Man vs Wild @ Ningaloo - Part 6

Sat 18th - awoke predawn and took a few pics before beginning to pull down the big camp. Rob and Chicka popped over a few times for a chat and lent a hand when it came time to hook up the boat as it had fallen off the base plate and needed the car wheels dug out to drop the height of the tow ball. All good and left at 9:30am.

Just as we were saying our farewells to Rob n Chicka we heard a roar of engines tearing up the beach out the front of our camps and saw the 2 F250s racing side by side on the beach front! Idiots with little kids in the utes and no seat belts in front. Unbelievable. One of the mum's had told me her husband was trying to "man up" her eldest son who at 14 was not turning out as blokey has Dad would like. Surely, this wasn't the answer. The little girls were all squealing with delight. I found it just totally sad.

1hr drive to the homestead. 15mins with Phil (including a report of the undesirables) and rebooking for next year, then waved goodbye to Rob n Chicka in the queue. 1 hr drive up Ningaloo Rd and 45mins to air up before hitting the tar. Blew a fuse on the air compressor on the 6th tyre but were used to that and have spares ready in the door pocket. Noticed one of the cars having trailer trouble so David lent a hand - broken trailer suspension. On the tar at 12:15pm heading for fuel at Carnarvon and hoping to reach Nerren Nerren for an overnight camp.

The trip home was smooth and uneventful. Aside from seeing quite a number of crazy cyclists riding solo on the narrow highway with heavy panniers, we also saw two vintage Rolls Royces, complete with drivers and passengers in driving caps, gloves and scarves.

We won't be stopping at the big BP Travellers Stop on the north side of Carnarvon again. Terrible service inside and no signs outside to indicate the pumps were out of order which caused a huge mess up for everyone. But worst was the behaviour of people - who got stressed in the queue, huffed and puffed and swore and couldn't deal with 10mins out of their busy life to deal with the moment. Out in the carpark David also encountered rude people - someone without a trailer used up the last of the double parking bays specially marked for vehicles with long trailers whilst the vehicle parking was just metres away. And so, our peaceful holiday is over and we return to the real world where everyone is going about life in a selfish rush - and this is just Carnarvon! Thank god we work from home in a peaceful suburb with a nice community feel and don't have to deal with peak hour commuting.

We picked up the tail of a B double and David jumped into his draft zone and we cruised together until reaching Nerren Nerran at 6:10pm. He invited us to sit behind him the whole way back to Perth (ETA 1am) but we declined. We seem to have beaten the weather and have stayed dry with the forecast for Perth turning foul in the afternoon tomorrow we only hope to get everything off the trailer and into the garage well before then.

Nerren Nerren was very busy but we had a simple plan with 2 swags, Leah in the car, and a quick tasty dinner of stir-fry fillet beef with rice noodles, tofu and terriyaki sauce, which was cooked on the gas cooker. We have a good setup from the back of our 4WD for reaching all that we need to have a fresh meal cooking in no time.

Sunday 19th - David woke up at 4:30am raring to go but I convinced him that 5am was a more polite camp wake up time. We pulled out as quietly as possible after a quick breakfast of banana bread (bought in Carnarvon) and coffee. Driving at this hour was very peaceful - no other traffic was on the roads and we had an easy run through the hills of Northampton and through to Geraldton. We avoid terrible roadhouse food, so went looking for a bakery or cafe in Geraldton but at 7am on a Sunday we were expecting too much and once the kids spotted McDonalds it was just too easy to pull in there. Thankfully it was one with a McCafe and these days they do offer some alternative items that I will eat so I ordered "Oatmeal" - which was a yummy porridge with stewed apple on top (worth having again) and a long macchiato, plus I picked up a paper. The others had bacon and egg McMuffins - but they now offer wholemeal muffins, so we opted for those. I don't venture into McDonalds often so I was surprised to find a kiosk system where you enter your order onto a touch screen then take your docket to the till and pay there. All the staff are therefore cooking and bringing food with only 1 person on the till. It was much quicker and easier to understand the menu options.

After Geraldton, we seemed to be home in no time flat and pulled into our street around 12:30pm to the warm greetings of our neighbours and our cat appeared within 2minutes so we were much relieved as we've never left her.

Kids go back to school on Tuesday, which will be back to work day for us, leaving just tomorrow to do the mountains of washing - although I have no laundry - it is currently torn down in readiness for renovation/replacement but my washing machine and dryer is setup under the pagola outside. Life is never dull at our place!

Monday 20th - I had tried to upload my photos and do this blog (already written in the memo app of my phone ready to cut/paste) but my computer has been crashing repeatedly. Got a call from Kev with news of the National Gathering. Looking forward to seeing the blogs and pics and reading the stories. Shame we couldn't be in two places at once but our family holiday was a priority and the threat of Ningaloo station being overtaken by the Government is very real. We truly believe this was our last chance to get here but who knows. Phil has now advised that they have succeeded in getting an injunction and are taking their case to the Supreme Court in November. They have a hefty legal bill but are advised they 2 good cases to overturn this so they are asking for donations to help win the battle. We have just made a donation and wish them luck. Please see attachment for details of how/where to make your contribution no matter how small.

Tuesday 21st - finally, I think I've finished. I think I haven't added all the pics I wanted so may go back a few times after publishing to add a few more. Hope you've enjoyed our blog.