We got an early start to the day yesterday, due to that sun coming up before 6 o’clock. It wasn’t planned that way, but was a good thing.
Yesterday was to be just a day of driving, heading further west. The main centres you pass through as you head to Broome are Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing. As Tennant Creek is the Wilcannia of the Northern Territory, both these towns are the West Australian equivalents. We had initially planned on overnighting at both, but had been advised not to. The alternative is to free camp at a really nice spot halfway between the two - Mary Pool, on the Mary River, funnily enough.
You start to realise what a huge place Australia is when you see this sort of distance on a sign and know that you still have to go a great deal further than that before you get home. We had estimated we would travel about 15,000 kms this trip, but as we have already done 8,500 kms I think it will be more like 16,000 or 17,000.
A feature we started to notice was a different style of termite mound. I had read there are about 70 different varieties, so this must be yet another. Not Cathedral or Magnetic termite mounds. No, we have named them “Blob Termite Mounds”. I’m sure that is not the correct name, but that is what they look like. It is as if someone has placed blobs of mud on top of each other.
Another thing we have noticed is the number of mobile phone towers along the highway……….and they are Telstra, unlike the Northern Territory which had woeful Telstra coverage.
We drove past Lissadell Station, which we flew over on our flight the other day. It went for miles and miles.
There are several narrow one lane bridges. Of course something was coming the other way on most of them. Don’t you love the name of this creek. I wonder what the mistake was?
And lo and behold, we caught up to some traffic. OK, it was a rather long road train going up a hill and he left us for dead once we started to go back down hill, but we caught up to something. Yes, we are slow.
Like most of the top end, much of the roadside landscape has been burnt for fuel reduction. Today there was this little fire burning beside the road, no one in attendance. That seems to be the norm. Notice the bird. There were several kites hanging around at the fire front to hunt the little critters that come out in front of the fire.
We had some dirt to negotiate, as a very long section of the highway was being upgraded and they had just created a new dirt road beside it during construction. So different to the complex arrangements needed closer to town for any upgrades. They have finished some sections and they were great.
This was a sad sight. We have seen evidence of a few caravan crashes or burnt wrecks and also what appeared to be the remains of a burnt out motorhome. During our trip we have seen several caravans and tow vehicles on tilt trays, obviously broken down. It must be so disheartening to have that happen. Mind you, that was us when we tried to ride the motorcycle around Oz.
We arrived at Halls Creek in time to have lunch. It is a very sad looking place. We just had our lunch in the park, bought fuel and kept on our way.
We started a new audio book. Mick has not enjoyed anything that was biographical or “deep and meaningful”, so I found another murder mystery style book. “Win” by Harlan Coben. It is keeping us entertained.
Our campsite was just over 100 kms to the west of Halls Creek and is as good as the review said.
There isn’t much water in the river, but it is still quite pretty. I was looking forward to having another look early in the morning.
The highlight of our day was Mary Pool Campground. A lovely peaceful place to camp.
Sad that there are places that you are advised not to stay, but good there was a nice alternative.
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