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)

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Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"Fortune, seeing that she could not make fools wise, has made them lucky." - Michel de Montaigne

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