Day 47 - Eighty Mile Beach to Albert Tognolini Lookout Rest Area (525kms/7hrs)

We were up early so the boys could go fishing before check out. The beach was so different as it was a high tide of 7.12m. There were lots of people on the beach with their 4WD and beach buggy’s all fishing.

Rog caught a big fish pretty much straight away but we didn’t know what it was so we released it. We later found out it was a blue salmon. He then caught a tiny fish and another small fish.

Josh was successful too and ended up catching four fish. Bronte caught two fish but they came off the line when she was reeling them in.

We collected a few more shells and left the beach at 9:30am.We quickly got ready and left the caravan park at 10am.

Our first stop was Port Hedland where we filled up and stopped for lunch overlooking the water. We saw the mining trains with the 100’s of carriages (luckily this time we didn’t get stopped at a railway crossing waiting for one to pass). We saw the salt mine and our longest road train of 5 carriages and 60 metres long. We also saw 3 road trains passing each other at the same time in 3 individual lanes which was quite impressive. It was a bit scary driving out of Port Hedland as there were road trains everywhere and they were doing roadworks so the lanes were narrow. We also had to slow down and move off the road for oversized trucks several times.

We filled the car near Karijini and arrived at Albert Tognolini Lookout Rest Area at 5pm. It is a beautiful spot with beautiful views over the valley and lots of space for plenty of vans. I went for a walk to the lookout and watched the sunset while the kids helped the backpackers we are camped near collect fire wood and build a fire. The kids enjoyed the fire and chatting to the French backpackers while Rog and I prepared dinner.

We had dinner then watched a movie.