Broome & Beyond: and Back Home again !

Monday 24th July, mid-afternoon

First, I put away the shorts and shirt which have been my standard clothing for several days. I dress in long pants, thermal top, shirt, shoes & socks -- for winter in Perth. Sigh.

Driving south, past Ninghan. I was only ten or so km north of the entry. As far as I can see -- as my pre-rogaine scouting -- the area is... foggy. The fog doesn't clear till after nine o'clock. Then it's cloudy.

Trees! I'm passing real, quite tall, trees! Of course I'm in the wheatbelt now, so most of the land is cleared. A few short bits of crop appearing. But there are some trees! A pleasant change after the last few days.

Through Wubin. Historical(*) note: Wubin was named after WA's first Jewish explorer. He had a lisp.

(*) The historical note may not be historically accurate.

There's a new road being built, several kilometres of it. Parallel to the existing road so there is not too much interference with traffic. I can see various stages of construction, from a graded track through wheatfields, through layers of yellow sand, layers of gravel, to the finished bitumen surface.

Later, there's a long stretch of completed-but-new road. With a different approach to the centre lines, they have the things that make a loud noise when you run over them. Plus a sign every time you can cross or not cross the lines to overtake, for those who don't understand the solid vs dashed lines. Perhaps it's a trial of the new markings.

There's another short stretch of roadworks including a rest area. It looks as though a toilet is being built... I wish I had time to check it out, see how it starts. I enjoy being distracted from driving :-)

Through Miling. It looks like a nice little town, with a newly painted hotel. You can use your CB radio to book a meal as you drive in... taking advantage of all the road construction workers -- with CB radios in their vehicles. Perhaps we should stay there on the Friday night before the rogaine. It's about 2.5 hours drive from Ninghan.

There's a rock by the road. One side is painted, "Future". The other side is "Past". I wish I had time to stop, see if there's an explanation ! But I also want to get home...

I refuel at New Norcia -- which is no longer on the highway. NN is still there but the highway has moved away, a loop (or a straightening) to avoid NN. It's lunch time so I have a sandwich & coffee. The sandwich is very nice and -- presumably! -- made with local New Norcia bread.

Drove 867 km

... and filled up with 88 litres diesel at 130.0, $115

(Have I been spelling diesel wrong? I'll fix that for my final journal...)

As I'm refuelling I mutter to myself, Why would someone spill water where I want to stand to refuel?! Hang on, water is everywhere... Oh yes, it must have rained... Welcome back to the southwest :-)

I set the Garmin to home. Then think, time to get used to the Hema. So I unset the Garmin and set the Hema to guide me home. Luckily it guides me where I want to go, including the preferred road when I get off the freeway near home... The Garmin always gets that "wrong".

And so I'm home !

Today: 396 km in about 6.5 hours.

I start reversing into the garage. Get out, shift the little red car from garage centre to one side. How quickly Deb forgets that I live here...

Reverse in. Unload. Make tea. Set up a load of washing: the two or three things that I wore, plus a load of Deb's stuff...

And I'm home :-)

The End.

=======
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
=======

​"Vegetarian": Old Indian word for "Bad hunter".

Broome & Beyond: north of Ninghan

24th July 2017, early morning

I'm typing this at 7am on Monday. I'm fairly certain there's nothing much left to write about yesterday... but I'll only know when I start typing:

From Capricorn -- from the roadhouse, just south of the Tropic of -- I drive south. To Meekatharra. Then on to Paynes Find. The country is desolate.

The land is flat. The bush is low and thin. There are patches with no understorey at all. Is this natural? Or have cattle destroyed the understorey?

One point of interest: A square letterbox (delivery box, it's quite big) on the highway. The station house is somewhere off the highway, out of sight. The box is painted -- very nicely -- as Sponge Bob Squarepants :-)

Deisel at Kumarina. Is this out of order? I've lost track of what happened! Though I do remember, this is my first attempt at a pre-pay fuel pump. It turns out to be very simple. Is there a "till it's full" option? Probably, though I miss seeing it. I select $100 of fuel and it stops just short of that. Limit of pump accuracy, or is "full" coincidentally close to $100?

71 litres at 139.9, $99.29 for 600 km

Newman to Paynes Find may be a nice area to visit but I have no urge to stay. Definitely not a tourist area. Even the geocaches are sparse. In one spot -- driving down the main highway -- there is 300 km between caches.

Just 14km from Meeka I stop for a break and a possible cache. The cache description includes, "be prepared to scrabble amongst rocks". I smell something dead between the truck and the cache. There's enough litter in the rocks to fill several rubbish bags. I make a token search but decide that no, I'm not prepared to scrabble amongst rocks.

On the bright side, There's a lot of takeaway chicken boxes that missed the bin near the cache. I hope for a takeaway chicken dinner at Meeka. But it's Sunday and everything looks closed. The garage-with-hot-chook may be open but it looks deserted. The closed security screen doors don't encourage me to stop.

There's a garage just out of town, a roadhouse. I get a pie, to eat out of town.

I stop at a large truck bay, just on the edge of town. There's a track leading up to some sort of tank... And there's a cache, probably near that tank. A good view from there, judging by the cache description. I'm stopped, don't feel the urge to move towards the cache. Tired, too... !

I intend to make a very quick stop for dinner, leave the engine running. The pie is the first *hot* pie on this trip... I have to eat slowly and carefully to avoid burning my mouth.

More driving. More flat country. The sun is setting. I stop for a brief break -- and realise there's a cache within metres. It's on a wrecked car, with no hint. I give a cursory inspection and leave it, unfound.

Just before sunset and I drive through Cue. It has old buildings made of stone. It looks like a good town, worth a quick visit, some other time.

Driving in the dark. I have the feeling that I'm driving through a tunnel, with tall trees wrapping up on either side. Of course I'm not, the bush is still short and sparse. And flat to the horizon.

Soooo flat... At one point there's enough light to see to the horizon. I feel that I'm on a boat at sea. Do I have a strong imagination or am I hallucinating  :-?

Past Paynes Find, a friendly light -- from the one visible building -- just off the highway. I stop in a truck bay, it may do for the night. My thongs instantly pick up a few dozen nasty spikey burrs. I pull off all the burrs, drive on.

Another thirty or so km and I'm a bit north of Ninghan Station. The next rogaine will be there, it's said to be five hours drive from Perth. A good place to spend the night, I can get home tomorrow in five hours... And I can sneak a peek at the rogaine area :-)

The next truck bay is ideal: there's a track leading beyond the bay, to an area which is clearly used for parking. Lots of tracks, lots of rubbish. I sleep the night in the truck.

When I wake up in the middle of the night, the sky is clear, the stars are bright, there's no traffic. This morning there's mist, there's a car or truck every few minutes. Peaceful, though, the highway is fifty metres away and everything else is quiet. Except for a couple of distant birds.

I make tea and have a muesli bar for breakfast.

Yesterday, Sunday: drove 995 km in just over 12 hours. Ridiculous but I wanted to be within reach of home on Monday.

Interesting: The hotspot claims to be working. The tablet claims to be communicating. But it's not. Email is not really being sent. So this post will be sent... whenever. Hopefully, before I get home !

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Lawyers pay for their mistakes, doctors bury them, architects grow ivy on them. And consultants charge for them."

    

Broome & Beyond: Capricorn roadhouse

Sunday 23rd July, almost 11am

But first... yesterday: I'm driving south from Port Hedland. Worried, sort of, that I will run out of daylight. The sun suddenly sets... and it's only four o'clock! Double-take... No, the sun has not set, it's gone behind a cloud. A cloud! For the past week or more, all the sun has done is to shine from a clear blue and cloudless sky :-) Don't worry, there are not many clouds. And today... none. Again.

And again, from yesterday: I drive past a truck bay. Several blokes have hopped out of their car to pee by the roadside. I am struck by a deep philosophical insight: It may be the enormous centre of the universe to you but it's small enough to be invisible to the driver in the passing car.

Today: Leaving the "village", into hills. Solid, rocky hills. There are patches where the hill rises at a 45 degree slope -- spotted with spinifex. Then there's a vertical wall of rock, squared-off lumps of rock. Like a wall made of rusty iron bricks. Spectacular!

There's a cache, off the main road at Tognoloni's Lookout. Worth a break as I warm up to a day of driving. (This is why I usually average just 60 or 70 kph over a day's driving.)

The lookout is packed with caravans. The cache is a short walk past the pergola at the official lookout. There are narrow foot tracks so I don't need to worry about spinifex. Found it! And the view is also worth the walk.

Back on the highway. There's been a fire through here. Within the last few montths, I guess. A large area with no spinifex nor grass, a carpet of black. Trees, though, are largely untouched.

There are minesites here and there, off to either side of the road. For most, all I see is the entry road. Once, I hear a sound which is even louder than the truck engine... A train? There is a rail line near the road, occasionally crossing it.

I have a cunning plan: make brief notes of what I see, just dot points for expanding later into this blog. So I do that. Now I'm typing inside a roadhouse, the list of dot points is outside in the truck.

I stop for a geocache in Cathedral Gorge, the gorge is worth a closer look. The cache seems to need a bit of rough driving or some cross-country walking. Or both. So I look briefly at the gorge and not at all for the cache.

Very close to Newman... There's an enormous ... hill? It's so bare that I wonder if it's spoil from a mine! Can't be, really, it's the biggest hill around. Mt Whaleback, perhaps?

Last (and only) time that I visited Newman, I arrived after dark. All I found was a miners camp masquerading as a motel. Early next morning, I left. This time it's daylight. I drive through town... at least I think I drive through town. There's no apparent centre to town, nowhere for a visitor to be tempted to stop. Various civic buildings are scattered round, with signs to others. Houses are placed so that noone in their right mind would walk to any of the civic buildings.

I keep going. On to the Capricorn roadhouse. Which is -- aha! -- just south of the Tropic of Capricorn. I'm here for an early lunch (or late brunch) but can't decide between fish or meat. So I have carbonara, with neither. Very nice, too. I'll probably get a drink and chocolate to go.

I failed the free-tea test. Poured cold water onto the teabag... Had to start again, this time using the tap with the sign, "hot water".

And now it's time to go. TV football has ended and it's back -- way back -- to Bewitched.

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Lawyers pay for their mistakes, doctors bury them, architects grow ivy on them. And consultants charge for them."

https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/
   

Broome & Beyond: next morning, still near Karijini

Sunday 23rd July, early morning

A cold and restless night. Thank goodness for reverse cycle air con... not.

I wake up in the middle of the night, cold. Not to worry, I turn on the air con. It shows a bright and friendly "22". I'm asleep again within a minute.

Wake up again, cold. The air con is blowing happily and showing "22" but it's still cold. I turn on the room light and examine the remote control. It's set to "FAN".

I press "mode". FAN changes to three liittle dots. With imagination, each dot could be shaped as a drop of water. So this mode must add moisture to dry air. Or, poossibly, remove moisture from damp air. Apparently you can choose dry/wet air or temperature control but not both.

Next mode is a snowflake. Does this mean, "Heat the air when it's snowing outside"? Or does it mean, "Create cold snow inside the room." After ten minutes I decide that it's not the weather, it's the result. The air con is blowing cold. Not sure why it's blowing at all -- the room temperature is already below that bright and cheerful 22.

Final mode is a sun icon. No effect. Until... five minute later, I feel a gust of warm air! Success! Let's go for broke...

I push the temperature up to 24. The air con sits in sullen silence. One blast of warm air is its limit. Now it's not blowing at all.

By now I'm wide awake and the sun willl be up soon. I get up. Make a cup of tea. Crank the air con temperature up to 28...

Lo and behold ! Another gust of warm air!

btw: I can tell that this was once a mining camp. The kettle has an electrical safety inspection tag. It's due to be re-checked, in 2014...

I wonder... "FAN" means, the fan will blow air. Why not use "COOL" to indicate that the air con will COOL the room? And WARM to indicate that it will WARM the room?! Better yet, if I set "22" as the temperature that I want -- let the air con decide whether to warm a cold room or cool a hot room... Is that too difficult?!

And so, another cranky start to another long day :-)

The sun is almost up. I refuse to leave this room until I have drunk enough tea to use up all of the "free" milk in the fridge. I may not be sleeping. But I will be relaxing.

On the bright side: It's morning, so the hotspot works. The results of our Broome runs are available... Deb beat one person, I beat a few. On my preferred scale of running success -- we are both within 100% of the winner's time ! A brilliant effort :-) And an enjoyable run.

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Lawyers pay for their mistakes, doctors bury them, architects grow ivy on them. And consultants charge for them."

   

Broome & Beyond: not quite Karijini

Saturday 22nd July

I set off driving in the fog. It's thick enough that I occasionally need to use the windscreen wipers. Which is good, most of the squashed bugs are removed.

I turn south -- towards home, not going back to Broome. Just a few km on -- and the fog is gone. It's still a bank of cloud behind me but my road is now clear.

Ah! the old familiar sights ! Ah ! the old familiar... smells. There has been roadkill along this road. Including what smells like an entire truck-load of dead cattle.

On the bright side, I catch the smell of spinifex. At least, I believe that spinifex can have a sweet smell, and that's what I smell. Deb & I smelt it before, while walking -- definitely through spinifex -- to a geocache in Broome. We also smelt the wattles, which are flowering profusely.

Yes, I do like to drive with the car windows open :-)  Preferably open on the passenger side so that I'm not the one being blown away. Speaking of passengers...

On these long drives, I miss Deb. I miss her anyway... but... it would be nice to have a passenger to talk with. I mean a real passenger, not like the one today, who never replies sensibly, and who ducks out of sight whenever I turn to look... (Hmm. I think that line needs work.)

I stop for lunch at Sandfire Flats roadhouse. I wonder who invented the ham & egg & lettuce sandwich?

The roadhouse is very pleasant. There's shade and seats. And even a pond, surrounded by trees. Plus a "sculpture" area with ancient metal objects... I spend a few minutes examining the old kero fridge but still don't find the geocache :-(  Dratted rusty metal objects. I don't try very hard.

Remember that geocache that I failed to find on the way north? In a nowhere place on the edge of the desert but near a "confluence" (?) cache, set where a line of latitude crosses a line of longitude. This time I think, I may as well at least look for the confluence cache.

It's 300m through sparse scrub and spinifex. I put on long pants and shoes and socks... I'm warm enough, it's 30 degrees. (Yes, I remembered a hat. And sunscreen.) And I find that cache :-)

So I follow the GPS back -- and find the first, did-not-find cache ! Well worth the stop ! Not only is it a good break from driving -- my satisfaction cheers me up for the next few hundred km :-)

You know, I used to fear spinifex. That was in my youth, when I wore thongs and shorts. Now, as the proud owner of solid shoes and industrial-strength cotton long pants -- I laugh at spinifex. At this stuff, anyway, it's just ankle high with lots of sand in between.

Pardoo roadhouse. I make the decision: no fuel. This means that I will definitely not be heading down the Marble Bar road, it's right at my fuel limit. Instead, I will fill up at Port Hedland and take the Gt N Hwy via Karijini. With a vague plan to stay overnight at the Auski motel on the edge of Karijini.

Port Hedland. There's a garage, though the fuel is set out of sight behind a collection of buildings. I drive in -- and everyone else is pointing the other way. So I reverse out and drive in from the other side. Pull up next to a deisel pump -- which is out of order. The only other deisel seems to be blocked by a truck plus trailer which has been there since I arrived... I drive back to the highway.

I check the garmin gps. It claims to know of a garage in South Hedland. Good enough. I drive through the enormous highway interchange, following siigns to South Hedland. The gps beeps forlornly as I follow roads that have been built since its maps were drawn. And there -- well before South Hedland, highly visible just off the main road -- is a shiny new garage. The gps gives a final sad beep before I turn off its navigation.

This nice shiny garage is quiet. And cheap. And clean. And friendly. I fill up and enjoy the experience.

Fuel: 84 litres at 132.9 cheap :-)   $112

... for 685 km

(Some day I may use these figures to work out fuel efficiency...)

Back on the road, through the interchange, follow the highway towards Newman. 400km to Newman. i wish I knew how far it is to Karijini.

This road is full of a continuous stream of road trains. The map even warns of this -- and it's right. Four-trailer road trains every minute, in both directions.

Very soon there's a geocache -- which I stop for. It looks interesting... A cache on top of a pile of rocks, possibly piled by people. (Well, by people with powerful machines, anyway.) And on top -- is an Aussie flag. On top is also the cache.

I scramble up, it's perhaps five metres high. There is -- as promised by the cache hider -- a good view. I admire the view. And I find the cache, after a bit of searching. It's a "good" hide, visible if you stand in the right place and look in the right direction. That's not a sarcastic comment... Some caches are only visible after you shift a large pile of concealing rocks.

On and on. The country is flat, with large boulders scattered round. Iron country, if I'm not mistaken :-) I'm enjoying the drive but the sun is setting.

Actually, my original plan involved driving through sunset. I just wish I knew how long I will be driving after sunset.

At 5:40 I glance towards the sun, it's just crossing the horizon. I look at the gps, it says that the sun will set at 5:40. Amazing! Amazing twice: that the gps is so clever and that the land is so flat that the sun sets exactly on time.

There are less big trucks, less traffic, but still some. I see a road train ahead and adjust my speed to stay behind, just a shade above 90. As the sun sets I can see clearly, in the headlight beam, about half way to the road train. And I trust the road train to have cleared any obstacles from the bit where I can't clearly see. There's no way I'll try to overtake -- anything -- on this road in the dark.

While there's still twilight I pass a small mob of cattle. The bull is in the lead, facing the road. It looks as though he's timing his move to take his mob across the road. After seeing that, I drive extra carefully.

Finally, I reach the Auski roadhouse -- Auski Village -- at the edge of Karijini National Park. I can't see if I'm really on the road in, so I take it easy... and arrive safely. Sometime after 6pm.

I'm sure that I remember a small motel in the middle of nowhere. It's still the middle of nowhere but now it's a large roadhouse, a caravan park, chalets and more ordinary lodgings. I ask for the cheapest room with an en suite. The restaurant is open, last orders at 8:20. The room costs $150, I decide that dinner will be pot noodles. This time, the secret ingredient will be, a small tin of fish.

The woman in the roadhouse gives me a mud map and directions to my room. Clearly, she's never been there herself. No worries, I find it anyway.

The room is a clean, simple, standard room, one of four in a transportable cabin. Plenty of room inside and a verandah outside.

First, I make my pot noodles and, with a full kettle of boiling water, make a cup of tea. Then fetch my big mug from the truck and make a sensible sized cup of coffee. While all that's cooling, I shower. And wash my clothes.

I wash the running shorts and running shirt that I have worn for driving. For two warm days. With luck they will be dry by morning, ready to wear again. It's a comfortable combination for driving and for whatever needs to happen outside the truck, on a warm day. When heading for spinifex, I just pull on the long pants over the shorts. And if you didn't want to know that, you shouldn't be reading one of my blogs :-)

Now I've eaten dinner. Typed this blog post. Drunk my drinks. I'll try -- again -- to get to the internet through my hotspot. It works in the middle of nowhere -- but not in the evenings near a motel ! Then I'll drink some more. Make a rough plan for two more days driving -- to arrive home on Monday. And sleep.

This may be posted tonight. More likely, tomorrow.

Driven distances:

... I think I did somewhere close to 1,000 km yesterday.

... And 968 km today

The garmin gps -- which has an easy-to-use odometer function -- adds pseudo-random distances whenever it gets turned off. So I don't know actual distances at the end of each day. I should be able to work out actual distances from the gps tracks, when I get home. Actual distances will go in a printed journal. This online copy will not be updated.

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"If it's green, it's biology; if it stinks, it's chemistry; if it has numbers, it's maths; if it doesn't work, it's technology" – Author unknown.

https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/
   

Broome & Beyond: getting near Broome again

Saturday 22nd July, early morning

I saved on last night's accommodation so am splashing out on a hot breakfast...

Yesterday... I watch the sun go down behind the boab. Then drive in to Willare roadhouse. Will I stay the night at Willare?

No way !

There are a dozen people having dinner, drinks, enjoying themselves. A dozen plus various kids running round. A tour bus pulls up to add to the crowd. It's 7pm. I settle for fuel and coffee to go. Not much fuel.

52.5 litres at 189.0 (wow!) for $99

... which took me 507km

The tank is still more than half full. I fill up because it's night and I may get as far as the desert.

There's less traffic at night that there had been during the day. Not that that was much. The regular stream of cars is now an irregular trickle. By 9pm there is perhaps a car every ten minutes.

Not much traffic. Peaceful -- except for the truck and the roar of passing air! A sky full of stars. Everywhere I look there is a maze of white spots and speckles... Must remember to clean all those squashed bugs off the windscreen... (rofl)

At 9pm I pull over into a truck bay. And sleep in the truck.

There is, indeed a sky full of stars. No moon to hide them, no clouds. The Milky Way is an obvious band across the sky. A bird flaps around for a while, sounds like a big bird, I only catch a glimpse in the dark. Otherwise, it's mostly silence.

There may be half a dozen cars/trucks during the night, or less. I hear one or two and sleep through anything else.

To wake up at dawn -- to fog.

The road is perhaps 30m away through a belt of trees. The occasional car or truck roars through the fog. Lights are visible, vehicle is there but wreathed in fog. (Funny how fog "wreathes" rather than hides.)

I get out the $20 gas cooker. Boil water. Make pot noodles for breakfast... with the secret ingredient: a spoonful of peanut paste. Delicious !  While it was cooling enough to eat, I packed up. That took all of two minutes :-)

I'll be bypassing Broome. Next stop, Sandfire.

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"If it's green, it's biology; if it stinks, it's chemistry; if it has numbers, it's maths; if it doesn't work, it's technology" – Author unknown.

https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/
   

Broome & Beyond: getting close to Willare

Friday 21st July

I wake up at the crack of dawn. Luckily for me, dawn does not crack till after 5:30. I pack and prepare to leave. But am determined to start the day with a good hotel breakfast, so have to wait till breakfast is served at 7am.

At 7:05 I reach for the handle of the door to the breakfast area -- just as the hotel receptionist is unlocking from the other side.

I eat a hearty (continental) breakfast. Yes, it is just $13. I pay my account. And drive.

And drive and drive and drive. There's nothing else I want to do... I feel the urge to be home again !

As usual I start slowly, gradually warming up. By the time I turn south onto Great Northern Highway -- but going south!? -- I'm ready for full speed. Which is about 105 on cruise control. It's a comfortable speed.

I zoom past Doon Doon. Only item of interest is a black snake crossing the road. A bit later I see a small goanna -- 40cm perhaps -- with his tail curled into a loop. He's facing away from the road so I don't worry that he will bolt under my wheels.

There are eagles and other raptors everywhere! The magnificent eagle, king of the birds, soaring majestically... They lose some of their majesty when a half dozen eagles flap up off a squashed piece of roadkill. One flaps too slowly and hits the edge of the truck. I don't see if he crash lands, the truck is unhurt.

There's a one lane bridge across a creek. (One of several on this stretch of road.) I'm slowing down, the car ahead is slowing down and stopping. Why stop so soon? I wonder, he's nowhere near the bridge. Then I see the young brahman bull standing across the white line in the middle of the road. We wait till the bull deigns to move.

(That incident is really from the way up. I don't want to say, I forgot to mention. Assume that it happened either now or earlier.)

For a while I'm stuck between two cars. The car+caravan ahead is going at a good speed -- but keeps slowing down. The car+caravan behind is too close to my tail. It's a pleasantly winding road with good scenery, I'd just sit well behind -- if not for the tailgater. Finally I overtake. And don't see either car again.

Drive past Warmun, I've been there before :-)

I stop for fuel at Halls Creek. Also buy a sandwich, chocolate & iced coffee for lunch. The man behiind the counter says that if I spend just $8 more I get 10c per litre off my fuel... We calculate... I buy $8 of extras, I save $8 on fuel. Fair enough :-) I buy a packet of biscuits (good for snacking). Another chocolate bar for later -- and a pie, which I eat in the truck before I drive on.

Fuel at HC: 76 litres at 143.9, $110

... which took me 656 km

Dang! I spent an extra $8 for a saving of only $7.65 ! Still that did get me dinner :-)

Out of Halls Creek and on to Fitzroy Crossing. Half way to FC I notice something odd: the steady flow of cars with caravans heading east (to HC) has changed to a steady flow of just cars. My interpretation: the cars are driving from "dry" FC to not-dry HC, on time for the Friday night pub session. Sigh.

I stop for a coffee at FC's other roadhouse. From this side of the road the town seems much more pleasant. Perception adjusted by mood, I guess :-)

Now I'm close -- 130km -- to Willare roadhouse. Will I spend the night there, or drive on a bit and sleep in a truck bay? Probably drive on... in which case, I need a break from driving.

I pull over into a truck bay which includes an enormous boab. I'm just settling in -- sending an email to Deb, preparing to write this blog post -- when a car zooms by. I notice it because it sounds as though it has a loose canvas cover flapping in the wind. What it has, is a burst tyre.

I wonder if I can help. Probably not, I have no practical skills. He's pulled over 200m down the road, he can walk here if he thinks I can help. When I next look -- fifteen minutes later -- he's gone. Seems the driver had both skills and a spare wheel.

I type this post. The sun has now set -- a smear of bright orangey-red across the horizon. I can barely see the keyboard.

Time to post -- it may send, internet is intermittent -- and then I drive on to Willare.

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"If it's green, it's biology; if it stinks, it's chemistry; if it has numbers, it's maths; if it doesn't work, it's technology" – Author unknown.

    

Broome & Beyond: last full day in Kununurra

I start the day with a Hotel Kununurra continental breakfast. Cereal, toast, fruit. There's salmon and cold meats and cheese but I'm not ready for that. The breakfast is either excellent value for money or an absolute rip-off. I wasn't listening when I was told the price, it's either $13 or $30.

Off to the farm, to catch up with my brother and his wife.

From the front room of their farmhouse there's a view, across to the creek in one direction, across the plains to the hills in another. I hadn't realised that this was deliberate, overgrown trees have been chopped to allow the view. It's a beautiful view!

Then off for an hour or so visiting their younger daughter and her live-in lover. (Come on, it's been more years than I can count! I should be able to think of a better term :-)

These two run trail rides and practical courses for school children who do not want to sit still indoors. Lots of horse work and farm work, it seems to be going very well. Their house is very nice, with large, spacious rooms -- though very few of them. Not bad for a kit home which, I'm told, was delivered as pieces which did not fit together.

I watch horses being fed. Then we sit and chat. They are a very nice couple.

Back to the homestead for lunch. Then into town, to the library, to meet with older niece. I've been given a book to return, it's overdue, I drop it in the returns slot and hide amongst the shelves.

Neice arrives and we walk to the lower lookout on Kellys Knob. Phew! Niece sets a fast pace, temperature in the low 30s, reasonably dry but I manage to build up a sweat. Great view, though :-)

We walk back via an aboriginal art gallery. Interesting work but my taste in art is very subjective, there are only one or two paintings that I like.

Back at the library... it's both public and school library... I'm parked next to the kiss-and-tell parking -- and school is just out. I wait through what seems like five minutes, a hundred cars, hundreds of kids... and I can drive away.

Out along Weaber Plains Road. To check out local attractions: the Hoochery and the Sandalwood Factory. There are tea towels, my need for presents is satisfied!

It's an interesting drive, through the irrigation area. There are broad paddocks of ploughed soil, broad acres of monoculture. Far more trees than when I last visited. Some trees are mango (starting to flower), most are sandalwood. Which explains the enormous swathes of trees on the drive towards Kununurra: sandalwood plantations.

When I first visited Kna (50 years ago?!) the irrigation area was new. My brother and I stepped through the thick mud of irrigation channels to look at the high tech system: lengths of poly pipe acting as siphons to draw water out of the channel into the paddock. Each length of poly pipe -- one or two every metre -- was started flowing by hand, to water a paddock.

Today as I drive next to a channel I see... the same poly pipe system. It obviously works well.

Back towards the farm... Passing by town I stop and try the hotspot. It doesn't work. No signal, it says. On the edge of town?!

At the farm for dinner with "the adults". More chat at a relaxed pace. Back to the hotel -- stand outside and test the hotspot, it still doesn't work.

The farm and farmhouse look good. The weather is fine, warm and very pleasant. The old people :-) are doing ... okay ... for people who are older than me. The daughters -- and husbands, partners, children -- are doing brilliantly well for themselves. Showing all the signs of succeeding despite an excellent upbringing...

Tomorrow, I hit the road for home.

Time to relax (yet again), read a bit... and sleep.

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"If it's green, it's biology; if it stinks, it's chemistry; if it has numbers, it's maths; if it doesn't work, it's technology" – Author unknown.

Broome & Beyond: Kununurra

Wednesday 19th July

Fuel, yesterday at Warmun: 92 litres @ 159.0, $146

for 790 km travelled

====

Wake up, not too early. Enjoy a slow start to the day in my very clean and comfortable hotel room :-) Two cups of tea to start the day. Out to the truck...

... To drive across the road, to buy sandwiches for breakfast. Which I take with me, to eat on the road. I stop twice to eat "breakfast" at different points with different views of the Buddha. I only spill one lump of sandwich filling on my lap.

Into the farm... For those who came in late, this is my brother's farm. I'm here to say hello to the family, then I turn round and go home again. Give it a couple of days... Normally, when I visit, I would stay on the farm. This time I don't want to wear them out with visiting... This is my *older* brother :-)

Once again, the farm has changed since my previous visit. It's easy to find the entrance but the drive in has more buildings, more trees, more signs of occupation. There are three generations plus several people renting, occupying various corners of the farm. It's all so ... grown... I begin to wonder if I'm on the right track!

Then I spot the original "homestead"... I've arrived :-)

The gardens are lush. It's amazingly peaceful. There's a note on the door, Checking cattle, back by 10am. I settle down to wait.

Two things strike me. One, it is so very peaceful. No traffic, no people. Occasional birds. A view through the garden to the creek and distant bush.

Two, this is my first visit since our father died. He had lived on a corner of the farm for years, watching as the family expanded to four generations. Each morning I would walk to his patch to say hello, perhaps get some breakfast, come back to the homestead for a later breakfast. I'll miss those visits.

Anyway, life goes on. My brother and his wife return. We sit, chat, brag about our families. Relax, read. Our catching up is always low key :-)

After lunch I'm called on to wander down the road to help Jono. Simple stuff, just lifting and shifting metal beams. The shape makes it easy for two but impossible for one person to move them. Jono is building a verandah to add to their house. The house is already trwice the original size. After several extensions Jono has realised that it would have beeen easier to build a second house.

I spend some time just sitting, watching Jono weld, with occasional conversation. Also check the inside of their house -- which is very nice.

Three girls appear... their mother appears soon after... the rate of conversation is no longer languid :-) We chat, mostly inconsequential stuff. I'm not after a detailed history, just a snapshot impression of how things are now. All well, from what I can tell ! Though high shool for the girls -- a better high shool -- is still a big question.

Back to the main house for a nice dinner and more idle chit chat. Very enjoyable. Time to head back to my hotel, to let the exhausted farmers sleep :-)

All looks to under control here. I'll be back tomorrow. Then, probably head south on Friday. That's the current plan, I'll see how it all goes...

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"If it's green, it's biology; if it stinks, it's chemistry; if it has numbers, it's maths; if it doesn't work, it's technology" – Author unknown.

https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/
   

Broome & Beyond: Kununurra

Tuesday 18th July

Stepping back in time from the previous post: I drove into the entrance to the Bungles. Yes, there's a geocache. And that's not all that's new since the last visit...

Deb & I drove into the Bungle Bungles. Fifteen years ago. We were on our way to Cindy & Jono's wedding and didn't have time to explore. We drove to a vantage point -- still outside the Bungles -- and looked. Then drove out again. Since then...

Last visit, there was a cleared space for parking caravans. Then a rough road in. Today there's a gravel parking area. Stone walls with "interpretive signs" -- explanation of what it's all about. Posts to mark the start of the road in. Various warning signs, public toilets, a geocache. And, apparently, caravan park just 1km in, helicopter flights over, and the same very rough road to the Bungles themselves.

Same Bungles, more infrastructure.

Driving by myself, I don't do many side trips... Back on the road, off to Doon Doon... to pick up from the previous post:

The road continues to twist and turn, through scenic hills and gullies. I'm enjoying the drive, taking it easy.

I pass several kilometres(!) of plantation, it looks like three or four types of trees, alternating.

The native cotton trees are flowering, deep butter yellow.

I reach the T junction at Victoria Highway: left to Wyndham, right to Kununurra. There's a rest stop and a geocache. I don't find the cache. (The hint is that it's somewhere in the metal roof of a shelter. Well above my head. I don't want to grope blindly around the metal struts.)

The public toilets at the 24 hour stop and the parking area next to the stop are both disgusting. Examples of the littering habits of ... whoever stops there.

On the road to Kna there's a sign to a tourist highlight, Molly Spring. I drive down the 3km of quite rough road. It's beautiful ! A deep rock pool, the size of a large home swimming pool. Fed by a waterfall. Filled with a couple of families enjoying themselves.

I had considered getting wet... but it's too cold and too crowded for me. I paddle my feet and it's very refreshing :-)

On to Kna, check in at the Hotel Kununurra. I had booked a small, single-bed room, their cheapest. I've been upgraded... And it's very nice, too :-)

If you were here, Deb, you could kick me out of the queen bed into the single... or into the trundle bed which is stashed underneath. Plenty of room for two... And enough tea, coffee, milk, towels -- for four! Looks like it'll be party time every night :-)

I prepare to shower: identify the tube of shampoo, unwrap a bar of soap. There's a tube of body wash -- how fancy :-) -- but it looks too much like the shampoo, for a man who does not wear his reading glasses into the shower.

I shower -- and feel refreshed :-) Wash the clothes which I have worn for the last few days: running shorts & running shirt. (Cool, comfortable, easy to wash.)

And start to spread my stuff around the room.

Soon I'll head out to dinner. Tomorrow I visit the farm. (Family, for those who came in late.)

The hotspot isn't able to connect, so I'll not post this yet. I may remember all sorts of things that I have forgotten to mention ... :-)

====

A night of smells !

The hotel reception / dining area smells of age and cooked food. I was just there to confirm that breakfast is not covered in my accommodation charge. But it is available. As is a better -- cooked -- breakfast across the road in the Wild Mango.

I go out, wander across the road in what I believe is the general direction of "town". Sure enough, first open shop I see is a Chinese restaurant. Inside smells of deep frying and other not-very-exotic cooking odours, I decide on takeaways. A quick choice, sweet & sour pork. Can't go far wrong with s&s pork.

I wait outside. It's a beautiful evening, pleasantly balmy. There's a smell of stale food near the shop, I move further away. The breeze brings hints of sewage but, luckily, the breeze shifts. There are a few people around. More cars than pedestrains.

My food is ready, I take it back to the hotel. It's delicious! Deep fried crispy battered pork (or pork substitute, who can tell) with the vegetables and sauce in a separate container, so the batter does not get soggy. Enough steamed rice to satisfy a good appetite.

Followed by coffee, relaxing, reading and this final blogging. Which will probably be sent -- when the hotspot works again -- in the morning. I'll close it off now, ready to go when the connection comes live...

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"If it's green, it's biology; if it stinks, it's chemistry; if it has numbers, it's maths; if it doesn't work, it's technology" – Author unknown.

https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/
   

Broome & Beyond: Doon Doon Roadhouse

I'm packed up (what little there is to pack :-) and driving to the nearby geocache when I realise, this is not just a non-truck truck bay. It's a minimum-facility camping area for the Little Panton River. The old river crossing is a ford, still with a bit of water flowing over.

There is a tent, a few caravans, people relaxing. The horses have gathered by the river, close to the new road bridge. There are pools, not too big and lots of sandy river bottom. Still not much passing traffic. Very, very peaceful.

I look at the sand and the water. Then drive back to the road -- and the cache is in easy reach, just under the bridge.

Onward !

The country has changed. Before HC it was flat as a board. Now it's hills. Not huge hills -- though they do get higher. It looks like pleasant, rolling countryside -- until I notice the rocks sticking out of the hills. Now it looks like beautiful country which would be hell for a pedestrian.

Occasionally, there is need for a message such as this:

Forgot to mention this earlier: Just outside Broome, on the way to Cape Leveque, the truck passed 222,222 km on the odometer. Both Deb & I were impressed :-)  I seem to remember that the Prado was close to 100,000 when I bought it.

I write as stream of consciousness. Sometimes this means going back to add something to the day's post. Sometimes -- when the post has been posted -- I need to add a forgotten point. Some points -- such as 222,222 above -- have been forgotten through many, many postings... Okay, back to today.

I pick up a few more caches. Most, I think, are placed by the same person. He is someone who knows how to write a good "hint"... thank goodness. After Warmun, however, the temperature is above 30, I can't find one cache, I no longer stop for every single cache...

There's a lot of roadwork, mostly repairing or replacing road surface. This could be where all the contracttors go from the HC hotel. There are also half a dozen one-lane bridges and lots of winding road. Definitely a very scenic part of the drive north.

I stop for fuel at Warmun. Turns out I'm at the community shop rather than the roadhouse. There is a sign, "Roadhouse 1km", I missed it. No matter.

The shop is very relaxed. The car filling up ahead of me is also buying groceries. All passengers must be in the shop. The driver just ahead of me has been talking to the locals, she drives on... I guess, now, that she found out that this is the shop not the roadhouse. People start boarding the car at the pump. Mother, two young women, some groceries. A bit of discussion as to who will sit where.

I drive up to the pump. Put the nozzle in the tank and wait... Nothing happens. A woman calls out, I need to go inside.

Inside is the shop. It seems that payment is made in advance. I want to just fill up, don't know how much it will take, so I leave my credit card at the counter. Back outside, fill up.

I search the shop, can't find iced coffee. See a woman with milk... there must also be coffee... look where she came from... find iced coffee. Back to the counter. Wait in queue. An older woman says, After you, she still needs to sort out her fuel. Pre-pay is the standard, I guess.

It's a relaxed place to queue. Watching, listening to the locals buying groceries. The place has a friendly feel though I do feel like the odd one out. Good practice for me. This is, after all, the local community.

Onward ! A cache close by. On to the roadhouse. It's crowded! Glad I don't need fuel. I do dump some fruit from Broome... It seems that fruit is not allowed north of here. This may only apply to stone fruit and citrus. Doesn't matter, I ate enough apples -- this morning -- for three doctors. Now I dump the few that are left.

Lunch at Doon Doon roadhouse. Quite a nice place. Cache notes indicate that it's at least eight years old but it seems a lot newer.The weather is warm but not in the shade where I'm sitting. There's a cache, I looked, failed to find.

In the roadhouse the woman at the counter -- visitor from Europe, Germany? from the accent -- is dedicated to turniing over the various greased comestibles in the bain marie. It takes her five minutes to see me standing in front of her.

I take the free driver's tea, a meat pie and an iced coffee for the drive. (It'll be nice and warm by then!) The pie advertises itself as "60% bigger". I'd guess that the meat is 60% cheaper. Tastes okay, though. Especially since breakfast was a muesli bar and dinner is still more than 100km away.

Time to drive...

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Fortune, seeing that she could not make fools wise, has made them lucky." - Michel de Montaigne

https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/
   

Broome & Beyond: past Halls Creek

Tuesday 18th July, early morning

Yesterday, Monday:

After a relaxing break I leave Willare Roadhouse. There's plenty of time, I'll reach Halls Creek by about 5:30. I even have time to stop for a few geocaches...

Until I realise that I have tootled along so casually that I will not reach Halls Creek till 6pm -- and that the sun sets at 5:15. Sunset is one of the data fields provided by the Garmin GPS. As I drive east the sunset time gradually shifts to 5:11... and my eta in Halls Creek is still 6. Oh well.

Fitzroy Crossing. I buy a sandwich -- ham, cheese, salad, very good -- and drive on. FC is uninspiring. The view from the highway is, on a scale of places I want to stop, towards the "it's a dump" end of the scale. Just over the river is the FC Resort. It's at the other, "it's a resort" end of the I'm not interested scale.

I'm enjoying the countryside. Mostly it's flat, all the way to the horizon. With occasional small bumps, too small to be called hills. And a variety of grass and scrub and small trees and undergrowth. Plus a creek or two, marked by a distinct line of higher and thicker trees. The road passes the entry to stations with familiar names, every few years one or the other will be on the news, being bought or sold, or on Australian Story...

I stop for one more geocache, called "Cattle Country". It should be called "Noogera Burr Country". (No, that spelling is probably wrong. I'll check when I convert these daily postings into a printed trtavel journal.) The cache is a short way down a dirt track, past a sign warning of the burr. It's 30m off the track. Back on the track -- my soles are absolutely covered with burrs! I scrape them off -- very carefully -- and drive on.

I had thought of camping at Mary Pool. I know it's a nice spot, I called in there once before. But the sun is still up and I can't be bothered putting up the tent... Actually, it's more the thought of putting it away the next morning that seems too much bother!

I'll reach Halls Creek after dark. My only worry is that the hotel will be full.

Halls Creek. I find the hotel. It is full ! Is there another hotel in town? I ask. Yes, but it will also be full... it's the contractors. You'll need to go on to Turkey Creek... they'll probably be full... phone ahead to Kununurra...

Friendly advice. But Kununurra is still several hundred km away. And I'm booked in there but not till the next night... Oh well, back to Plan B.

First, I check that the map shows fuel at Turkey Creek (aka Warmun). Yes, that's okay. I could probably get to Kna but prefer to fill up. So I drive about 30km and find exactly what I'm after, a truck bay with a "no trucks" sign. It's a few hundred metres of old sealed road, parallel to the current highway.

There's a light 100m ahead, another happy camper. Another car passes, pauses, drives on. I unroll the sleeping bag and settle down to sleep in the truck.

I'm in the passenger seat, with the seat laid back. It takes a while to balance a pillow on the head rest. Apart from that, it's comfortable. the highway is 50m away. A truck passes, a car passes, that's it for the night. I sleep soundly.

I wake once to admire the stars. And again as the sliver of moon shines in the window. Finally, a truck passes and wakes me up, it's almost six o'clock.

Three horses are grazing about 30m away, they slowly wander away. The other happy camper turns out -- now I can see them -- to be three caravans. Hmmm where they are parked may be on top of a geocache :-( The sun is now up. Two of the horses are going to say hello to the caravans. A few cars pass. Birds are making noises.

Very, very peaceful.

And the hotspot proves its worth -- it works! So I eat a muesli bar and drink water for breakfast. Listeniing to the silence. Typing this post to the blog.

I'll gather some figures from yesterday and email this post...

Fuel: 92 litres at 142.9, $132

... that took the truck 775km 

drove 718m in about 10 hours (not really sure what time I stopped)

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Fortune, seeing that she could not make fools wise, has made them lucky." - Michel de Montaigne

https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/
   

Broome & Beyond: beyond...

Monday 17th July

Once again, Deb & I are up before the alarm. Six am. We want to make sure that Deb gets to the airport on time; she flies home today. Up, breakfast, pack, load truck... and we still have two hours to spare :-)

We stall for a while. Then it's off to the airport. Deb checks in. There's still more than an hour till her plane leaves Broome. I have a long drive ahead of me so I abandon Deb at Broome airport... We've said goodbye, anything else is anticlimax.

My first stop is at a garage to re-inflate the tyres. I let just a bit of air out, for the Cape Leveque Road. Now they are back to "highway pressure"... rock hard. I'll see how it runs, I may adjust the pressure if it's too hard when the day warms up. For now it's back to almost as hard as post-service. Which reminds me...

I took the truck in for service just a couple of weeks ago. With specific instructions that it needed to be all good for a long drive. Niggles noticed so far:

... Air con blows cool but not cold

... Steering pulls slightly to the left

... Fuel guage says half full when it's much more than half gone

And -- nothing to do with the last service:

... When I sit up straight -- which I prefer for long drives -- the mirror is facing too low. It won't shift up. The mirror is part of the reversing camera installation.

... Again, sitting up straight, the sun visor -- pushed forward -- blocks my view. It's the only annoying thing about the "as manufactured" Prado !

There, glad to get all that off my chest :-)

I leave Deb at Broome airport. I leave Broome. Two days here & two days there worked very well. We'd have been stir crazy if we had all week in Broome... Well, I would have read & slept but Deb would have driven me crazy by wanting to do something... anything :-)

I find a geocache ! At Deep Creek, by the side of the road. I notice that it's just at the time when Deb will be taking off... There's an empty passenger seat and an half-empty back seat where Deb's case should be... Sigh... Ah well.

Another geocache! At a 24-hour stop. A few people there, with caravans. One poor couple are having their car loaded onto a truck. I'm sure their car is not a Prado... :-)

Lots of traffic on the road, mostly heading towards Broome. I'm going slowly but still not many cars pass me from the Broome direction. It's the great migration south.

There's the geocache stop. Then a truck bay. Then a large abattoir in the middle of what seems to be nowhere !

There's a large boab close to the road. Knocked about a bit, holes in it, showing signs of being within reach of the road? Anyway, that's the first... and there are regular boab sightings from then on.

Derby -- and its three or four caches -- is less than fifty km due west. Once again, I will bypass Derby. I stop for a break at Willare Roadhouse. It's familiar!

This is where I spent a night on my last trip north. Upstairs, a room with a verandah on one side and a corridor to the shared ablutions on the other. When I left the light on my bed -- under the light -- was thick with little black beetles. And my first sighting of an enormous expanding truck-trailer-caravan was in the caravvan area outside... But that was years ago.

Today I have a pie and coffee. Free coffee for the driver! First time I've actually been asked if I'm the driver.  So I'm sitting outside, under a shady shelter, enjoying a break.

The day started cool in Broome. At 10:30 the temperature reached 30 and I changed into shorts. Now it's a few degrees warmer and very comfortable. In the shade :-)

Time to drive on...

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Fortune, seeing that she could not make fools wise, has made them lucky." - Michel de Montaigne

https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/
   

Broome & Beyond: last night in Broome

Sunday 17th July, after dinner

After a bit more relaxing, we drive to the post-run celebration. It's at Matso's, a brewery, so we have coffee and a packet of chips.

Quite a few runners are there, I may recognise one of them... I only really saw the few right at the end of the pack :-) There are presentations to the winners, thanks to all and sundry, plenty of applause. Good fun, glad we went, though we left after the formal stuff.

An hour to fill till dinner so we look for some geocaches. One is too hard to find and the "hint" is rubbish. But we find a couple of others. Including one near the Fishing Club, way down at the pointy end of Broome. Near the big jetty. It's a beautiful beach -- that's what's good about geocching, it (sometime) brings us to places which are well worth the visit.

Dinner at the same place as last night. Tonight we have barramundi. Delicious :-)  The place is, if anything, even more crowded than last night!

And home again...

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Fortune, seeing that she could not make fools wise, has made them lucky." - Michel de Montaigne

https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/
   

Broome & Beyond: post-run recovery

Sunday 16th July, written at 2pm

We get up as the caravan park shows signs of people stirring... general sound of movement, a car or two moving out. Not disturbing sounds -- except that we are keyed up to wake up early. We're up at five to six, five minutes before the alarm.

Tea, breakfast, an extra bit of banana for me. We head off, to arrive at Cable beach Surf Club with fifteen minutes to wait for the 7:15 pre-run briefing...

And we're off !

Deb heads off towards Point Gantheaume, I head to Coconut Well. Deb will run 10.5km, a quarter of a marathon. I will run a half marathon. (The full marathon is one of mine plus two of Deb's.) The tide is still going out, it will be low tide at about 8:45.

The sand is firm and flat. We had worried that there would be a sideways slope but it's level. Okay, up and down a bit but it's easy to pick a level path. Deb tells me that she moved to the back of her mob and stayed there. I'm with perhaps eight people, spread out, watching the pelloton move gradually away.

After the first five km, us tail-enders do a bit of position swapping. I push just a little harder and overtake a man who then, slowly, drops behind. There's a woman who overtakes me on the way out, I pass her on the way back and finish just a minute or two ahead of her. She may be pregnant, I take every advantage that I can :-)

In sight of the finish -- and in sight of the main beach at Cable Beach -- and there's a nest of umbrellas on the beach. It doesn't inspire me to stay near the beach! Anyway... I run through them and past the finish. Two and a half hours and I beat a few other runners :-)

Deb is waiting at the finish... She may not have beaten anyone but enjoyed the run. Though it was a bit dispiriting to see everyone else pull ahead. (Same with me but I overcome that by aiming to keep up with someone who is *not* pulling ahead!) And Deb doesn't get a medal :-( Still, we are both glad that we were in the run, it gives an extra purpose to being in Broome.

On my way out (the first half of the run) there were about four beach shelters and groups of people. On the way back there were a few dozen, plus cars and plenty of people. (Including one man walking back to his friends. Noticeable only because he was not wearing any pants.) Then the crowd of umbrellas at the end.

All broad beach, all the way. Good place for a man with a bucket and spade, until the cars arrived. An interesting place for a run :-)

Back home. Iced coffee for recovery, tea for more recovery. Pot noodles for lunch, we couldn't be bothered going out. I had Satay Chicken Flavour... satay because I added peanut paste. Very nice :-)

Relaxing for a couple of hours. Till we go out to post-run presentations at Matso's (they are sponsors). Dinner is booked for the same place as last night. It was good food and a very pleasant spot.

I have also booked a hotel room for Kununurra. I plan to visit the farm during the day but sleep (and probably eat dinner) in town. No use wearing out my welcome...

Time now for a bit more relaxing.

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Fortune, seeing that she could not make fools wise, has made them lucky." - Michel de Montaigne

https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/
   

Broome & Beyond: still Broome, again

Saturday 15th July, after dinner

We went out to dinner at the Cable Beach General Store & Cafe. Or something like that. I know I typed the wrong name in the last post.

It's a shop on the edge of Cable Beach. A shop & cafe. We were surprissed when we turned up and found three other booked tables. The fact that there were lots of customers was no surprise, it's Saturday night. Still, it doesn't seem the sort of place where people would book a table!

We take the special of the day, lasagne. Everyone working in the shop is Asian (Chinese? with accents, so not just Broome Japanese) so of course the Italian lasagne is excellent :-)

Thank goodness for a meal that I can understand!

A Turkish Delight bar to take home for dessert. Deb has made coffee. TV is on. Time to relax (as long as I avoid watching the tv).

Tomorrow should be... fun :-)

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Fortune, seeing that she could not make fools wise, has made them lucky." - Michel de Montaigne

    

Broome & Beyond: back in Broome

Saturday 15th July, 2pm

Yesterday, still at Kooljaman, early afternoon:

I follow Deb to the Eastern Beach. That's the one that faces into the sound, sheltered from the open ocean so it's safe for swimming. I find Deb sitting in the shade of a rock, on the beach. Comfortable, cool, good view over the water.

Deb goes in for a splash in the ocean. I stand in water up to my knees. There's too much water for me, I decide, and it's rather cold. When I get hot I prefer to sit in the shade. I lack Deb's urge to cool off in large bodies of water. Back to sitting in the shade. I'm comfortably warm.

Then we go back to Minka's Cafe (or some name like that). It's just up from the beach. We order fruit frappes. They are quite large! And delicious :-)

We walk over the rise, back to our tent, sipping frappe on the way.

On the way, we pass *large* tents. These are family-size versions of our accommodation: a tent built on a wooden platform. Except that the tent is full self-catering accommodation for (if I remember correctly) eight people. The "en suite" is a separate building -- metal -- on one end of the platform.

Somewhere near this Eastern Beach are the two-people-with-en-suite tents that I wanted. But they were all booked. Not to worry, our tent is fine... if a bit crowded with our junk :-)  The weather is great for sitting outside, where we have shade and chairs. Except that the chairs are very hard wood.

Deb has a post-swim shower. We sit round, relaxing, reading. Till Deb gets restless and goes off to look for a more comfortable seat. I finish my book and find Deb near the restaurant. Sitting with an ocean view. Very nice.

I have the camera, because Deb wants a photo of the red rocks in the setting sun. We walk to the beach. This time, the Western -- open-ocean-facing -- Beach. Deb was there yesterday, for the sunset. It's supposed to be spectacular. Deb says that the sun on the rocks was spectacular. Apart from that... for us, the sun always sets over the ocean. Pretty enough but pretty common.

By the time we get back it's almost half past five -- when the takeaway diner starts serving. We order a pizza. It's delicious though it doesn't seem to be the one we ordered. We leave a lot of olives.

Tonight is live music night. Bec & Dave, live-in music for a month, start off. Then the 

Family Shovellers from Oomboolgurri. Both lots are good. It's quite crowded, we leave after eating. It's okay, we can hear the music from our tent.

"Quiet time" at the caravan park is from 9pm so the music stops then. Probably. I was asleep half an hour before that...

====

... To wake up at 6:30 am Saturday. To a bit of dawn chorus of birds. And quiet sounds of a caravan park starting to stir. Breakfast, pack, leave... by 9am. Steady driving with only a few stops.

Our opinions on Kooljaman: Excellent place to have stayed. Cape Leveque is well worth the visit. Two nights is ideal, giving a full day to explore and/or relax. Any more time would be too much -- unless you enjoy just being at a beach (which is not *our* thing, though I would like to spend a few hours with a bucket & spade...).

The tent accommodation -- really just a bedroom -- is ideal for the two nights, once I adjusted to the passing parade of people and sharing of ablution blocks. And opened/closed curtains so we looked out on park & bush rather than neighbouring tents... Not so good for us anti-social people if we wanted to cook in the shared "kitchen".

Tent price is good, Raugi's restaurant prices are exorbitant. The meal was worth it but we appreciated the takeaway -- cheaper, less fancy -- option on our second night. The takeaway option is only available Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings.

Deb says, she's glad there's no swimming pool. At Eco Beach she heard one mother trying and failing to get her child from the pool to the beach. Eco is a resort, just slightly... pretentious. Again, the two-night stay was ideal. For us. Kooljaman is more comfortable... for us. Still too crowded... for us :-)

Back to the drive out: We go off the main road to check out the police station. Surprising large (includes accommodation, I suppose), modern, looks pleasant. There's fuel nearby, we don't need it. Must be self-service and self-pay, we don't see much other than the pumps.

I notice a cross-roads sign -- off in the bush. Then realise that we are driving parallel to the old road, it can still be seen. In some parts it's still a dirt track. Other times there's a green belt of regrowth.

Off the bitumen, onto the graded dirt. Thiis time I check: it's almost 100km of dirt road. At some points it's like driving down a corridor, with red dirt floor, green & gold walls -- the wattles are in full bloom -- and clear blue-sky ceiling. A lot of the "floor" has been graded, over many years, to be a metre or more below ground level. Could be interesting when it rains :-)

We roar by... stop... reverse, to check out a grave by the road. Quite a lot of work has been done: a surrounding low fence, clear ground for a metre or more all round, a tree planted. There's a plastic water bottle, full... for passers-by to water the tree. I think. If I were sure, if I thought of it on time, I would have provided water. Interestingly, the grave area, inside its fence, is filled with bottles and cans, perhaps remains of a wake. But no rubbish outside the fence. A touching memorial, really.

Our only other stop is to stretch our legs at a small and shaded parking area. Just clear ground under trees beside the road. It's absolutely filthy with litter, the only place on this road where we have noticed rubbish. (Except for the two or three items which have been shaken off passing cars. For example, today I saw the lid of a tupperware-type container. A bit later I spotted the container. Oops!)

And we're back on bitumen! On to the main road. Nine km to Broome...

We head straight for the surf club at Cable Beach. They are preparing for a wedding at 3:30... I hope no-one is overdressed, it's a few degrees above 30.

Our race organiser -- he lives in Kununurra, organises a run there and tomorrow's run in Broome -- has a small shelter on the grass. We get our race numbers. We're ready to go ! Ready...?! Anyway, that's tomorrow.

Now it's lunch time. We eat at Zanders because it's the nearest cafe. It would be more pleasant -- Zanders and Broome -- with less people. This is the last weekend of school holidays, perhaps it will be quieter next week... when we're gone.

Back to the truck. Back to the Vacation Village. Back to the same chalet as last time... We bought milk for tea plus a few odds and ends. Now we are booked in to the same Broome Store & Cafe -- for dinner. Everything else looks to be too fancy.

Now... resting.

Oh, and:

210km driven in three hours. Approximately. I looked at the gps -- and have now forgotten the figures. I'll check the gps tracks when we get home... maybe :-)

And $290 for two nights, two people, at Broome Vacation Village.

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Fortune, seeing that she could not make fools wise, has made them lucky." - Michel de Montaigne

    

Broome & Beyond: One Arm Point

still Friday 14th, almost 2pm

Deb planned our day. So far, it's worked well. I think I've covered the early morning run... Did I mention the wifi? The camp wifi finally came up -- and wants money. The telstra hotspot finally worked, it's always better in the morning. And I found out how to stop google downloading a static map that I once looked at. So:

Breakfast, we have poached eggs and bacon. On nice bread, bits of whatever you call the bigger version of baguette. Very neat poached eggs... Deb discovered the secret on our last holiday: wrap the egg in gladwrap before poaching.

What are we doing today? asks the waitress. Visiting One Arm Point, we reply. Oh, there's things to do there, she says. You can watch the tide go in... and out... and there's the hatchery. She is struggling to provide any other highlights :-)

We drive to One Arm Point. Not sure what's there -- other than a geocache -- and the mysterious Hatchery. It's just -- as far as we know -- the only other point of interest at this end of Cape Leveque.

It's another neat and tidy community, as far as we can see. A few road signs saying, Stop Community Private Property. It seems that we need a pass to visit. What we will be visiting, we are not sure. We go to the shop, ask about a pass. They could sell it or we could go to The Office.

We go to The Office, it's just across the road. Pay $30 for two day passes. Drive on.

It's a small community and the provided map is clear. Deb guides me to the beaches. Broad white beaches... the tide is out. There are shelters at the first beach.

I really do appreciate a community that builds a shelter for *cars* at the beach! We drive under, park in the shade, wander round. At the first beach (with a name I can't remember). At Middle Beach. At Round Rock, though we can't see any especially round rocks. Just a very nice view over ocean and islands.

We do see signs that we are near Horizontal Falls: the ocean water is rushing one way -- we can see the water flow -- and the wind is trying to blow it back. There's a lot of water flowing by!

The track is rough dirt with plenty of rocks. Not too bad, just needs care while driving. The area is calm. There have been attempts to plant trees -- nothing much has survived. It's coastal-sand desert. Then we reach the Hatchery.

The locals breed fish and shellfish in tanks. Polish the trochus shells, eat some fish, release others into the wild. There are two tour groups already here. We stay clear of the groups and admire the fish -- and one turtle -- in their tanks. All good fun :-)

There's a great heavy somewhat mangy dog lying on his back in the shade. In all the time we are there, I think he may have moved -- slightly -- once. It's a dog's life, indeed.

The Hatchery is interesting, well worth the visit. Especially since we are in the area... And the One Arm geocache is next to the entry gate. Got it !

On the way out of One Arm community we pass the airfield. Two float-planes there, with a busload of tourists getting the pre-flight briefing.

====

We drive back via the Cygnet Bay pearl farm and bistro (bistro?!), it's almost noon.

Side note: Deb has absolutely no idea how to just sit. She went for a bit of a rest in the tent but it is stifling. She sat next to me (while I'm blogging), reading and doing a crossword. After 20 minutes -- I asked if she could possibly wait a full hour -- she's off on the next stage of the day's activities. When I'm ready, I'll follow Deb to the beach (and cafe). And now, back to the bistro:

We're walking towards the restaurant -- and a busload of tourists overtakes us. Not to worry, we place an order and expect to wait. But it's not a long wait.

We're sitting & eating at a table on a verandah overlooking the bay. A shed for pearl farm activities off to one side. Beach, water, far side of bay, land further away, bush & garden, all spread out in front of us. Very pleasant indeed :-)

A brief walk, to a lookout then past the pearling shed. We drive home. Get passed by a police car on the way in but it's probably just a social visit. There's a police station near the road, just this side of the unsealed section.

Before we settle down, we find the nearest geocache, about 80m from our tent. We have now cleared the area! Found the two caches... the next nearest is 125km away.

And so we sit, and one of us relaxes. I'll wrap this up and follow Deb to the beach. With money, for the cafe on the way.

====
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
====

"Fortune, seeing that she could not make fools wise, has made them lucky." - Michel de Montaigne

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