Hi all After a noisy night (road traffic party music and a few drunk people tapping on our van) we re stocked at the only supermarket and cruised out of town. The road to Karijini took us through rolling hills that had that rusty look of iron ore but looked very spectacular with lots of washed out gorges. The temp was just nice being around 20 deg under a calm overcast sky and was enjoyable driving with the window down. We were greeted to a sign saying the camping ground was full so a freedom camping overflow site was to be our camp along with about 50 others for the night. We both enjoyed a short gorge walk chatting with a few friendly people before heading back to camp. People were still driving in after dark in this popular area but we had a great night sitting outside enjoying a few relaxing drinks and nibbles under the stars till late. Next morning the decision was made to drive to the other end of the park enjoying the fantastic scenery and to book into a popular Eco village camp. No such luck as it also was fully booked so after a coffee and muffin at the cafe and then a great walk around another gorge it was a nice slow drive on the corrugated road out of there.
The forecast was for rain which is unusual for this time of year but turns the red dusty roads to mud so we were probably doing the right thing leaving.
There were signs of recent rain which had caused washouts and damaged sealed roads. Unfortunately lots more attractions required a long drive along very rough roads to get to which ruled us out to rough for our van. The next town of Tom Price was only 80 k/m so it was a easy drive so after booking in Steph decided to do a couple of long overdue loads of washing. Due to a forgotten stash of toilet paper in my trousers (from when I was fossicking) the whole load of the dark wash was coated with white lint which could not be removed by washing again or brushing off. (Toilet paper is far far worse than paper hankies). Half of that load will have to be thrown out. Ouch ! How popular was I !!!! We cooked up a couple of yummy bacon and egg burgers for dinner before the rain set in for the night. This morning as it was still raining and the camp is quite nice we decided to book in for another night. Steph is still trying to get rid of the cough I gave her. It has been a nice relaxing afternoon watching tele and keeping a eye on others packing up and arriving in the rain. Tomorrow we will start the two day trip to Coral Bay on the coast. One of the outer mines here sends the ore into town on conveyor belt that is 30 k/m long ! ! !