Perth to Broome

Well, what an interesting week! First night spent at motel in Dalwallinu then hit the road early to get to Meekatharra. Not much in Meekatharra and the hotel we were going to stay in was an eye-opener to say the least! We decided to drive right on by and promptly found another motel! Up early the next morning and hit the road again heading straight for Newman. We were reading about a beautiful camp spot just out of Newman called Kalgan Pool which is a natural waterhole surrounded by huge cliff faces. The 4WD track in was a bit of a mission but well worth the drive. We set up camp and were accompanied by only one other couple. The girls were thrilled when they discovered a rope swing over the waterhole! The next day we decided we would head into Newman and book into the caravan park for one night so we could get power, hot showers and re-stock our supplies. Just as we were about to leave a car pulled up and asked for help to rescue a car that had got bogged by the edge of the river. It took nearly an hour to get it out. When we got there Alex noticed the wheel on the right hand side of the trailer had shifted. Upon inspection and comments from several other campers we suspected one of the leaf springs had sagged.Well, just try and find someone to repair a trailer in Newman!... After several phone calls and a couple of hours we finally managed to find someone who could look at the trailer tomorrow (we had been told we could be waiting over a week!). This also meant that we had to try and source a new leaf spring (never going to happen in Newman!) so we phoned our trailer company back in Perth and got them to put a new spring on an overnight road train. This meant another night in Newman! Spring was fitted the next day, hit the road heading for Pt.Hedland and drove for 2 hours, stopping at the Auski Roadhouse. Alex noticed the wheel had moved again! Right back to where it was before! Phoned CoreFleet back in Newman who advised that we shouldn't drive any further and in fact, go back to Newman! Spent 2 hours driving back again! Another night in Newman! This time we checked in to the Seasons Hotel which was actually really nice. We had a lovely family apartment with 2 bedrooms and fully self-contained. Alex took the trailer in at 7am the next morning and by 9am CoreFleet had phoned to say the trailer was ready and they couldn't work out what the problem was. They suggested we take the trailer over the weighbridge which was 6km out of town at the local quarry. Went out to the quarry and discovered we were 120kg over the legal weight! Back to Newman to find a freight company! Went to Centurion depot who were very helpful. $50 to send a pallet of gear back to Perth. I found the local Retravision man and managed to sweet-talk him into giving me an empty washing machine box so we had something to pack our gear into! Nearly 2 hours later we had stripped the trailer, re-arranged it all and re-packed it. Headed out to the weighbridge again and we were right on the correct weight! Phew!!! Finally, we could get of Newman!

Got into Pt.Hedland around 7pm. The last hour of driving was pretty scary. Lots of cows wandering around on the road and plenty of dead roos! Checked into the Hospitality Inn overnight and set off at 8am the next morning to get to Broome. A fairly long drive today, 7.5hrs with a massive head-wind. Finally arrived in Broome around 4pm and we were amazed at how busy it is! There are people everywhere! People are driving around to try and find somewhere to stay because everything is booked out and all the campsites and caravan parks are full! The only place we could find was 1 night at the Cable Beach Caravan Park. This place is huge! It is like a city of caravans. I think there are approx. 450 sites and there are streets in here! You need a map to get around this place!

Went to the office this morning to see if we could get another couple of nights. We basically have to wait and see if anyone checks out! Finally got a call around 9am to say that a site had become available and fortunately it is just around the corner from where we are. It is a powered site too and more shade. We are getting pretty good at setting up and packing down now so should only take us about 20 mins and then we can kick back and relax for a few days. We have decided to stay in Broome for a few more days as the Staircase to the Moon is on Monday night. We will leave on Tuesday. Weather is quite nice up here, 17 overnight minimum, 30 daytime max.