Daily Archives: 12/04/2026

A long day driving

Our plan to do a short drive and camp at Nanaturra Roadhouse was thwarted by an issue with our car not charging the caravan battery while we are driving. After lots of phone chats with Kyran, he suggested we go on to Onslow as he has a friend who could check out our rig for the problem. We were happy to do that, but Onslow had no camping areas available because of the damage done by the cyclone. Kyran has friends in every town so he told us to keep going to Karratha where he has another friend who could help us out. So, our plan to drive no more than 400 kms a day was stymied on day four!

It was a long but pleasant drive. Yesterday we passed into the Tropic of Capricorn and it is certainly a warmer autumn here – 41 degrees. We very nearly missed our turn off due to the mangled and fallen signposts Cyclone Narelle pushed over. Luckily John was on the ball and stopped to check a right hand turn with no obvious signpost. (It was was lying on the ground out of sight!)

Today we drove through the Pilbara. There were a few signs of the Cyclone but not many. What surprised me were the number of dust storms and Willy Willies we passed, considering the area was soaked just recently. Lunch, such as it was, was at Nanaturra Roadhouse, a quick stop and then it was back on the road. We left Coral Bay around 9am and arrived at Karratha around 4pm. A long day of driving (mostly by John) and knitting (all by me).

We camped at a 2 star caravan park on the edge of Karratha that I remembered staying at before. Not one I would particularly recommend but it is just for one night. Funnily enough, we arrived with caravan power on full so not sure if that was the solar or the car. Maybe there is nothing wrong after all. Or maybe between Kyran and @lets_be_adventurers_australia fixed it at Wooramel. I guess we will find out.

From Hush to Rush!

We dragged ourselves away from the peace and quiet of Wooramel and headed further north. I was surprised to hear John had booked us into Coral Bay for a night. He explained that he was trying to avoid the road closures from the cyclone. Don’t get me wrong, we love Coral Bay. Except in school holidays. And this is school holidays. However, we reasoned that with the road only just opening in the last couple of days, most people would have cancelled their holiday there and gone somewhere else (Kalbarri for example, it was very busy when we left home). Wrong!

We drove into a heaving Coral Bay. We approached the caravan park with a look for horror on our faces. Caravans were jammed in, rows and rows of them. Our worst nightmare!

Our site was the size of a postage stamp with very little room to manoeuvre. But we managed to squeeze in. What made things worse was that we were camped next to the family from hell. The kids screamed at each other; the mother screamed at the kids; and the dad screamed at the mother. This went on until 10.30 at night.

Anyway it was just a necessary stop and we decided to make the most of it. We took a stroll down to the beach, avoiding dogs, children, prams and bikes. The beach was packed too. We decided to cut our losses and go back to the van for a drink and a read.