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gemfyre9/3/2011
It's 1am, and I reckon I've had 1.5 hours solid sleep so far. The clouds have disappeared but it's very warm, very humid and there is hardly any breeze. Certainly not enough to get into the swag. To make matters worse, I'm right next to a caravan with a loud air-conditioning unit. The noise is making it hard to sleep and is also teasing me – they're comfortable and cool in there. I hope Broome isn't like this, but the sad fact is that it probably will be.
27.4C, apparent Temp 32C 85% humidity. Wind – 9 knots with gusts to 13 knots.
It's now 5:30, the eastern sky is just starting to get light, and the birds have started singing. And I've given up on trying to sleep anymore. I slept fitfully. My swag didn't get wet from rain, but the inside is soggy from my sweat.
I eventually packed and had breakfast (a few spits of rain really got me moving, but it passed quickly. I was on the road at 7:30. I originally figured I'd make it to Sandfire and split the trip to Broome in half – seeing as I was so tired and just wanted to chill out.
I stopped at DeGrey River for a look around – there are now pit toilets here and plenty of rubbish bins for overnighters. The river had quite a bit of water in it but I didn't see any water birds – from my vantage point pretty much all I could see was thick undergrowth and trees. Some Miners were making a commotion in a nearby tree and as I approached the cause of their ire appeared – a Barking Owl.
I had realised that I had seriously underestimated the weather up here in March, and figured I'd get a room with air-con again. When driving a few hundred kilometres a day you NEED a decent sleep. But by the time I got to Pardoo I'd decided I could make it to Port Smith, which would be a very pleasant stopover and which would make the trip into Broome very short. I checked out Cape Keraudren at Marie's recommendation, but discovered it was a $10 entry fee. Seeing as it was hot and humid and I didn't intend to spend more than half an hour/an hour there I figured I'd give it a miss for now and maybe pop in on the way back. About the only bird I could see there that I won't see in Broome is Mangrove Robin – and I have a chance of seeing that further south anyway. I grabbed an icy pole in Pardoo but decided to get fuel for the car and myself in Sandfire.
I popped into 80 Mile Beach and was greeted by fishermen in one direction, and a row of waders as far as the eye could see in the other direction. I wandered towards the waders and got a better look, but was turned back by some light sprinkling, there were also some very threatening looking, darker clouds further east. Between the time it took me to get back into the car, and the time it took to drive the 100m or so to the caravan park office (I discovered it was closed), it had started to rain properly. And it rained, a lot. Driving the dirt road back to then main highway I almost turned my wipers off once or twice, but by the time I was almost to the highway visibility was severely reduced and the rain was HEAVY.
The rain barely let up in the 40 kilometre drive to Sandfire. I was happy to discover that the fuel here was slightly cheaper than Pardoo (at just under $1.70 per litre), and I got a steakburger with the works for $12. I don't think you could get a better burger for that price in Perth. And the egg yolk was all runny ~drool~. I asked the woman at the counter what she reckoned the road to Port Smith would be like, and her response wasn't promising. She was getting reports that even Roebuck Plains roadhouse was experiencing minor flooding and they had had A LOT of rain. She gave me the number to try and give them a call on the payphones outside. I first called BBO to check the condition of the road into there and the prospects of me getting a donga room while the AWSG guys where still there. I got an answering machine – I might try again later, or I may just drive to Broome and find out when I get there. I couldn't get through to Port Smith. The lady inside offered to try and call them on the roadhouse phone, and she couldn't get hold of them either. So, I could drive all the way to the turnoff and risk not being able to use the road – and I didn't even know if they HAD a budget room free out there (in all likelihood they would have). I would have to continue on into Broome, arriving late and not knowing exactly where I could stay the night.
So, I reverted to my original plan of staying in Sandfire. $40 has me a very basic donga room, with just a bed, air-con and a chair. Seems $20 more gets you a fridge, a desk and a TV around these parts. With all the rain the whole caravan park is a muddy mess and my old boots are falling apart and no longer waterproof. I've also managed to muddy up the floor inside quite a bit, but I'm being careful now and only the entry is really messy. The camp kitchen is VERY basic and I doubt I will even use it – heck, I may be lazy and just eat at the roadhouse. But the showers actually look pretty decent.
So I'm just chilling the afternoon away, reading, doing puzzles, writing this, napping, hoping the rain lets up. I think I'm going to wander back to the roadhouse for a bit and check out the souvenirs. In a paddock next door is a brahman cow and a camel and there are Agile Wallabies everywhere :) :) :) There are Sandfire's famous peacocks and a few chickens wandering around. There's also a Pied Butcherbird calling and Masked Lapwings across from the fuel pumps. This will do for the night I guess. I may be staying a night or two in Broome proper before I head out to the Obs – if this rain keeps up I won't be able to swag it anywhere anyway. And I think I will need to buy new boots in Broome too, these ones have had it. The water came straight through them and now my socks are all soggy.
It's now 6:30pm. I took a wander around the roadhouse and saw plenty of Agile Wallabies and a discovered geese on the property. There is also an ostrich up the back, weird.
I sat in the roadhouse for a while and read the Broome Advertiser and got myself all up to date with the latest happenings in my favourite country town. Businesses are shutting down due to exorbitant rents, Streeter's Jetty is falling into disrepair because no-one can agree on who is responsible for maintaining it, and there are big potholes in the main streets because the drainage system isn't really suitable for tropical wet seasons – go figure. It also seems there are a few new shopping centres popping up around town. I read an article about the native fruits in Minyirr Park – maybe I should make an effort to take a wander through there – it's something I never did when I was at the Obs.
I had a bit of a nap and when I woke noticed a few more cars had popped up in the caravan park grounds. A couple of campervans in the caravan sites, someone in the motel rooms, and I have a neighbour – a rough old bloke from further north who is heading down to Port Hedland for a job. I was describing places like Cue and Payne's Find to him and he quickly explained that he had never been further south than Broome before. We chatted for a while about various things – mainly how feral the tropics are and then I decided I better call mum and keep her updated. By the time I got off the phone the sun was setting – once again, the camera does not do what I actually saw any justice. I also heard a Green Tree Frog croaking by the fishpond – couldn't find him though.
I'm now about to make dinner – sandwiches/leftovers. Soon I'll have a shower and get a good night's sleep. Broome tomorrow! Finally. The bloke next door also informed me that there are Magpie Geese in some of the areas where the water goes over the road on the way up to Broome – will have to keep my eyes peeled.
8pm – This room is not bug proof. It looks partially termite eaten. Grar. I think it's time for a shower and sleep.
Oh joy. The rain has brought out the alates (flying ants). Some are tiny things and some are big buggers. They don't bite so much but they incessantly fly into you and crawl on you. It doesn't take long until you're never sure if there's a bug on you or it's just your skin crawling (which is especially bad when you're sweating in the humid weather). I think most of the insects in my room have come in when the door is open. It hasn't taken me long to adopt my old trick at the BBO. Turn off interior light. Turn on head torch (to the red setting – it doesn't seem to attract so many bugs). Open door, get outside and close door as quickly as possible. If a large light is on inside and the door is open, you have no hope.
9/3/2011 (Port Hedland, DeGrey River, Pardoo, 80 Mile Beach, Sandfire)
Australian Pipit
Bar-shouldered Dove
Bar-tailed Godwit
Barking Owl
Black Kite
Black-breasted Buzzard
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Black-faced Woodswallow
Black-necked Stork
Blue-winged Kookaburra (H)
Brown Falcon
Budgerigar
Cockatiel
Crested Pigeon
Eastern Curlew (H)
Eastern Reef Egret (white morph)
Galah
Great Knot
Greater Sand Plover
Grey Plover
Greylag Goose (domestic at roadhouse)
Indian Peafowl (domestic at roadhouse)
Lesser Crested Tern
Lesser Sand Plover
Little Corella
Little Eagle
Little Tern
Magpie
Magpie Lark
Mangrove Heron
Masked Lapwing
Ostrich (domestic at roadhouse)
Peaceful Dove
Pied Butcherbird
Pied Oystercatcher
Rainbow Bee-eater
Red Junglefowl (chicken – domestic at roadhouse)
Red-necked Stint
Rock Dove
Ruddy Turnstone
Spotted Harrier
Torresian Crow
Whistling Kite
White-breasted Woodswallow
White-plumed Honeyeater
White-winged Fairy-wren
Yellow-throated Miner
Zebra Finch
Click here to see all the photos from today.
It's 1am, and I reckon I've had 1.5 hours solid sleep so far. The clouds have disappeared but it's very warm, very humid and there is hardly any breeze. Certainly not enough to get into the swag. To make matters worse, I'm right next to a caravan with a loud air-conditioning unit. The noise is making it hard to sleep and is also teasing me – they're comfortable and cool in there. I hope Broome isn't like this, but the sad fact is that it probably will be.
27.4C, apparent Temp 32C 85% humidity. Wind – 9 knots with gusts to 13 knots.
It's now 5:30, the eastern sky is just starting to get light, and the birds have started singing. And I've given up on trying to sleep anymore. I slept fitfully. My swag didn't get wet from rain, but the inside is soggy from my sweat.
I eventually packed and had breakfast (a few spits of rain really got me moving, but it passed quickly. I was on the road at 7:30. I originally figured I'd make it to Sandfire and split the trip to Broome in half – seeing as I was so tired and just wanted to chill out.
I stopped at DeGrey River for a look around – there are now pit toilets here and plenty of rubbish bins for overnighters. The river had quite a bit of water in it but I didn't see any water birds – from my vantage point pretty much all I could see was thick undergrowth and trees. Some Miners were making a commotion in a nearby tree and as I approached the cause of their ire appeared – a Barking Owl.
 |
De Grey River Gnarled trees beside the river. |
I had realised that I had seriously underestimated the weather up here in March, and figured I'd get a room with air-con again. When driving a few hundred kilometres a day you NEED a decent sleep. But by the time I got to Pardoo I'd decided I could make it to Port Smith, which would be a very pleasant stopover and which would make the trip into Broome very short. I checked out Cape Keraudren at Marie's recommendation, but discovered it was a $10 entry fee. Seeing as it was hot and humid and I didn't intend to spend more than half an hour/an hour there I figured I'd give it a miss for now and maybe pop in on the way back. About the only bird I could see there that I won't see in Broome is Mangrove Robin – and I have a chance of seeing that further south anyway. I grabbed an icy pole in Pardoo but decided to get fuel for the car and myself in Sandfire.
| Cape Keraudren Road Agile Wallabies (the first I saw on this trip) take shelter from the sun in the info hut. |
 |
I popped into 80 Mile Beach and was greeted by fishermen in one direction, and a row of waders as far as the eye could see in the other direction. I wandered towards the waders and got a better look, but was turned back by some light sprinkling, there were also some very threatening looking, darker clouds further east. Between the time it took me to get back into the car, and the time it took to drive the 100m or so to the caravan park office (I discovered it was closed), it had started to rain properly. And it rained, a lot. Driving the dirt road back to then main highway I almost turned my wipers off once or twice, but by the time I was almost to the highway visibility was severely reduced and the rain was HEAVY.
 |
|
| Eighty Mile Beach And it rained! Quite a bit too, visibility on the highway on the road to Sandfire was sometimes reduced to about 10 metres. |
The rain barely let up in the 40 kilometre drive to Sandfire. I was happy to discover that the fuel here was slightly cheaper than Pardoo (at just under $1.70 per litre), and I got a steakburger with the works for $12. I don't think you could get a better burger for that price in Perth. And the egg yolk was all runny ~drool~. I asked the woman at the counter what she reckoned the road to Port Smith would be like, and her response wasn't promising. She was getting reports that even Roebuck Plains roadhouse was experiencing minor flooding and they had had A LOT of rain. She gave me the number to try and give them a call on the payphones outside. I first called BBO to check the condition of the road into there and the prospects of me getting a donga room while the AWSG guys where still there. I got an answering machine – I might try again later, or I may just drive to Broome and find out when I get there. I couldn't get through to Port Smith. The lady inside offered to try and call them on the roadhouse phone, and she couldn't get hold of them either. So, I could drive all the way to the turnoff and risk not being able to use the road – and I didn't even know if they HAD a budget room free out there (in all likelihood they would have). I would have to continue on into Broome, arriving late and not knowing exactly where I could stay the night.
So, I reverted to my original plan of staying in Sandfire. $40 has me a very basic donga room, with just a bed, air-con and a chair. Seems $20 more gets you a fridge, a desk and a TV around these parts. With all the rain the whole caravan park is a muddy mess and my old boots are falling apart and no longer waterproof. I've also managed to muddy up the floor inside quite a bit, but I'm being careful now and only the entry is really messy. The camp kitchen is VERY basic and I doubt I will even use it – heck, I may be lazy and just eat at the roadhouse. But the showers actually look pretty decent.
So I'm just chilling the afternoon away, reading, doing puzzles, writing this, napping, hoping the rain lets up. I think I'm going to wander back to the roadhouse for a bit and check out the souvenirs. In a paddock next door is a brahman cow and a camel and there are Agile Wallabies everywhere :) :) :) There are Sandfire's famous peacocks and a few chickens wandering around. There's also a Pied Butcherbird calling and Masked Lapwings across from the fuel pumps. This will do for the night I guess. I may be staying a night or two in Broome proper before I head out to the Obs – if this rain keeps up I won't be able to swag it anywhere anyway. And I think I will need to buy new boots in Broome too, these ones have had it. The water came straight through them and now my socks are all soggy.
 |
Sandfire Roadhouse The camel with his friend, a cow. |
It's now 6:30pm. I took a wander around the roadhouse and saw plenty of Agile Wallabies and a discovered geese on the property. There is also an ostrich up the back, weird.
I sat in the roadhouse for a while and read the Broome Advertiser and got myself all up to date with the latest happenings in my favourite country town. Businesses are shutting down due to exorbitant rents, Streeter's Jetty is falling into disrepair because no-one can agree on who is responsible for maintaining it, and there are big potholes in the main streets because the drainage system isn't really suitable for tropical wet seasons – go figure. It also seems there are a few new shopping centres popping up around town. I read an article about the native fruits in Minyirr Park – maybe I should make an effort to take a wander through there – it's something I never did when I was at the Obs.
I had a bit of a nap and when I woke noticed a few more cars had popped up in the caravan park grounds. A couple of campervans in the caravan sites, someone in the motel rooms, and I have a neighbour – a rough old bloke from further north who is heading down to Port Hedland for a job. I was describing places like Cue and Payne's Find to him and he quickly explained that he had never been further south than Broome before. We chatted for a while about various things – mainly how feral the tropics are and then I decided I better call mum and keep her updated. By the time I got off the phone the sun was setting – once again, the camera does not do what I actually saw any justice. I also heard a Green Tree Frog croaking by the fishpond – couldn't find him though.
| Sandfire Roadhouse A rooster settles down on top of the phone booth. |
 |
I'm now about to make dinner – sandwiches/leftovers. Soon I'll have a shower and get a good night's sleep. Broome tomorrow! Finally. The bloke next door also informed me that there are Magpie Geese in some of the areas where the water goes over the road on the way up to Broome – will have to keep my eyes peeled.
8pm – This room is not bug proof. It looks partially termite eaten. Grar. I think it's time for a shower and sleep.
Oh joy. The rain has brought out the alates (flying ants). Some are tiny things and some are big buggers. They don't bite so much but they incessantly fly into you and crawl on you. It doesn't take long until you're never sure if there's a bug on you or it's just your skin crawling (which is especially bad when you're sweating in the humid weather). I think most of the insects in my room have come in when the door is open. It hasn't taken me long to adopt my old trick at the BBO. Turn off interior light. Turn on head torch (to the red setting – it doesn't seem to attract so many bugs). Open door, get outside and close door as quickly as possible. If a large light is on inside and the door is open, you have no hope.
9/3/2011 (Port Hedland, DeGrey River, Pardoo, 80 Mile Beach, Sandfire)
Australian Pipit
Bar-shouldered Dove
Bar-tailed Godwit
Barking Owl
Black Kite
Black-breasted Buzzard
Black-faced Cuckoo-shrike
Black-faced Woodswallow
Black-necked Stork
Blue-winged Kookaburra (H)
Brown Falcon
Budgerigar
Cockatiel
Crested Pigeon
Eastern Curlew (H)
Eastern Reef Egret (white morph)
Galah
Great Knot
Greater Sand Plover
Grey Plover
Greylag Goose (domestic at roadhouse)
Indian Peafowl (domestic at roadhouse)
Lesser Crested Tern
Lesser Sand Plover
Little Corella
Little Eagle
Little Tern
Magpie
Magpie Lark
Mangrove Heron
Masked Lapwing
Ostrich (domestic at roadhouse)
Peaceful Dove
Pied Butcherbird
Pied Oystercatcher
Rainbow Bee-eater
Red Junglefowl (chicken – domestic at roadhouse)
Red-necked Stint
Rock Dove
Ruddy Turnstone
Spotted Harrier
Torresian Crow
Whistling Kite
White-breasted Woodswallow
White-plumed Honeyeater
White-winged Fairy-wren
Yellow-throated Miner
Zebra Finch
Click here to see all the photos from today.
