Day 131 – 16/4/14 – Karajini – De Grey River WA

We had a reasonably big drive in front of us and De’s itchness hadn’t gone away so we wanted to get to Port Hedland to see the doc. Our biggest challenge was getting to the nearest fuel station....Not again I hear you ask! I had done my calculations based on getting our usual 6.5kms/l....the problem was that the last diesel that we had brought must had been such sh17 quality that we were lucky to be getting 4kms/l. This left us with enough fuel to get about 50kms but it was 80kms+ to the nearest servo. Luckily as we were packing up the nice Scottish lady that I mentioned yesterday was also packing up and heading in the same direction so they agreed to follow us and pick me up when we ran out of fuel.

We got to the junction of the Great Northern Highway and I was already on one bar with 35kms to go. There was a big rest area so I grabbed an empty drum and left De and the boys to see if Mr Falconio was in the region.

I had a great trip with the ladies (sorry I forgot their names) Two lady teachers from Launceston who had gone halves in a Winnebago and were travelling to help out at a remote Aboriginal school. We had a great yarn on the way. They really wanted to drive me back but once we were at the roadhouse the second person I asked was to take me so I bid farewell to the first of the days helpers and squashed myself and a full drum of diesel in the back of an old Toyota Forerunner . I think there may have been room for Sam to fit in there but I made my self fit which included my new driver, Marcus from Germany pushing the door closed on me.

I sat behind the driver...

The first couple of minutes were fine but the next 30 kms were so uncomfortable they were funny. By the time we arrived back at the van one of my legs had gone completely to sleep from the waist down and the other one was feeling very drowsy. As I peeled myself out of the car it took me a couple of minutes before I could walk...but we had fuel and De and the boys were still in one piece!

We filled up to the brim at the roadhouse and as we were driving out two blokes asked us for a lift as their car had a flat tyre and they needed a lift back as they had been trying to get it fixed for more than a day. How could I say no! So Stefan (USA) and Oliviea (France) piled in the back with the two boys and headed the 40kms towards their vehicle. The problem was that the tyre had a security nut on it and they didn’t have the 13mm hex head fitting required to take it off. We had a great chat and the boys enjoyed having some company in the back seat. Once we got there I went to work trying to help them. My hex heads only went to 10mm and we were using all kinds of combinations of bolts, screw drivers wedged in with Jacko finding the perfect fit in a punch I have. The only problem being is that we didn’t have a spanner of socket to fit it! After 15 minutes De suggested that they look for the fitting designed to take the nut off and pointed towards the compartments in the back of the station wagon. Five minutes later and with the right part in hand the tyre was changed and we were on our way! I can only imagine there facebook posts about that one!

Photographer: Sam Perrier 

We headed north on what must be one of the busiest trucking routes in the world. Truck after truck heading to Port Headland with triple and quadruple trailers rumbling along behind them.

The boys were pretty excited to finally get a truckie to blow his horn! This bloke made up for all of them.

The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful and we were amazed by the size and scale of everything in Port Headland. The salt piles, the length of the trains and the loading machines were all huge.

A sprinkle of salt

After ditching De at the Docs the boys and I headed to the visitor info centre. The coolest part was a board that listed the size, weight and destination of all of the iron ore ships that were leaving TODAY. We headed to the park across the river from where they were being loaded and I was amazed by the size of the ships.

The Ten Jim Maru didn't make the list but it was under 300m...a small one really!

We did our usual stock up and headed to viewing area for ‘Staircase to the Moon’. Whilst we are in the west there are peninsulas that allow you to look to the east over water and around the full moon between March and November. As the moon comes up over the horizon the light reflects on the ripples in the water creating a staircase effect. It is pretty cool especially when the moon is above the horizon and there is a clear white line across the water. I cooked up a marinara and we ate dinner on the boardwalk waiting for the 6:40 rise.

Being anything but a professional photographer I tried to get a few tips on how to wrangle the settings on my camera to get a half decent photo. As the moon rose I frantically snapped away adjusting my ISO and shutter speed hoping that I would get the right combination at the right time. In the end I managed to get some great shots but it was Jack’s comment that ‘That was the best activity that we have done so far’ that made my day!

I couldn't decide which one was the best so I put in a few.

It had been a huge day and the boys put their heads down and we drove 80kms to the nearest free camp. De finally understood why I have put two massive spot lights and an even bigger light bar on the front of Izzy. There were cattle all over the road and we ended up having to drive most of it at 60 – 80km/hr. We eventually arrived and I needed a good couple of rums to settle my nerves before heading off to sleep.