Day 52 09/08/2013 Tom Price to Exmouth, on the Coral Coast.
It was a very mild night and very quiet until we heard a mining train go through at around 2.30 am! We did not rush this morning and by the time we had packed up and re-fuelled it was 9am before we left town. We were intending to stop en route to Exmouth at Emu Creek Station, but we were travelling so well that it soon became clear that we would easily make Exmouth before dark. Shortly after we left Tom Price, on an unsealed section of road, we were advised to slow down because of roadworks. A sign conveyed the message 'grader ahead'. We came over a small rise in the road, expecting to encounter the grader, but instead we saw a whole 'city' of road works stretched out in front of us...........it looked like a new (mining) road was being put in, and the amount of heavy machinery in use was unbelievable!
There are no towns between Tom Price and Exmouth, only a roadhouse at Nanutarra. We did not need fuel, so did not even stop there. We had had our coffee at a rest area earlier on, (Beasley River.....the river was dry), and our lunch too....at a different rest area of course....House Creek Bridge.....also no water in the creek!
We enjoyed the drive today. The desert was beautiful with shrubs in flower everywhere. The scenery changed from rugged cliffs, to rolling hills, to flat treed plains, to sand dune country and finally heathland, dotted with termite mounds. We saw cattle and emu, and finally sheep as we neared the coast.
Exmouth is a holiday town and is very busy at this time of year. We managed to secure a site at a caravan park in town, just for tonight, because we are headed to a beachfront camping site in the Cape Range NP tomorrow for 3 nights.
We decided to treat ourselves to dinner out tonight, so we had a shower, put on our finest camping clothes, and went to the Manta Ray Restaurant in the Ningaloo Novotel Resort. We had a delicious meal and enjoyed a little bit of luxury for a couple of hours. We are now back at the campsite!!!!! It is not as cold here as it was in the desert; nor do we expect the daytime temperatures to be as high, but I am sure it will be lovely for the few days that we are here. We are looking forward to it.