Broome

My friend Val has joined me in Broome for the week, having managed to get a last minute flight from Perth. It is nice to have company! Broome is absolutely packed with visitors: it’s hard to get a restaurant booking and even when you have one there is a long wait to get served. Our hotel, the Kimberley Sands is supposedly fully booked  - but far from full, because they are working at reduced capacity as they are short staffed. The other thing of note is that it is quite chilly for Broome. Even though it’s sunny, the temperature is a lot lower than normal for this time of year.

The hotel pool needs to be warmer!



Boab tree with nuts but no leaves.

Karratha to Port Hedland

An easy day’s drive, so I set off quite late (10.30 am). I made a brief stop at Roebourne just to stretch my legs. The river is pretty, but nothing was open in town on a Sunday morning:

I had a break from driving at a 24-hour stopping place. A big flock of white cockatoos had also stopped there and were well camouflaged in the trees:

At Port Hedland I had a booking at the Hospitality Inn, just across the road from Cemetery Beach:

An aboriginal family was having a BBQ and all the kids were in the sea.

This beach is know for turtles and there are plenty of information boards about the hatching process:

A final shot of the sunset, then I went back to my hotel for dinner. This was delicious chilli and garlic prawns w rice and mixed veggies:

Nanutarra to Karratha

The nights are still very cold, even though the days are warming up nicely. In a wooden cabin, you really feel the cold in the early morning: the only thing to do is to get up and go as soon as the sun rises. I didn’t feel this place gave value for money: it was very badly equipped: no microwave, not even a toaster, and the paper-thin walls allowed me to listen to phone conversations going on next door. Luckily they went to bed even before I did! 

It was lovely to hit the road and feel the sun  on me through the right hand side window. There was very little traffic going north at that hour, so I put the Prius into cruise control and relaxed. I stopped for a coffee at Fortescue Roadhouse where it was almost too windy to be outside, so I set off again immediately on the road to Karratha. This was an easy day’s drive of under 300 kms.

My accommodation at Karratha Central Apartments let me check in early at 11.30 am. I was very happy with the set-up as it had everything I needed and some I didn’t (eg a swimming pool - not really warm enough yet, said the receptionist). It is located very conveniently in the town centre, near to Coles and a very nice Asian Fusion restaurant called Lo’s. People were eating huge platefuls when I went in, but I restricted myself to Quinoa and Veggie Stacks, having just watched a new Michael Mosley program on TV.

In the late afternoon I wanted to go for a walk but couldn’t see the best way to go. Nobody else was out walking and nothing seemed to be going on. I walked as far as the Golf Club. There was a tightly-packed caravan site next to it and that was all. So I came back and consumed my Coles Salad Bowl and enjoyed the last of my Inspector Morse.

Nanutarra (contd)

Nanutarra Roadhouse is situated in a strategic spot next to the Ashburton River. In the wet season this is a raging torrent, I’ve been told, but today the remaining amount of water in the stream bed is not moving at all. In the early days, before there was a bridge, people driving north often had to wait 2 or 3 days for the water to subside so that they could safely cross. This happened more than once to JL, he told me. There are now 2 bridges, the latest built in 2004 and the first opened in 1966. JL’s colleague Gilbert Marsh designed the first one. Both JL and Gilbert were civil engineers in the Public Works Department and active in the early development of the state: Gilbert did bridges and JL did water supply for regional towns.

The two bridges, with a road train crossing the modern bridge at sunset.

Commemorative plaque mentioning Gilbert.

Looking upstream in the evening light.



Flowers on the periphery.

Spinifex pigeons pecking for crumbs in the caravan park.

Road train just setting off.

Carnarvon to Nanutarra Roadhouse

No wi-fi here and the Telstra 3G signal seems very weak. I’ll try to post a little something.

I stopped for a coffee at Minilya, near the river. Stopping places are few and far between on this stretch of the NW Highway, and are heavily populated with caravans taking a rest from the road:

After a long hot and boring drive, I arrived at Nanutarra Roadhouse at 2.00 pm and checked into one of their new cabins. This is the view from my veranda:

I have been entertaining myself listening to an Inspector Morse audiobook.

Geraldton to Carnarvon

As I drive north, the temperatures gradually increase, as does the price of fuel. Thank goodness for my Prius, which is very economical to run. Even though it is now 16 years old, it still does 100 kms on 5.5 litres of fuel. At the peak of its performance, it did 100 on 4.5 litres.

This morning the Ocean Centre Hotel was not serving breakfast. That did me a favour, as it made me go out to The Salt Dish. This has the reputation for being the best restaurant in town, small but beautiful! Like everywhere, they need staff and are advertising for a qualified chef. They have had to cut down opening for dinner to Friday and Saturday only. I enjoyed two perfectly poached eggs on sourdough. This is definitely the place to eat in Geraldton:

When I arrived in Carnarvon, there was just time for a walk on the old tramway route to Babbage Island before the sun went down:





The route is the grey line:

The wooden track is now worse for wear. I don’t think it will last much longer.

For dinner at the Hospitalty Inn, I enjoyed the best seafood chowder I’ve ever eaten;

Perth to Geraldton

On the road again! I’m driving up north in search of warmer weather. I didn’t stop much today; just kept going after a too-late start. It has been a beautifully clear sunny day: an ideal start to my holiday. I’m still trying to shake off a bad cold, which has morphed into a cough. 

Fields of yellow, last seen in Spain.

On the beach at Geraldton.


Looking back on the promenade towards my hotel:

Early to bed after a big plate of F and C with slaw.