Monthly Archives: April 2026

Broome

John had celebrated his 81st birthday at Wooramel on the first day of our trip. It was a lovely, relaxing day. A few messages from family managed to come through on his phone although he couldn’t reply. I mentioned to our neighbour, Tom, in the next caravan that it was John’s birthday and he told his friends so all day people were wishing him a Happy Birthday!

John has always suffered with a sore back but it became increasingly sore over the next few days. When he woke at Stanley Rest Area he also had very bad vertigo. It was fortuitous that our next stop was going to be in Broome. Friends have a block in a caravan park there and kindly told us we were welcome to park our van there. It would be a good place for John to take it easy and recover. So I drove the three hours or so towards Broome.

Broome Vacation Village Caravan Park is very nice and close to everything, particularly Broome Golf Club much to John’s delight. We parked the van and got settled in. Before dinner, we took a drive to the golf club for a drink. I hadn’t been before and was very impressed with the buildings and the stunning views.

The following morning, John felt slightly better so we went out exploring. We drove to Chinatown and mosied around the lovely shops with all their colourful goods. After coffee, I suggested to John that he have a Thai massage and made enquiries. He was feeling worse and struggling to walk. However, he refused. But he did book an 18 hole round of golf for the next day!

Before returning to the van, we went out to Cable Beach and walked up to the restaurant. It was lovely sitting on the verandah overlooking the beach. We had a very nice, simple lunch and a drink. We really felt like we were on holiday.

Unfortunately, John’s bad back and vertigo worsened. So much so that golf was cancelled.

Camping off grid

We left our camp at South Hedland and stopped in town for fuel and supplies. Then headed north in the direction of Broome. We had no plans to drive that far, it was about 630kms. Instead we thought we’d free camp somewhere near Sandfire Roadhouse.We love to camp off grid but had been a bit wary because of our power issue. As it turned out, the change of fuses at Wooramel had fixed the problem.

The drive was easy, a fairly straight, flat and quiet road, the surrounding countryside was also very flat. We pulled in at Sandfire Roadhouse to refuel. It was very hot being the middle of the day, and we hoped to find a camping spot with shade. So we kept going.

It was close to 3pm when we arrived at the Stanley Rest Area. As we drove in, we remembered having stayed there before. The area allowed overnight camping, had shade and drop toilets. There was space for about twenty caravans but we were the only ones there.It was a perfect evening.

John made burgers and we had them with a glass of wine while watching the sun set and the sky turn various shades of orange and red. It was beautiful. And so quiet.One of my favourite things to do is sit in the dark and look at the stars. Being so far away from any towns, the stars were prolific and magnificent.

John retired to bed but I couldn’t bring myself to leave. The temperature was perfect, there was not a breath of wind and there were so many stars in the sky as well as a couple of satellites. It was bliss. Eventually though, the mosquitoes started to bite and I had to drag myself to bed. Earlier in the evening there had been hundreds of dragonflies which had kept the mossies away. But even they had gone to bed.

There’s nothing like sleeping in total silence in the pitch black.

Moving on

We left Karratha early with a plan to camp at the Port Hedland Golf Club in South Hedland. We remembered staying there a few years ago. Unfortunately, as it is still Cyclone Season, the club wasn’t officially open, but they said we were welcome to camp there as long as we knew it wasn’t set up properly. We would have power and water, plus the key to clean showers and toilet so we were happy. We booked in for two nights to let John have some down time.

We were the only campers there so it was lovely and quiet. The golf course was open and so was the bar so we enjoyed a drink in the air conditioning before cooking dinner at the caravan. It was 36 degrees both days but only dropped to 25 during the night.

From our van we could watch the three, four or five trailer road trains drive past in the distance as well as the long trains, all carrying iron ore from the mines. Some of the trains are seven kms long and very heavy. Apparently, there are seven flights a day from Port Hedland taking mine workers to and from work. It is a busy, industrial town.

It may be industrial, but it has the most beautiful sunsets. On both nights, we watched the sky grow more and more orange as the sun set. Unfortunately the photos do not do it justice.

On day two of our stay, the golf club was closed so it was very quiet. A few golfers came out to play. Sadly, John was reluctant to play because there were no golf cars available  and he had a very sore back, but he did have a very inexperienced caddy who agreed to follow him around for a few holes. A young miner was out playing alone so he joined us which was nice. It was very hot so John only played four holes. But at least he got to play. It would have been very hard for him to camp at a golf club and not have a game.

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.