The direct route home.

The next day we phoned Beaurepaires at lunch time – 'no rim today, and it might not be tomorrow, it could be Friday'.

Aaargh! Another night in Karratha. The next day we rang again,just in case, but still no rim. 

 

Yet another night in Karratha.

 Friday morning we fretted for a couple of hours and then rang Beaurepaires – still no rim. But it was in Karratha – somewhere. The lovely manager, Fiona, was as frustrated as we were and sent one of the fitters around to the freight depot to try and find the rim and bring it back.

We phoned her back just after lunch and success!!! they had found the rim, fitted a tyre (with plenty of tread on it) and we were ready to roll.

We drove there and were more than happy to pay $51 freight, then we were back 'on the road again'.

We drove out of town, along the familiar road, past the lay-by where we'd stopped on Sunday,

5 days ago and continued on down the North West Coastal Highway.

We stopped for the night at the Nanutarra Roadhouse, where they have a small caravan park.

As this was just a quick overnight stop, and the temperature is far more pleasant than it was in the Kimberley, we opted for an unpowered site. The first girl quoted $35 for two people, I double checked and was about to ask how much a powered site was when someone else came to the counter from the kitchen and overhearing our conversation, corrected the girl and told me an unpowered site would be $10 per person, so only $20. I checked in.

We were parked on the edge of the camping area, overlooking a paddock which lead down to the Ashburton River. Along with most places along the highway, we shared the space with several cattle.

We walked over to the road house for dinner before having another early night. That interlude gave us some unexpected humour – I'd ordered the 'special', lasagne, chips and salad. A young girl brought out a plate of just chips and placed it in front of me.

'And the lasagne?' I asked.

'Yes, salad over there; she replied pointing at the salad bar.

I asked again, looking over at the counter, where the young (Danish backpacker) who had taken my order was indicating that he would deal with it.

I was happy to wait and let him sort it out when an older staff member came out of the kitchen, took my plate away, saying, 'Sorry'. She then went over to the servery and dished up a huge portion of lasagne.

It was just like a Fawlty Towers sketch, we both almost expected the older lady to say, 'She's from Barcelona'. As well as giving us some light relief it very good grub.

Considering it was a road house, the place was quiet overnight and we slept well.

The next morning we were the last to leave the camp ground, getting on the road by 9.20am.

We continued our leisurely pace down the highway, stopping for lunch at the Minilya roadhouse.
We crested a hill and were suddenly in what could only be described as an area of desertification. Quite a desolate, dry area. It reminded me of areas of Mali seen on the African Dakkar Rallies.

 

We travelled through the longest road works that we've EVER come across, it must have gone on for over 50kms. 
The termite mounds in this area were once again, the 'blobby' type with some resembling the children's movie character Big Hero 6.

 

The 'detour' was a dirt road along side, right next to, the highway. It was in good condition, but was soft, red dirt. The speed limit on this side road was posted as 60kmph. But this meant nothing to the trucks carrying the gravel to the road works.

When we stopped we for lunch I was surprised to see just how much red dust there was on the side of the van, all along the sides, up to the windows. Some caravan owners are quite fanatical about keeping their vans spotlessly clean – they wouldn't be pleased when they stopped for the night.

But if they were heading south, as we were, they would get help from above because as we approached Carnarvon it started to rain.

We drove down into the town centre and whilst Michael went off to buy the weekend newspapers I phoned around the caravan parks. The prices varied quite a bit but when we looked over them we decided that the Norwesta was offering the best deal. They offered a powered site for $34, but with a seniors card this dropped to $30.

As we checked in, it started to rain and the power went off for a few minutes but we were soon set up and settled in.

The rain came down heavily for a short time, and sure enough, at least two men were out in the rain with their brushes and cloths – cleaning their vans!!

The next morning we made an early start, getting on the road just after 8.30am.

The rain had stopped and we had a lovely quiet drive down the highway.

We stopped for a snack at the Wooramel Roadhouse and again at the Billabong Roadhouse.

Then we had a quick break at Galena Bridge before heading into Geraldton, and a visit to our friends, Mike and Judy. 
We were soon within sight of the lovely Chapman Valley as we neared Geraldton.

 
 

 

We certainly noticed the drop in temperature as the sun set, and for the first time in many weeks needed the duvet on the bed at night.

Monday morning we said Bye Bye to Mike and Judy and headed out of town, through Greenough, passed Dongara, onto the Indian Ocean Drive and HOME!!

We arrived home by 2pm and quickly unpacked most of the stuff, got the house back into action and

must admit we really, really enjoyed our comfy leather recliners in front of the large screen tv.

We had travelled a total of 11,297kms.

Spent $1,900 on fuel (average = $28.20/day)

$1,160 on accommodation (average $17.50/day).

We had a brilliant time.

It's good to travel, and it's good to be home – we are SOOO lucky to have both options.

So, until the next trip – a Bientot.