The Wild West: immense, beautiful and expen$$$$$ive

This entry comes all the way from Karratha in the heart of the Pilbara, maybe the most expensive region in Australia. 

Boab at Wyndham Caravan Park

Rent here is redonkulous, apples are twice the price they are in Broome and two delivered generic pizzas is $56 – we bought the apples and skipped the pizza! 

Luckily we’ve been absolutely blessed to be able to stay here with a friend for three nights and enjoy the luxury of a real bed, private bathroom, television and comfy couch – all under a solid roof out of the elements. Thanks darling Anna. xox

We’ve been in the North of WA for nearly a month enjoying more red dirt, boab trees, vast beaches, crystal clear blue water, howling winds, salt flats, pearl farms, corrugated roads, reefs, wildflowers, spikey baubles of spinifex, national parks, fresh water crocs, fishing, expensive fuel and we’ve had the tinnie off the roof! 

Bungle Bungles

With SuzieQ misbehaving and the real risk of more injuries we skipped the main section of the infamous Gibb River Road - Mitchell Falls and Kalumbaru will have to wait until next time. 

The Kimberley, even from the Great Northern Highway, still had plenty to offer: Lake Argyle, the Bungle Bungle Range in Purnululu NP, Tunnel Creek NP and Windjana Gorge.

We used Broome as a base to explore the Dampier Peninsula which offers the only free beach side camping in the region along a spectacular coastline of dark red cliffs and isolated beaches. 

We camped just north of James Price Point and then drove further up the Peninsula towards Cape Leveque to stay at Middle Lagoon – which gave us our first opportunity to get the tinnie down and take it for a cruise in the bay and have a fish.

Dampier Peninsula

Unlike NT and QLD, free camping in WA is limited and here they will fine you up to $1000 if you get caught! So South of Broome heading towards the Pilbara we were limited to caravan parks staying at Barn Hill Station and Eighty Mile Beach. 

Stretching out as far as you can see in each direction, Eighty Mile Beach is made up of crushed shells and the water was a light milky grey near the shore and then turquoise out to the horizon. Its major attraction is fishing and on the stretch of beach in front of the park there were 50+ people fishing off the beach spread out over about 500m.

Cleaverville

The Pilbara is a strange land of big money dreams, historical sites, and undeveloped coast. We camped for two nights between Port Hedland and Karratha at Cleaverville, a pristine little section of rocky coastal reef. 

Looking out to the horizon to the West however you can see the North West gas shelf with its eternal flame creating a dirty yellow haze over the water. 

We are back on the road today to explore more of the Pilbara and then head for the Coral Coast region of this amazing state.      

SuzieQ update for the mechanically interested

A 1988 Nissan GQ Patrol, SuzieQ’s a tough old girl who has previously survived three trips to the Kimberley. She has no aircon, she’s full of rust, the trip meter doesn't work, the odometer is out by about eight per cent, and there is a major dust leak. 

SuzieQ is doing it tough this time, she doesn't like the heavy load we are carrying and the rough, corrugated roads.  She was happy for the first 2,800 km. From Pomona to Burketown without a problem, however since then she’s been fixed nine times, from simple part replacements to resourceful bush mechanics.

1. Why is the fuel gauge a centimetre below empty?

   

   tyre number one

   Although we’d only encountered a few rough patches along the Gulf Developmental Road, the sender unit inside the fuel tank was shaken to pieces and the float arm dislodged. Two hours of finding a way to access the sender unit (eventually cutting a hole in the floor) and a dive into the MacGyver box for some tie wire and it was fixed.
   
2. Oh sh*t, we’ve done a tyre! The back road from Boodjamulla NP to Doomagee was our first stretch of badly corrugated road covered with sharp rocks. A combination of weight, speed and the state of the road destroyed our back left tyre. The spare went on and we were on our way again.
   
3. Seriously, another one?

   

   tyre number two (the spare)

   On the same day, shortly after Hell’s Gate roadhouse, the spare blew out and then we had none. We had to take the first accommodation we could find – Seven Emu Station. Luckily we were travelling in the same direction as a lovely couple we met at Adel’s Grove and Greg and Meighan stayed with us to make sure we safely arrived in Borroloola the next day where we found two second-hand 31-10.5-15’s matching mud tyres.
   
4. F*ck we have no brakes! Sometime after the second tyre we lost our brakes – quite literally. Two days later, when Jeff removed the wheel to investigate, the brake pads were gone. The rough roads had rattled them out of their callipers.  When we arrived in Katherine to get new ones we’d driven nearly 1000 km without them. Obviously very happy to have brakes again.
   
5. Why are we leaking oil?

   

   getting the new brake line

   Arriving at Seven Emu Station Jeff noticed we were leaking oil – driving over corrugations had cracked the front diff housing. It got a short-term fix thanks to the handyman at the Cape Crawford Caravan Park who lent us his small inverter arc welder and then in Darwin we had two reinforcing plates put on. It’s still a temporary fix and we are always looking out for a discarded Patrol on the side of the road.
   
6. Bugger, the brake line is cracked! While welding the diff housing at Cape Crawford Jeff discovered a cracked steel brake line. Some super sleuthing around the caravan park and a close look at a rusty old Toyota Surf out the back, and we got a replacement made to fit with minimal modifications.
   
7. Why are we losing brake fluid? This was discovered when we arrived in Darwin. New wheel cylinders for the rear brakes and all was well.
   
8. What’s that weird noise?

   

   dead bearing

   Only a bearing needing adjusting, it can wait. However when Jeff took the free wheeling hub off to adjust the bearing at Edith Falls the grease had solidified. He pulled apart the bearing to repack it and the inner bearing fell apart. We were not going anywhere. Thanks to our camp neighbours Baz and Elaine, who drove us into Katherine the and then back out to Edith Falls, we got a bearing kit and were back on the road.
   
9. Why is SuzieQ pissing out diesel? As we were about to leave our free camp on the Mary River between Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing Jeff noticed we were losing fuel. Happily it was just the seal on the injector pump which was easily replaced when we got to Fitzroy Crossing for just $2. 

We've made it to Broome and while there is currently nothing on the ‘to fix’ list, Jeff tells me some issues we are looking forward to in the future include the front trailing arm bushes and she’ll probably need a new clutch sooner rather than later.

As Jeff says “at least it’s something new every time and we’re not fixing things twice…”. 

Gotta love his positivity!