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.
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.
It was much easier to leave home this time around as we had moved from a house in Dongara back to Kalbarri where we had bought a lock-and-leave type of unit. So, on 9th April 2026, we locked up and left. Easy!
John had booked us for two nights into Wooramel Station River Retreat about four hours from home and 120kms south of Carnarvon. We had decided that 400kms is the most we will drive in one day. It’s an easy drive from Kalbarri to Wooramel and we felt ourselves relaxing as we passed through the regions of the Gascoyne, Shark Bay and into the Carnarvon area. Some people find the Australian outback landscape boring because it is so vast. Not us, we enjoy how it subtly changes along the way. We called into the Billabong Roadhouse to replenish our coffees, and arrived at Wooramel around lunchtime.
I had no expectations of Wooramel. I knew it had no power, Wi-Fi or mobile range – a lovely way to wind down from everyday life. We were both pleasantly surprised by the campground. Yes, it is in the middle of nowhere, a couple of kms off the North West Coastal Highway but it is actually a family owned 356.000 acre working cattle and goat station, although I believe they have vastly reduced their stock due to the lack of rains. The property spans 1,430 square kilometres (including 60kms of Indian Ocean Coastline) and borders the Shark Bay World Heritage Area.
Although there were already quite a few caravans set up, we had a good choice of camping areas to choose from. We chose a nice long one where we did not have to unhitch, since there was nowhere to go. We camped right on the Wooramel River – which was almost completely dry. It was hard to imagine that it was full to overflowing just two weeks ago after Cyclone Narelle!
But the Station only received 6mm of rain from the cyclone!
Although we are self-contained, it was good to see that the campsite had flushing toilets, solar showers and camp kitchens. What was more of a surprise was that it had a lovely outdoor café/bar with live music in the evenings. An extra bonus were the four Artesian Baths available 24 hours a day for use by campers. I persuaded John that the magnesium and other minerals might just help his muscle cramps and aches and pains so we enjoyed half an hour of relaxation in one of the baths. It was the temperature of a very warm bath. Lovely!
John on the dry Wooramel river bed
We had terrific nights at Wooramel. It was peaceful and comfortable. The weather was a perfect 31 degrees with a slight breeze keeping the flies at bay. We took a walk across the dry river bed to look at what little bit of water was still there; we read, and in the evening enjoyed a drink listening to the country and western singer at the bar.
One of the things we really loved about our stay at Wooramel was watching the children – no tablets or phones in sight – running around, climbing the River Gums, splashing in what was left of the river, and having a great time with kids from other parts of the country that they had only just met. When we were chatting to our neighbour, Tom, he said, although his ten year old son was doing home schooling, he was learning so much just from the experience of travelling – helping his dad fix the car and caravan, working out how far they could travel on a tank of petrol and keeping a journal on all the places they were visiting and experiences they were having. What a great life!
And what better way to end the day than with a glass of wine and a campfire?
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