The South Hedland stopover and beyond

A lot has happened since our last post. On the way from Broome to Port Hedland we stopped a couple of nights at Eighty-Mile Beach. It is the turtle nesting season, and although we did not actually see any turtles (high tide when they come in was somewhere in the middle of the night), there was evidence of many turtles having dragged themselves up the beach, almost to the dunes, to lay their eggs and then return to the sea. It is one of nature's many wonders, but also tragic that the survival rate of the hatchlings is about 1 in 1000.

Our landing strip at Yarrie Station

From there we made our way to South Hedland where we descended on Isobel's second-cousin and his wife who were actually house-sitting and looking after a family of four while the parents were away. It was a similar situation to that in Darwin when we were actually getting to know relatives whom we had hardly met before and we had a wonderful time. Keith and Mary own a small charter airline, which also operates in Broome and in Derby. We were lucky enough to be able to hitch a ride on their mail run to a couple of cattle stations and to see these places from the air. The first was Yarrie Station. The second, Warrawagine, had 25,000 cattle on a million acres! We had difficulty getting our heads around that. With the approaching Wet Season they could be cut off for some time but it is all in a day's work for them. The day we were there they were keeping an eye on a large bushfire which was not far from their property boundary.

Bushfire causing a slight worry for Warrawagine Station

Adam, our young pilot, and the Islander plane in which we flew

Looking down on the port from the Spitfire

Keith also has a Spitfire in which he took us up for a ride, one at a time, on a little scenic flight around South Hedland, and the port area of Port Hedland. It is a very busy port for the iron ore that is mined in the Pilbara area and delivered on trains that can be up to over 3 kilometres long to be shipped. It was fascinating to look down on it from above. We never expected to be able to say we had flown in a Spitfire!

Isobel's reflection in the back of Keith's helmet

Warwick looking somewhat like a sardine in the back

Keith at the controls

We intended to stay a couple of days and ended up staying a week as our water pump gave up the ghost again, for reasons unknown. Winnebago agreed to send a new pump and an auto electrician installed it although he was not convinced that the pump itself was the problem. All of this took time, and we were grateful to be able to stay as part of this big family. They also took us to see the flatback turtles coming in, with mixed success. The first evening we managed to see two, one already covering its nest and another just coming in from the sea.  The next evening we didn't see any.

Continuing in a Southwesterly direction, we decided to leave Onslow for another time and head towards Exmouth, with a stop at the Fortescue River Roadhouse on the way. Unfortunately we realised too late that there was a pub quiz happening inside as we were sitting eating outside. We are having slight withdrawal symptoms for our regular Paddy's Pub quiz!

Exmouth is towards the top, on the eastern side, of a peninsula which ends in the North West Cape. On the western side is the Cape Range National Park which is dotted with bush campgrounds. It is in some places very close to the Ningaloo Reef which extends all the way down to Coral Bay and beyond. It was a stunningly beautiful area and our chosen campground was great for a few days away from it all -- no phone, no internet, just nature. Unfortunately no water either since our new pump chose that place to tell us it was not a pump problem but something else and it fused again. The frustration of having a 200 litre tank of good drinking water and no access to it was quite something! We managed to beg a couple of empty water containers from our campground host and went on a quest to fill them at a bore not far away. It was not drinkable but at least we could wash dishes! We had had the foresight to buy drinking water in case. Winnebago received another email as soon as we were in range.

The turtles also come in on these beaches so we joined an organised tour, which was very interesting. They were green turtles this time, very big and ponderous. We saw several at various stages in the process of nest-building and laying. There is a "code of conduct" for watching the turtles and at times we were crawling around or bent low so that we would not be seen by the turtles. Not the easiest thing for Isobel's knees but luckily the sand was very soft. No photography was possible but luckily a turtle came up on our campground beach and we got photos before the tide came up again and wiped out the traces.

Turtle tracks on the beach at Neds Camp, Cape Range National Park

Where she finally decided to lay her eggs

We had to laugh as we came back through Exmouth to continue our journey as we met several emus just wandering quite casually down the street. They are obviously not bothered by people at all. There was also a gathering of them, together with wallabies (or euros?) and a family of crested pigeons, at the bore where we had got the water, all waiting for people to turn up so that they could get a drink.

Emu with a couple of chicks hanging around the bore tap

Emu sauntering down the middle of the street in Exmouth

A relatively short drive by comparison with the last two brought us to Coral Bay. It has grown steadily since we were last here 26 years ago, and it is a delightful spot. We have just done a short tour in a glass-bottomed boat which took us over part of the reef and also stopped in a couple of places for snorkelling. There was a huge amount to see and it was very enjoyable. There are various places to eat, and even a well-stocked shopping centre so we will eat out tonight to save having to wash dishes! We have decided to just limp back to Perth to get Winnebago people to fix the pump problem, as auto electricians quite understandably do not know the wiring of the van and we are just wasting time going from one to another. Also between here and Perth, apart from Carnarvon and Geraldton, we pass through mainly one-horse towns which may or may not even have an auto electrician.