Day 130 - 131 22nd June - 23rd June 2012

Day 130 Friday 22^nd June 2012.

Good campsite last night, however being close to the highway the noise of the road trains could be heard, especially early in the morning.

Whenever WDU564 and the caravan are hitched up overnight it is only 8-10 minutes before we are on the road. We were the third “nomads” out this morning and on the highway by 8.00AM.

We were heading towards Millstream Chichester NP and along the way we had heard a lot about the “pub” at Whim Creek. We arrived there about 8.45AM and the place was like an abandoned building. It looked like it had been shut down only recently. We were of the opinion we could buy diesel here as well. So the contingence plan (ha, ha, ha) kicked in. We decided to go past the turn of to the NP and drive further south to Roebourne and Karratha and have a look late morning / early afternoon before driving back to the turn off to NP.  Roebourne is mostly aboriginal settlement and the only things that may attract are the historical goal museum. Vania noted that for a relatively small town they had 6 police cars. I’ll let all of you work that one out yourselves. We simply drove thru Roebourne. Karratha is a fairly significant town that has basically grown from the mining “boom” starting in the 1960’s. There appears to be a fair bit of development happening here. First time for a long time we saw multi story buildings being erected.

After lunch we headed back to Millstream Chichester NP. We were going to camp in a free campground called Snake Creek campground. According to the books we have access was going to be about 60k’s on a dirt road. If you haven’t worked things out yet I don’t like dirt roads especially when they are heavily corrugated. Well, rot my socks off, this dirt road was good. WDU564 and the caravan were extremely happy. Very dusty but NO corrugations.

We drove the distance the book suggested and no Snake Creek campsite. Drove an additional 20-25K and still no Snake Creek campsite.  I did not want to drive into Millstream where there were 2-3 other campsites as there was no fuel there.  I had a brainwave (occasionally I do think) and remembered we had the satellite phone. Quickly got it out and rang the Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) who are responsible for NP’s in WA.  Made contact only to be told that Snake Creek campsite no longer exists. Totally pissed off but being the gentleman I am, I said thank you and hung up abruptly. I intend to write to DEC and get them to at least put a sign up at the start of the dirt road saying that Snake Creek campsite is closed. At least we know the satellite phone works.

We did a U-Turn and pulled into at a large parking bay. We decided that this was going to be our home for the night and set up camp. We will do a 4k walk from here first thing in the morning, then drive to the Python Pool (main reason we came here) and then head back on track towards Port Headland. Will probably stop at the Herbert Parker campsite again on the Yule River before actually going into Port Headland. May stay in a Caravan Park in Port Headland for 2-3 days and catch up on some “domestics” (ie laundry, clean caravan, car wash, may have a haircut, check out why the generator sounds like it is going to take off, etc….

Till next time, take care, love Vania and Oscar.

Pelican having difficulty taking off after good feed of fish

Head down bum up. Plenty of fish in the Yule river

View into Millstream Chichester NP.

Vania and I added our own rock to this cairn on top of Mt. Chichester.

Vania's panorama shot.

This was actually a "good" dirt road.

Could not find "Snake Creek campsite" so this had to do. Great spot to ourselves but very windy during the early hours.

Day 131 Saturday 23^rd June 2012.

Today was a day that Vania and I would rather forget about. Yep, shit happens in paradise as well.

Day started off by strong winds in the morning which really scared Vania. Must admit when the canvas is flapping and the caravan sways / shakes because of the wind it is a bit frightening. This however was mild to what was to come. Stay tuned.

Vania did actually spot a sign to “Snake Creek Campsite”. This sign was well hidden and indicated the campsite was closed. We walked into Python Pool. Lovely spot but too windy and cool to have an early morning swim. After this we hit the gravel road (about 60k’s).  At one stage I looked in the rear vision mirror and noticed that the caravan was tilting “badly” to one side. My first thoughts were that I had done a shocker on the van or it was simply the camber of the dirt road. Virtually at the same time that I noticed the lean on the caravan a car passed us. I noticed that this car quickly stopped and was doing a U turn. I immediately knew that something was drastically wrong. Pulled up the caravan just as the other car pulled up as well and noticed that the driver’s side wheel on the caravan had “blown”. I had been pulling the van only on the outer rim (check out photos), who knows for how long.

The two guys in the other car were cattle drovers on the station and they noticed the blown tyre and quickly turned around to notify and help us. These 2 guys were absolutely fantastic. After a few verbal exchanges these guys proceeded to pull out there jack, wheel brace and remove what was left of our wheel and tyre.  One of these characters was so down to earth, friendly and helpful as you would ever want to meet. It was great to know that people like this still exist. It taught me yet another lesson on this trip (don’t judge people by their appearances).

Eventually I got the spare wheel on, gave the 2 guys a bit of liquid refreshments (not lemonade) and made our way a little bit more gingerly towards Port Headland.  We still had about 30 k’s to go on dirt and I did not have a spare for the caravan. Not sure if the car spare fits onto the caravan or not.

We pulled into the same free campsite on the Yule River that we stayed in on Thursday night. Rang a few tyre places to see what could be done in getting a new wheel and tyre.  Nothing can be done till Monday.  Accommodation in the caravan park in Port Headland is non-existent but I managed to get in for Monday.  Somewhere along the line we will have to have the caravan fixed as well as the blowout caused other damage as well (eg trim around wheel arch half ripped off, water pipes broken, stabilising leg had been knocked down and became warped and difficult to use, etc…)

On top of this I am having difficulties with the Waeco and auxiliary battery in the back of the car.  However, I think I have worked out what is happening. Fundamentally, we appear to be drawing more charge than the charge going into the auxiliary. Although auxiliary is being charged, the Waeco, Caravan fridge (when being towed) plus phones are drawing more. Solution, charge auxiliary battery on AC every 2.5 weeks.

 There were more incidents after this but they were minor and trivial. Upon reflection, I have decided that I have done as much as possible and now it is a matter of time and letting “things” happen in due course. There is no point worrying about it as I cannot do any more.

Tomorrow will no doubt be much better (I hope). Till then take care from Vania and Oscar.

Vania's panorama shot at Python Pool

Scenery in Millstream Chichester NP

Another panaroma shot

Cop this. There was only the outer rim. Inner rim had desintergrated. Not the steel wire. Damage to wheel arch, mud flap, etc.....

This is all that was left. The whole rim just about gone.

Character with the "tall" hat was absolutely FANTASTIC. Great bloke.

Hills are literally made of small, medium and large rocks. Very litter soil cover.

Bit of humour to lighten up our day.

Python Pool. Would have been great for a swim later in the day.

Stuart dessert peas.

Lot of people along the road told us to stop and have a drink at "Whim Creek Pub". Guess what! Pub was closed and abondened. Pub with no bear!

Sunset from a campsite in Millstream Chichester NP. Note the moon!