Day 18 - Saturday 21 July - Back tracking

Day 18

Saturday

21 July

Dampier – 40 Mile Beach Bush Camp

I seemed to sleep much better last night. Maybe my head is telling me we have had our 3 issues for the trip and all will be smooth sailing from now on. I was awake at 7.30am, but managed to stay put for a little longer, Paul eventually calling it. 

We got up and underway. As usual, I did the inside jobs and he set about completing the outside tasks. It was while I was getting breakfast ready, that he came to the door saying he needed a paper towel and to come and check the cut on his head! There was blood peeing out everywhere, but thankfully it was only superficial. He had caught it on the neighbour’s caravan while trying to throw the hose underneath. Woke the teenage son up for them!

By 9am, we were all done, we were out of the park, car hooked on and heading down the road. My brother would have just flown into Karratha, ready to start his 19 day shift out ad Devil Creek gas plant and we were heading to 40 Mile Bush Camp just down the road. The camp is about 50km south of Karratha, so we were back tracking, but we had the time, so it didn’t really matter. 

The drive out was smooth and the van’s new towing undercarriage pulled our extra weight along no worries. We turned off the NWC Hwy at the gas plant and entered 10km of dirt road, which was better than some roads we have travelled and before long we were being greeted by the care takers. 

We had a chat about the camp, paid our $15 a night and then found a nice flat spot to pull up, all done by 10am. It felt a bit strange to be in our camp so early. Paul set about putting out the awning and then went to stick out the solar panels, to ensure we our power supply was topped up. Unfortunately, in having the tow rig changed, the boys didn’t put back the Anderson plug and we had nowhere to plug in, just 2 live wires hanging from the back of the van. Another job!

We went for a wander around the bush camp, checking out the other vans and the water. It was another one of those days where the sky and ocean meld as one. It was lovely and warm and even better knowing that Perth was copping a front. 

Paul then tackled the next job, the trailer lights, that for some reason weren’t working, while I reset the van clock, that had been reset after we put in the new battery. I then sat about reading my novel. 

Once Paul had the lights under control, I made up lunch. Brad rang to let us know the plans for the next couple of days, we would see him after shift this evening and we were going to join him in the mess for dinner tomorrow night, you beauty! 

I got back into my book, enjoying the tale thus far. Paul laid flat out on the bed reading as well, but became restless and went off for another walk. I swapped to the blog, which I had neglected these past few days. Happy to catch up on the goings on. 

Once Paul returned, he decided he wanted to go fishing. I figured I would join him, so I packed up the computer, put my book and drink in a bag and helped him lug the fishing gear down to a spot. I was happily set up, reading in the sun, my sarong being used as a sun shade and he set about throwing bait to the fish. We didn’t last long, after a couple of snags and a busted plugger, we were packing the gear up and returning to the van once more. 

We had noticed the Waeco wasn’t running on the 12v power plug. We had had to move it, as the 12v it was plugged into previously was fried last night, unfortunately, so Paul hauled the generator out of the car so that we could plug it into 240 for a while. 

As the sun began to set, we wandered down to the water front, making our way over the sharp and nobbly rocks, where we could check out the rock pools. Realising the sun would be gone in 30min, we returned towards the van for the camera, stopping in at a fellow Winne driver who was just getting the fire going. Paul hung out with them, as a crowd was brewing for happy hour, while I returned to the scraggy rocks with my camera. 

The bright yellows and oranges lit up the sky as the sun settled, leaving the pink and purple hues in its wake. With the show over, I joined Paul and the others around the fire for a bit. We made a move at 6.30pm, as Brad was due up and we needed to have dinner.

Sure enough, just as dinner was in the throws of final cooking, Brad arrived bearing dessert, you beauty. We sat down and ate, chatting about being out here and our trip thus far. There was plenty to keep us going for a couple of hours, but Brad had a 5.30am start, so need to get back. 

We organised our catch up for tomorrow and then he was gone and we got busy before heading to bed too.