Monday, August 10, 2015

Towards Broome

We refueled and then visited the Halls Creek tourist information centre asking about a dump point for our toilet cassette. We thought that the local caravan park could possibly have one but were surprised to find out the nearest one was 117 km south. Luckily we were heading that way otherwise we would have to dig a large hole and bury the contents as we have done in the past. 

We continued along the Great Northern Highway heading towards Mary Pool. Luckily we had enough of our own water to flush and clean our cassette because there was no water supply here for that purpose. I counted just over twenty vans camped here and we couldn't believe what a cesspool this campsite was. There are echo toilets and rubbish bins with lids but there were toilet wipes and toilet paper surrounding the whole site. What a bunch of lazy grots all happy to camp with all that filth around them. They will be the first to cry out when these types of sites are permanently shut down.

Our plan had been to stop early and stay at another free campsite known as the Ngumpan Cliffs. But because we were making such good time we just stopped in for a look before continuing on. This site was completely different to the previous free camp without a piece of litter to be seen anywhere.

We stopped briefly in Fitzroy Crossing before continuing another 43 km then turning north onto the Leopold Downs Road for the 11 km trip into the RAAF Boab quarry rest area. Even though it was only a short distance we still needed to reduce our tyre pressures because the corrugations were quite severe. At one stage we were driving in the soft sand on the side of the road to escape the bone jarring ride. At one point I had to engage low range to continue.

The material from the quarry was mined to build the Curtin Air-Force Base south of Derby. The quarry is normally filled with water and makes a lovely campsite surrounded with the boab trees but unfortunately I didn't read the latest WikiCamps entry that mentioned the water had all evaporated. Probably a poor wet season may have contributed to this. Anyway we found a nice spot for the evening. 

This guy refused to move for several minutes so that we could continue and that's even with me sounding the horn:

Leaving last nights camp we stopped on the road for several more boab photos. I never seem to tire from looking at and photographing these trees although I think Ros is maybe over it.

After reaching the bitumen we continued heading west but not before stopping at a rest area for morning tea and yes you guessed it another boab to photograph. 

We passed the Willare Bridge Roadhouse 187 km later and after another 145 km arriving at the Roebuck Plains Roadhouse. 
We booked into Broomes Gateway Caravan Park for two nights. The park is located 30 km east of Broome, and the sites are very large but there is no power unless you have solar or a generator. 

Our idea was to see if we could arrange a site in Broome and were lucky enough to book a site at the Roebuck Bay Caravan Park. Its the only caravan park in Broome that has a view of the water. While our site is not on the beach front we do have this view from under our annex.

No comments:

Post a Comment