Day 33

Day 33 Point Sampson

Today was an early start, Trude had a doctors appointment at 7am in Karratha so we got up at 6am, Dawn has broken and all that. Trude had a small problem since Exmouth. In Exmouth we had her

Drill Bit Maureen

How big's the pipe

cooling system repaired and a new temperature gauge installed. Both items were working well but all of a sudden she was running rough when running on petrol, missing on one cylinder, but smooth as with gas. We asked a company on Karratha, Just Automotive Repairs, if they could have a look, it was something that had happened during the previous work but had shown up a day or so afterwards. It had not been a real problem as we were running on gas at the moment but we might not have that later on, so I wanted it looked at. Anyway they said they would have a look at her if I brought her in at 7 am and they would do an investigation. Well, we duly arrived on time and the mechanic had a quick look whilst I went through the background and ran the motor, he was fairly

Red Dog

Packaging plant and flare

sure it was an injector cable as there was one that had cooling fluid on it and looked a little corroded, so we left him to it and wandered down the road for a coffee.

The café was a bit quirky and looked like someone had a second hand furniture shop and wanted to run a café as the furniture was all old and aged. The coffee was lovely and we waited the hour to go back, which we did. We went back just as he drove Trude back in the yard. He said he just wanted to check the bearings. We went in and he came in 10 minutes later. It was all running like a clock again, it was not

Storage

Port Authority

the injector cable but he cleaned it anyway and coated so it wont get any worse, it was one of the injector cable plugs for cylinder 1. In the repair work done before they must have unplugged it and the plastic clip broke and it was not holding together. He had taped it up and showed me where it was in case it happened again. The bearings were fine, just tyre noise – Lyle all looks good so far and people agree with you, mind you I have found a solution to the noise, put 2 ton of caravan on the hitch, no problems.

From here we went back over Burrup Peninsular to get the pictures again that are on Maureen’s

Roebourne from Mt Welcome

Roebourne

phone, so have a look. We also drove through Roebourne and Whickham. Roebourne is a small town that really shows the face of some of the problems they have here, few shops have windows and those that do have heavy mesh on them. There is some growth work going on, but not sure what it is. We went up Mount Welcome and the view is just spectacular. Whickham is just an accommodation town for the loading

Roebourne

Yacht Club

facilities going on behind it. We drove down to the back beach which has a launching ramp and the road takes you past the train lines and where they are constructing a new loading facility. There is a lovely beach there and a Yacht Club there as well.

Back at camp we had a breather and lunch and then we went to drinks with the locals. There is some

Back Beach

Construction

bench seats opposite us and every day they gather there in an open house arrangement and we joined them tonight. They are a happy group, some new today, others leaving soon etc so we swapped stories and arranged to meet at 4 tomorrow for gambling night, game of left, right or centre. I will report back on rules tomorrow.

Construction

Train

Maureen with train

Maureen with truck

The crew from Gamblers Anonymous

Day 32

Day 32 – Point Sampson

We said goodbye to Cleaverville this morning and it was sad to leave. The place has a definite place in our hearts – especially at $7 a night! No the place is just the ideal of getting away from it all. The

Sunrise at Cleaverville

Sunrise at Cleaverville

trip out was perfect, the road had been graded 2 days ago so there were no ruts or corrugations to worry about, zipped out in no time. The trip to Roebourne was easy and uneventful. This part of the area is lovely to drive. We went past Roebourne then Cossack turn off, Wickham, the Roebourne Jail and finally got to Point Sampson. It is a little town, village really, right on the beach. The Caravan Park we are booked into is the Cove. It was built 7 years ago and is just perfect. Each bay has a

Sunrise at Cleaverville

Overlooking the beach

concrete pad to fit the van and the annex on and a gravel section for the vehicle. All grassed and pathways between backs of van.

Our site is one back from the end that looks over the bay, it reminds me of the parks you see on TV in Queensland, very organised but green and roomy. Someone recommended this site 11 and we booked it, site 10 is the one on the end and that is the one I would book next time. Everyone is very friendly and welcoming. So settling in was easy. Backing in was a breeze as the road is also nice and wide and the bays are deep enough to get the vans right off the road. Setting up is a breeze these days as it is almost second nature. We soon had Girt set up

Maureen with new camper

by the sea, so our home like yesterday is Girt by sea, as in our anthem. With that done, we settled down to recuperate, after all. The trip was about an hour long, including the trip out on the track! We had a chat the neighbours and they say that whales are often seen just off the beach here and one did swim by this afternoon.

We are starting to suspect our Spinifex Pigeon has gone into disguise as there is a seagull that has taken a distinct liking to us and comes right up to the van. It is interesting to us that we have not seen any of the spinifex pigeons since Dampier, it is almost like it is a no go zone for spinifex pigeons yet the country looks the same and is full of spinifex.

Found Utopia

Art in the park

Anyhow, we were chatting to our neighbours and saying we hoped that no one would move into the sight on the end and blow me down, someone pulled up and backed in. We were joking about doing an assessment of how good they were and they did a good job and started setting up when the guy came over and said that we had met before in Newman. He was the park manager Graham at the Newman Caravan Park. He and I had spoken a few times and he had mentioned he was off on a holiday soon, how funny is that, right next door. Well I sat back and took lessons in how to set up a van, well maybe, he looked just like us but slower!

Art in the park

Flying Mantas

We went for a run around town to see the sights. The beaches are great, you just cannot get to them. We went round town in about an hour and Maureen went back to Girt. I went further down past the site and went to Jim’s Creek harbour. It is amazing, a complete little harbour with support industries for fishing and other marine services. There is a great launching ramp there and I know where you can get a second hand tug boat really cheap. It is slightly worn and sun dried, well crispy really, I mean really, really crispy! It is burnt out! They obviously had a fire on board and it burnt out the engine room and bridge. They also have a pair of Sea Eagles nesting there with 2 fledglings.

Tomorrow we expect to be out and about touring.

Day 31

Day 31 – Cleaverville

Morning has broken like the first dawning, blackbird has spoken… and so on (you have to sing it like Cat Stevens did). Well morning had broken and the blackbird did speak, it was a crow on the roof.

Maureen on top of the hill

The view

Woke us up at the crack of dawn, well 8:00 with a crow walking up and down the roof. He was not the only wildlife we had last night. There were tracks of Ghost Crabs all around the caravan and I am sure a set of dingo prints going across the track, but the sand was too soft to get a clear picture, but it was definitely canine. Talking of Cat Stevens, you would think a person with mega-gigs of music would have no problems of putting together a good collection of driving songs, it is a bit hard when they are sitting at home where you would not forget them. I was stuck with what I had on my laptop, Cat Stevens,

The view

Flower

Michael Buble, Blondie and the best of Smokie. After 3 weeks of them I can just about sing them all off by heart, hence the opening line, thank god for the internet and I have now extended my collection to include ABBA and Bee Gees.

Once we had breakfast and cleaned up and watched the beach for a while, we packed up and made a run into Karratha. Tia had sent us some mail that was urgent and it was at Karratha Post Office,

Flower

Mangrove Swamp start

Canberra was calling to say we needed to vote and I wanted another Jerry Can Holder for water. We drove into Karratha and I must comment that the track has just been graded and it was great 80 – 90 kmh to the main road. The only problem I have with driving on gravel at speed is that there is this high pitched whine that seems to comes from the passenger’s side – sounds like slow down, slow down, but I just turn the music up louder. The trip in and out on the gravel gave me my Rally fix for the day.

Rocks on the beach

Beautiful Purple flower

You can all rest at ease now, we have voted! The halls of Canberra can rest easy in the knowledge that we have done our bit for democracy. The parties can put their check books away now and save on campaigning as I cannot change my crucial vote. I cannot wait until the Sex Party takes over the upper house! 

We collected the mail, thankyou Tia, in it was my RAC card, a bill from the bank (need to pay my credit card – oops), the letter from my insurance company and a $50 gift voucher to a liquor shop (You Beauty!!), thanks again Tia.

Purple Bush

Sturt Peas on the beach!

Back at Girt, we had lunch and enjoyed the surroundings yet again. The wind is up a bit on yesterday but not too bad. When Maureen went for a walk yesterday, she noticed that there were a number of tracks going around our point, so we decided to go adventuring and take Trude for a spin. Off we went, the whine from the left hand side started again, particularly when we went up this really steep climb that had me leaning forward as it felt like we would tip over backwards!! I must admit, I did listen to the noise a bit after that, but not for long. 

Flower

Tracks we followed

The views are great from the top of the hill at the point. Maureen took a video of the view to try and get it across, have a look, especially at the handsome, debonair, young adventurer next to his trusty steed. We went down to the mangrove swamp area and I am sure you could get a Muddy or two there. Then back along the edge of the mud flats and looped back to the main road in. on the way back to camp, we drove along the road to the south to look at the other camp areas and they are nice. On the beach, quiet, smaller groups but the beaches are not as nice as where we are, but they would do if these were not available.

Watching the Sun Set

View at the point

There was some lovely purple flowered smoke bushes near the other sites that we had not seen anywhere else, but there was just clumps of them everywhere in just this one place, see pictures.

I am back at camp now running the “Genny” to charge everything up and doing this page and Maureen has gone off to the beach. We move on tomorrow to Cove Caravan Park at Point Sampson and are there until Tuesday. We have not planned anything beyond there except to continue in a Northerly direction.