Day 15 - Wednesday 18 July - Fast track to Karratha

Day 15

Wednesday

18 July 2018

Exmouth – Nanutarra – Robe River Rest - Karratha

Started my 4^thbook The Beach Café by Lucy Diamond. 

Moving day again, pushing further north once again. We were awake at 7.15am and figured we may as well get things started. Dressed, breakfast and van readied all by 8am, an early get away. We stopped for fuel and then began the trek out on the Minilya-Exmouth Road, the sun just starting to wake up the landscape. The GPS was set to Robe River, 400km away, a rest area on the North West Coastal Highway just out of Pannawonica.

10am and we finally turned left with the signage heralding Karratha and the Ashburton Shire. As we travelled along, the landscape began to change. We had spent the first two weeks on mostly flat ground with some rolling hills, now we were seeing larger outcrops with flat, rocky tops. Everything was still the vibrant orange and green. 

At 10.45am we pulled in to Nanutarra Roadhouse, 120km short of our destination. Paul filled the van with juice and I went off to pay and use the loo. Paul parked and on doing so, noticed the lower than usual angle of the tow ball. Not wanting to take any chances, we opted to take the car off and the trailer. 

I filled the car with petrol and then brought the car around to hitch on the trailer. I followed the directions Paul gave me to get in close to the hitch and then heard him yelling and jumping about. The trailer jockey wheel had collapsed taking skin from Paul’s knuckles and in the process of trying to let it down gently he pulled his hammy. Could this day get any worse? With 2 extra blokes, they managed to haul the trailer from the dirt and attach it to the car, and we were once again on the road, all be it a little unexpected. 

Paul lead the way, while I bounced around in the Getz, with the trailer flying about behind me. Thankfully it was an easy drive and at 12.30pm we had made it to Robe River rest and pulled in to do a check over and to have lunch. It looked like quite a decent 24hr stop and there was water in the river. 

Paul had some pain killers, rubbed in Voltaren and iced up his thigh. He had found it uncomfortable to drive, but had had little choice. We watched a willy willy turn over the ground in front sending dirt everywhere. It was the second I had seen today, with a large column spinning on the horizon. 

Once lunch was scoffed, we returned to our driving positions, this time for the extra 200km on to Karratha, our only chance of having the towing bits fixed. I really enjoyed the drive and the changing landscape. I was so wanting to stop and take photos of the long winding road, the bus in front and the various scarps that we were skirting by, but it wasn’t going to happen. I just had to enjoy the here and now. 

We drove over the Fortescue River bridge, a long one at 360m and there was water in it. There were plenty of different mines along the way as well, including the gas plant that my brother works at and the 40 mile beach camp he has told us to hang out at over the weekend, so we can catch up. From here it was only a further 50km into Karratha. 

We pulled over to work out which welder we would head to, KAW fit the bill and was only 2km further up the road. We located a place to park and then it was off to find the workers and organise a fix. It took 3 of them checking the undercarriage, before they finally said they could do it. Turns out there was more damage than we thought and the chassis was also compromised and we were lucky the whole thing didn’t just drop away. DRAMAS. Now that would have been nasty. 

Paul took the van around to the workshop and I sat in the sun, chatting to Brad to organise our catch up. I then had one of the workers ask me if I taught at Clarkson, turns out it was James Dawson, an ex-student. We had a good catch up for a bit, with him telling me he would make sure they looked after us. 

Once all the measuring up was completed, we left the van and took the car into town to find a Bankwest. Turns out looking after us means an $1800 bill. Yikes. We found the centre no worries and after asking for directions, we found the bank and withdrew the green money. We did a quick run through Woollies and then made our way back to the industrial estate.

Paul brought the van around the front and we made ourselves at home for the night. With little else to do, I surfed the net, sorted the blog and the photos while Paul rested his hammy while reading his book.