Navigating the Covid Maze July - August - September 2021

 Heading South from Broome

It's mid August and our time in Broome has come to an end. This is a bit of a watershed time in the trip. Heading south is a turn around, with us leaving the tropics with the subsequent fall in temperature, along with the realisation that we have passed the halfway mark. The upside to all this being lots of sights and places we have never seen or been too still to come.

Our first stop over was Karratha, 835 Km's  from Broome, being the longest leg of the trip. Due to the extra night at Halls Creek we had just the one night instead of two originally booked. The trip was drawn out with a scrub fire closing the H'way south of Port Headland. When first seeing the smoke a good distance away it was apparent that it was a major concern but only realising that we were to be held up listening to the 'truckies' on channel 40 on the 2 way radio, another handy resource to have on trips such as this. It was an hour and a half before we were able to get through. We turned around out of the queue back to Port Headland to a shopping centre and had coffee and a look around to kill the time.

Port Headland to Karratha and down to Geraldton is iron ore and other mineral mining country with turn offs all along the H'way to the various mines that are scattered all through the Kimberley's and Pilbara. Big trucks, big machinery, big trains and big ships are the order of the day in this neck of the woods, or more to the point, no woods! The country is as vast and open as the 'toys' are big.

Sandfire Roadhouse at Eighty Mile Beach 320 Km's from Broome

Pardoo Roadhouse 460 Km's from Broome

Held up by fire South of Port HeadlandFinally on our way

Karratha Port

Empty Ore Train heading East to the Newman mine

Next Stop

RAC Ningaloo Reef Resort - Coral Bay

Ningaloo Reef

Whale watching boat trip

Whale watching

Just enough water inside the reef close to low tide to get back 

Safely docked

Next stop Geraldton

Our three nights at Coral Bay exceeded our expectations. Coral Bay, with the beautiful Ningaloo Reef, is a gem located in the harshness of WA's Gascoyne Region 1200 Km's north of Perth.

As we head south on our 700+ Km leg to Geraldton, it is from here that we farewell warm days and pleasant evenings  as we enter the final weeks of the southern winter. 

BUMMER!

But there are worse places than Geraldton, which was our first taste of a large city since Darwin. Being further south than we had been for a month the absence of the laid back, easy going ambiance of the tropics was very noticeable. Our 2 nights and having a full day to explore was a nice break.

Great little cafe

Scenes around Geraldton Wharf and foreshore.

Next Up Perth
 

Navigating the Covid Maze July - August - September 2021

 Through the East Kimberleys to Halls Creek

and onto Broome through the West Kimberleys

Sorry to leave Kununurra (August 11) being a destination worthy of more attention. One thing we did not have was a great deal of flexibility with changing our itinerary. Covid uncertainty inspired my decision to pre book all our accommodation, which turned out to be very wise move, as our WA G2G Border Pass being accepted required details of pre booked accommodation. Be that as it may, a circumstance was soon to arise causing some itinerary reshuffling.

Our next scheduled overnight stopover was Halls Creek, a shorter 350 Km scenic drive through the East Kimberley ranges. The area around Halls Creek is known for a couple of historical hallmarks, gold mining and the Wolfe Creek meteorite crater, the second largest in the world of which aerial shots were used in the filming of 'Wolf Creek'. Gold  was found in the Halls Creek area, the first find in WA, in 1885. Between 1885-87 10,000 prospectors 'migrated' to the goldfields  and Halls Creek township was established. Mining on a large scale was short lived due to the expense of transporting materials the long distances from the south and the subsequent gold discovery at Coolgardie. In 1954, the township was re established 15 Kms west on more forgiving terrain and to be closer to the airport.

It was here that some minor re scheduling was required, the only such hic-up we encountered. I had made a habit of filling up at most intermediate stops when stopping for rest etc. As stated, the leg to Halls Creek was the shortest of the trip and having a spare 25lts of fuel onboard decided not to worry with refuelling. Upon our arrival at the 'servo' at Halls Creek, we were informed that the town had run dry of ULP! The delivery from Wyndham  was estimated for 4.00pm the next day. The next fuel stop from Halls Creek was Fitzroy Crossing, 290 Kms away. My 25lts would leave us short as the load on the car had us averaging 12.5 lts/100 Kms. No choice but to stay an extra night. This meant we would miss our first of 5 nights in Broome which we were not happy about. We were booked for 2 nights at Karratha, our next destination from Broome, so after a few phone calls cancelled the affected night at Broome and extended a night and cancelled a night at Karratha. All good!

The cancellation at Karratha gave me a $190 credit at any Discovery Park good for 2 yrs which had the extra night at Halls Creek costing $70 plus meals. The bonus with the meals was the excellent restaurant at the motel which you would not expect to find at such a location.

Mustering 'chopper' taking off 

Motel Restaurant 'Russian Jacks'

Monument to Ivan Fredericks 1864-1904 aka 'Russian Jack' Kimberley gold miner who in 1885 pushed his sick friend in a wheelbarrow 50 Km's from the diggings to Halls Creek. Myth grew after this event that he pushed the wheelbarrow 300 Km's from Halls Creek to Wyndham! Chinese whispers?

Departing Halls Creek for the 690 Km leg to Broome

Fitzroy River

Broome was a stand alone highlight destination being a first for  Ngaire and our catching up with our niece Kath. This was my second visit and loved the place when visited in 2018 when Ngaire holidayed with a close friend to New Zealand. 

Checking in at Broome

Broome was influenced by this multiculturalism from early times

Great Museum

Darwin wasn't the only town bombed from the air by the Japenese in WW11 - Broome suffered significant damage and fatalities.

Famous for their alcoholic ginger beer

The 'Boab' tree

Pearling monument

Roebuck Bay

Broome Saturday Courthouse Markets

Time with our beautiful niece Kath

The Famous Cable Beach

I think at it's best

Just like us!