down the beach first and stood on the rocks and while it looked lovely, we saw no one snorkeling and we asked a fellow who was leaving and they’d seen no turtles.
One nice thing there was a flock of blue eyed cockatoos around the picnic tables:
So Oyster Stacks was next and the best; Doug found it too frustrating with his snorkel so he gave up again in about 15 minutes but Fran stayed out there over an hour and saw some good colourful coral (but lots of dead stuff too), 2 turtles, 2 rays, 5 star fish and so many fish, both little and big. Here the water was much more clear and Fran was in her happy place!
This is the blue spotted ray – the blue spots are meant to warn predators to stay away. If cornered they can lash out with the poisoned barb on their tails, and that venom can prove fatal to many species, including us!
We then drove back up the coast to check out the Mildura Shipwreck and a surfing beach.
Photo of the wreck on the sign boadr:
What we could see:
Surfer’s beach with its not so big waves when we saw it:
Then it was on to the booked campground where we rinsed off everything, including ourselves in fresh water after parking and plugging in. Thank goodness for powered sites! It’s around 32C / 90F feeling like 39C / 102F with the humidity but those big winds we had a few days ago (probably related to the cyclone) are gone.
Here at Cape Exmouth RAC Holiday Park, we booked a powered slab site with water and all the usual things you find at RAC campgrounds (pools, laundry, showers, shop, camp kitchen, clothes lines) and are paying $74 for two nights.
These are some visitors we had that day:
It felt like we should have some good cold beer and dinner out tonight so that’s what we did. We enjoyed pizza and beer across the street at Cadillac’s Bar and Grill. It’s a country and western themed place that has live music at times. They’ve put in a “Bluebird Cafe” theme:
Friday, Doug ran some errands and Fran did chores around the rig. We’ve been struggling to keep the fridge running well in this heat especially when we get parked with the sun on that side of the rig so Doug set up a special tarp that blocks the sun from hitting the fridge fans and we hope that will help going forward; he’d already installed fans to blow air out off the compressor but we think this will help even more.
We took a dip in the pool in the afternoon and had an early dinner because tonight we have tickets to go to the Jurabi Turtle Centre to try and spot turtles laying eggs or babies hatching.
We left the campground around six to meet up at the Jurabi Turtle Centre to return to Cape Range National Park.
Here there were about 30 people going on the tour. It was led by two young women, Tash and Abby, who spoke about the turtles around here: green turtles, hawkbills and loggerheads. They went through the possibilities of what we might encounter and the procedures. Tash went off to check the beach right here but found nothing so we all drove in convoy to Warobi Beach and walked over to the beach upon parking.
We sat about 5 metres from the beach on a sand ledge watching the ocean for about 90 minutes with no luck. Our guides had us all watching the water behind them while they spoke and tried to keep us “entertained” answering questions and giving us lots of information. Sadly we saw no turtles but it was not an expensive endeavour and we did some a lovely sunset and clear night sky.
We were back at our campsite by 9, watched one show and went to bed.
If you click here you can see LOTS more photos from our time around Exmouth.
Saturday we had some miles to cover as we beginning crossing the Pilbara region and hit the road by 8 after making a return to the hardware store for some items Doug hadn’t used in his project yesterday. We drove back down the Gascoyne Peninsula back to the Big Lap road. There a great deal of “nothing” again in this area. Lots of red dirt, very little wildlife that we saw (other than flies!) but it was very green from all the rain from last weekends cyclone and it was HOT. It was nearly an 8 hour drive to go 545 km / 338 mi with one stop for petrol at a roadhouse (at $2.36 a litre) about half way and there were virtually no towns.
After leaving the gas pumps at the roadhouse, we saw the sign to Karinjini NP – a place we wanted to go to but had been told it was closed; Fran had called and the voice message said closed till March 1st. Seeing the sign made us research some more and it seems the visitor’s centre is closed but you can still visit the park. However, there are some road closures due to maintenance and some roads may be in rough condition after the cyclone (this area got over 200 mm of rain!). Fran called the Visitor’s Centre in the nearest town and found out that two of the four things we had hope to see could not reached and there were a few dirt roads in rough condition. Although the weather looked good right now, we opted to not take the chance. This turned out to be a wise decision we think because an hour later the skies in that direction turned black and we saw a great deal of lightning which would mean flash flooding in the park’s gorges. It even rained hard for about two minutes on us and stayed overcast the rest of the afternoon.
We saw lots of mining action going on and a rest area we saw signs about Rio Tinto iron ore mining and a little further down the road, we had to pull over to let a “wide load” pass in the other direction; so wide it took up the entire road and where we met it, there were guard rails over a river so it went really slow so as not to scrape them.
Shortly afterwards we arrived in Karratha, filled up for $1.87 a litre, then drove over to the campground Fran had called yesterday (she’d been told no reservation was needed). Upon arriving there, it was all locked up! She called the number again and the phone was answered by a different campground who advised Bayview was not taking any bookings and had transferred their calls to them. WTH? When told we’d called yesterday, she didn’t understand what happened. Fran checked the app again and the one she’d ended up talking to was rated much lower so we went to only other one that had a rating between the closed one and the other one. (Note we found out from a lady we met a few days later in Broome, that the same owner owns both campgrounds and they were turning Bayview into a mining staff camp.)
At Discovery Park Karratha, we paid $53 a night and booked for four nights. It’s a older full service park and we plan to do a couple of day trips from here but taking tomorrow off driving. They have the usual amenities including a pool with shade cover but a varying number of lounge chairs. (the first time we went there were 4, then 2, then 3, then 2 so people must be borrowing them – we also noted that people who were not actually staying at the campground were using the pool as well.) After parking and setting up, we went for a dip in the pool to cool off. This weekend is a long weekend in OZ as tomorrow is “Australia Day”.
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and raising of the Union Flag of Great Britain by Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cover, a small bay on the southern shore of today’s Sydney Harbour. It is an official public holiday in every state and territory. With community festivals, concerts and citizenship ceremonies, the day is celebrated in large and small communities and cities around the nation. Australia Day has become the biggest annual civic event in Australia.
Here in Karratha, like many cities in the Pilbara, is based around mining and was established in 1968 to accommodate the processing and exportation of a workforce of the Hammerlsey Iron Mining Company and in the 1980’s the petroleum and liquefied natural gas operations of the Woodside North West Shelf Venture. The workforce can be transient, working one week on, one week off. Lots of transient works and FIFO (fly in fly out) employees who make very good money. It reminds us of the oil fields in Canada – that kind of feel. While they have most of the amenities you need, it’s a young city but has good infrastructure. 85% of the vehicles you see driving around look like company vehicles.
After our morning exercise routines, Fran went for a walk, found a place open to get a pedi and then we hung out at the campground trying to stay cool. Went for a few dips in the pool but didn’t hang there long because although the pool itself, has a sunshade, the area around it does not! Temperatures reached 35C feeling like 45C (95 and 113F)! It’s not as humid today so the dry heat is more bearable but the sun on your skin is extremely hot.
Today’s campground visitors were rose breasted cockatoos:
Monday, we set out around 7:30 to go visit nearby Millstream Chichester National Park – well, not that nearby but this is the closest city to it if we want a caravan park with power. It was about 130 km / 80 mi inland from Karratha. The road had a large section being relaid so there were a few traffic delays.
On the way to the park, we saw lots of long trains carrying ore:
We probably saw five on our way out to the park and another five or so on the way back and these are loooooong trains so there’s an enormous amount of mining going on around here.
This park is covered by our park pass – park number 6 we’ve saved on. It’s got two sections so we went to the further one first because it has a Visitor’s Centre in a former sheep homestead – turned out it was unmanned but open to wander through. We climbed a bit up to 337m / 1105’ – but it was no cooler! Lucky for us, due to the recent rains and cyclone, this area is very green like most of the drive here from Carnarvon. The red rock looks so pretty with the green grass and trees.
Here’s a few views of the drive out there:
Unfortunately, the last 8km / 5 mi into the park were on dirt, badly corrugated road – so not a pleasant drive. There were several large puddles as well. Then we turned back and check out a few short side roads.
At the homestead that is the Visitor’s Centre (unstaffed this time of year):
First was the Cliff View Lookout – also a dirt road entry but only 2 km this time:
Now its pretty hot out under clear skies and the flies are very pesky so we don’t want to stay our wandering long.
Next turn off was only a klik of dirt road and that was Deep Reach. This is a wide section of the Fortescue River where you can swim. They even have two large sets of steps to get down into the water. Due to the rain two days ago and the recent cyclone rain, it was pretty full – up to the fifth step. We tested the water and it was super warm and kinda grungy looking so we passed on going in for a dip.
Then it was back to the main park road of dirt that took us back to the highway. About 20km / 13 mi north back towards Karratha we pulled off to the right side of the road to two more park sites – first 10 km of the 18 km was a decent gravel road. First was the Mount Herbert panoramic view point. Here you climb up the “mount” where you get 360° views of the park and surrounding landscapes. It took us about 4 minutes to climb up. We’re up at nearly 400 m / 1312’ here.
Last and best stop of the day was the Python Pool. It’s a swimming hole and this was the only place we came across other people in the entire park. The last bit of the drive in was a bit of a rough road but nothing Matilda couldn’t handle.
There were about six cars there in the lot. We first walked over to check it out to see if we wanted to take a dip. Well, we were quite hot and it looked cooling so we went back to Matilda, changed, grabbed our pool noodles and went for a float. The water was rather warm until you got further in towards the cliff walls where, down below it felt cooler but was still not that cool but it was wet which was refreshing!
You can see what looks like maybe a swallow’s nest on the rock face:
After no more than an hour of soaking and chatting to some young medical students there, we packed it in and returned to Matilda to return to Karratha.
This link will bring you to the gallery of more photos of this national park.
We decided we’d have a small snack and head back into town to the Subway for lunch. About 23 km / 14 mi from town, the truck began to make a weird noise and lost some power. We pulled over and could see nothing wrong. Doug thought it might be the exhaust but could see nothing. Matilda started again (phew! as there is NO cell service here. We returned to town arriving at the Subway. While eating lunch we tried to call a few mechanic/muffler shops but today is the stat holiday for yesterday’s Australia Day so nothing was open.
We got back to the campsite and Doug got chatting with the two men at the campsite behind us and one thought it might be that the turbo hose had come off and he said he’d look once the truck cooled down. We went about our business, went for a swim and after he had dinner he took a look; it was loose but tightening it did not change the sound. The clamp looked mickey mouse to both him and Doug and we’ll try and get a mechanic tomorrow.
At 7am on Tuesday, Fran tried to call four mechanic shops; only one was actually open that early and he said he could at least diagnose for us but if it needed something major, it would be Thursday before he could work on it (which in Australia is not bad). We got to the Malley Group Automotive around 7:30 and in about 15 minutes he had a fellow take a look and test drive it.
So Ben said it was the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) that had a crack in it. He could order the part from Perth, it should arrive tomorrow and if we bring the vehicle back Thursday morning, he could install it, however, it’s a big job to access the thing so expect 4-5 hours of labour IF nothing goes wrong. We can do that so we asked if it could be driven in the meantime and Ben said sure, but not to go to far. It’s going to be pricey at $160 an hour but we are in an expensive part of a country that is already expensive and it is what it is. At least we didn’t break down completely yesterday.
Doug also spoke to him about attaching that turbo hose better and replacing the radio antenna – it had broken off about ten days ago and it’s a b*tch of a job to replace it so he’ll have them do it. Ben has a soft spot for foreigners and we think that helped us get the work done so quick. He’s married to a German woman, has a Canadian sister-in-law and brother-in-law and some family living in Canada.
So we decided to carry on with our plans for today of visiting the nearby town of Dampier to see its national park: Murujuga. This park turned out to be free and it’s about aboriginal rock art.
Murujuga National Park is a national park near the city of Dampier. It’s home to more than one million images on rock, making it the largest collection of Aboriginal rock art in Australia as well as the world’s densest – some of them dating back 47,000 years. The park was established in 2013, and is WA’s 100th national park.
There were a few signs telling us what to look for and many rocks we weren’t really sure what they were.
This link will take you to more photos of the rock art at this national park.
Then we drove into the town and saw the memorial to Red Dog:
Red Dog (c. 1971 – 21 November 1979) was a kelpie/cattle dog cross that was well known for his travels through the WA’s Pilbara region. Red Dog had a series of owners and lengthy periods traveling on his own, essentially becoming a beloved friend and mascot of the greater Pilbara community. A statue was installed in his memory in Dampier, one of the towns to which he often returned. He is frequently referred to as a “red kelpie” or a “red cloud kelpie”. Red Dog was called by a variety of names by those who knew him, including Bluey, Tally Ho, and Dog of the Northwest. Tally Ho was his first name, given to him by Colin Cummings, who is believed to have been his first owner, and brought him to Dampier. The nickname “Red Dog” has been attributed to the red dirt of the Pilbara region. His second owner was John Stazzonelli, a bus driver with Hamersley Iron, who took the dog with him in his bus. Following Stazzonelli’s death in 1975, Red Dog spent a lot of time traveling on his own.
We went further into town to check out the Dampier Mermaid Hotel recommended by Monique and Paul only to find it wasn’t open for at least another hour so we left to head back to Karratha where we went grocery shopping (we’d intended to do that tomorrow when we left town but we could be here another day or two).
Woolworth’s was right in town, had all we needed and prices were similar to other cities surprisingly. We were back at the campground by 12:15, Fran paid for one more night, we got set up and had a late breakfast in the air con of the rig. We spent the rest of today and tomorrow getting chores done, chillin’, cooling off in the pool and planning next steps. We plan to be at the garage tomorrow when it opens at 7 so the vehicle can cool off and they can get to work sooner rather than later.
At Malley Group Auto on Thursday ,they pulled Matilda into the garage around 8am after she cooled off and the waiting began. Doug had gone for his run upon our arrival at 6:45 and when he got back, walked over to the hardware store to get a couple of things. It was another hot day but not supposed to be excessive (define excessive please!).
Two nights ago, we discovered a lot of ants on Doug’s bedding (we constantly find ants but rarely in this number) so it seems our ant traps are not working. Doug got some other type of bait from a hardware store this morning and we’ll give it a go as last night we found an entire loaf of bread and a half box of raisin bran had been infested. Fingers crossed.
UPDATE: the new bait seems to be making a difference.
Of course, in a couple of hours, Ben came out to see us in the waiting room and said that they had one bolt that they were having issues with and he had one more thing to try or did we want them to take the entire manifold down and then hope nothing else broke and/or that they had all the gaskets etc. required to put it back in. Doug said he should try. Then we asked him about places to eat and he said he’d lend us a “ute” (pick up truck) to go into town. We had a couple of errands to run before leaving town (assuming we do today) so we did all that at the same time. The receptionist gave us $50 to put in the gas tank as the fuel was low.
We first went to get lunch and a loaf of bread at a bakehouse; then it was to fill the gas bottle (we have only been able to find places that swap out the larger gas bottles than ours but Doug learned of this hardware store in town that filled them), then to a craft shop to get some varnish (more on that later) and finally a coupe of things from Kmart.
We returned to the garage and continued to wait – we heard nothing further about removing the manifold so….we did learn hen that they were unable to get the radio antenna as it had a five day shipping timeline but that’s was the least important of the 3 things that we needed/wanted done.
Just after 4 pm Doug saw that Matilda was no longer in the garage (you can see into the bays when you go to use the loo) and the receptionist, Courtney, said it was out for a test drive – YEAH! By 4:30 we were paying the bill for labour, the part and the shipping. We packed up our personal stuff (we’d been sitting using our laptops) and after expressing our thanks once again for the prompt and kind service, we left. The bill hurt ($1500 AUD) but it’s done and in a decent time frame that we cannot complain about.
As we felt it was too late to leave town, we decided to spend another night here in the campground but decided cold beer and burgers were called for so we want to the tavern close by before returning. We had a very good meal and the beer was very cold. The place was full of mine workers and you can tell that they like to drink but they are a young friendly bunch for sure as we chatted with a few – men and women.
We arrived back at the campground just after 6:30 and the office was closed but we took our same spot anyway and figured we could leave before they open – we’ve paid them plenty and the place is not that great. We know, that’s naughty, but we also did not want to hang around tomorrow till they open at 9 to deal with paying.
