After a terrific family birthday and “official retirement” party, we headed back to Dowerin,
by way of Parkwood to say farewell to Mum and Dad until November. Once in Dowerin, we packed the car and trailer (with only a few harsh words). We were determined to get away on Monday, even if it meant camping a few kms down the road. In the end, we got going around 2:30 and got as far as Jibberding Rest Area, 25 kms North of Wubin.
At one time, it must have been either a town or a sporting facility because the remains of 3 tennis courts could be seen in the bush. At this point, I discovered that we had two stowaways with us in the form of two bears called Benjy and Poppy. This was not my doing but I let them stay on the basis that they are less trouble than a dog.We moved slowly through the Pilbara, with one night camp on the banks of the Gascoyne River, one night in Newman and two in Tom Price. We worked in both towns, providing PD to the IT teachers. Everyone was complaining about the cold and all the staff were dusting off the track suits and woollens. We are used to the night time temperatures up here but the chilly days take some getting used to.
On Saturday, we obtained a permit to travel along the Hammersly Iron rail access road to cut the distance to Karratha. I never tire of driving in the Pilbara and this drive is exceptionally good.
The drive through the Chichester Range is really incredible. I thought I had a chance to dispose of the bears down one particularly steep ravine but they somehow clung on desperately and found their way back to the car.
Along the way, we were forced to play “Good Samaritan”twice, once to supply a Shark Bay couple with a jerry of petrol after they had got lost the night before and run dry. Our other rescue was of a Port Hedland couple who had run out of spare tyres on the Millstream to Roebourne Road. We gave the wife a lift into Roebourne where the police kindly took over and promised to look after them.
We set up camp at Cleaverville for 4 nights. The first morning, I discovered to my horror that I’d lost a key part of our brand new folding boat trailer. I wanted to blame one of the bears for losing the part but I have to admit that I had placed it on the front of the trailer while moving gear and forgotten it, driving off and losing it somewhere South of Newman. Luckily, it was the only steel part on the trailer, all the rest being aluminium so we were confident that we could get another part made in Karratha on Monday morning.
Our prediction was right. I found an engineering works where a very helpful guy found some scrap steel and made me a new part just as good as new, all for $20 beer money. Armed with our new part, we put the trailer together and towed the porta-boat down to the creek for fishing and crabbing. The trailer has proved a real hit and makes life a lot easier than setting up the boat on the roof rack. The fishing was unspectacular but we caught enough to keep us going.
We only managed one mud crab but it was big enough to feed us both. Each claw was a meal. The two bears amused themselves with the wildflowers. The forecast heavy rains also treated us well, with steady but light rain throughout one night. We missed the heavy rains experienced further inland.
The down-side of the rain was that it brought the sandflies out in force. We both got badly bitten and after a night of panic we decided to pull up stakes and move further East. The bears are still with us.