Day 11 - Saturday 14 July - On the road again

Day 11

Saturday

14 July 2018

Carnarvon – Miniliya - Exmouth...finally

Conscious that we might have workers in early, we got up at 7.15am, had breakfast and tidied up. Sure enough, Ty was in at 7.45am, ready to get started on our blown tyre. Paul relayed what information was needed, while I finished the clean up inside, to keep myself busy. 

It wasn’t long before the tyre was off and being changed over, thank goodness they had one. Paul then set about fiddling with the battery, not an easy job. After removing the flooring of the front, passenger side, he then had all sorts of covers, bolts and leads to disconnect. We attempted to jump the van from the Getz, but it was fruitless, so we now had to source a battery too. 

I rang the local Beaurepairs, but they were busy and would get back to me. The only other store didn’t open until 9am. In the meantime, Ty had managed to get the spare down from under the vehicle. Paul made space for it within the top cab and then managed to hurl it onto a tarp. Now at least, it would be accessible should we need it. Problem 2 sorted. 

Ty then offered to take Paul to Auto Pro in his ute, so that we could get a replacement battery and it also gave him a chance to swap the gas bottle. I was left to stand in the yard with some old bloke who wanted to tell me all of his traveling tales, which is fine, but he had a speech impediment, so it took all my effort to make out what he was saying. 

Paul and Ty returned, battery and gas bottle in hand. The battery wasn’t quite the same, but Paul was told it would do the trick. It did require some bush carpentry to have it sit in the right spot, but once she was in and hooked up, she turned the van over. YAY. Problem 3 & 4 sorted. 

Now to hook the trailer to the van, secure the car and then pay the $1200 bill! 10am and we were finally on the road again. Exmouth here we come. 

We stopped for fuel in Minilya at 11.30am and then we continued north 5km before meeting the Exmouth turn off and heading left. The roads were exceptionally busy today compared to yesterday, with far more caravans out on the road. It was a bit nuts. 

We travelled along quite comfortably, jumping the other holiday makers as the roads allowed. We watched the landscape alter. The land is still very green through here, though there were patches that were more barren. Giant termite mounds began to appear, far fatter and more rotund than those we saw in the NT. 

The cloud cover that had come in thick and fast in Carnarvon, had dissipated the further north we drove and it had warmed up a few degrees as well. By 1.30pm, we were on the outskirts of Exmouth and just before 2pm, we finally pulled into the RAC Cape Holiday Park, 24hours late, but gee it felt good to be here. We were directed to site 3, a large drive thru, then 15min later we were all settled in. Ahh!

I went off for a shower, washing away the stresses of yesterday and Paul followed, when I returned. I set about packing our bag for our whale shark dive tomorrow and then we wandered down the road trying to find the beach, we didn’t, so we returned for the car and did a drive thru town, trying to familiarise ourselves with the area. 

We stopped in at Visitor information and collected some pamphlets, before talking to a guide, who let us know the dive tours were fully booked, so lucky we got in early. We were given info on where to go snorkelling, beaches to visit and gorges to explore, so we were all set. 

We returned to the park and decided to book an extra day, as there was plenty to keep us busy. We hung around the van for around 30min, before heading to Whalebone Brewing about 1km away. We arrived on opening, so it was fairly quiet and we were able to order up and choose a place to sit. Finally, we were able to relax and let go of yesterday. 

We shared a delicious pizza and Paul enjoyed the tasting paddle of beers, before deciding on the stout. We sat out on a well-worn couch, as sunset began. The musician was just setting up, but as I was cold and the wind had picked up, we decided to head on. We were going to head out to the lighthouse, but realised sunset would be over before we got there, so we returned to the van. 

We did a wander of the park, intrigued that so many people were only just arriving and were busy setting up their accommodation in the dark. Earlier, we had noticed the sign out the front saying the park was full. Again, so glad I had booked ahead.