Karijini-Dales camping Ground to Barn Hill Station

Day24 Karijini - Dales Camping Ground to Stargazers camping area Millstream Chichester National Park.

Up at 6 to be greeted by a chilly 8 deg. On the road by 7:30 to Tom Price for shopping and topping up fuel and water. 

 Also did the induction for driving on the Rio Tinto road that follows their rail line, which consisted of watching a 20min video and filling out a form. Updated the blog (did you see the pics??), left about 12:30 after a pie from the local Brumbys bakery. The plan had been to head straight to Millstream Chichester National Park but we decided to detour via Hammersley Gorge after the camp host at Dales gave it a big wrap.

 Turned out to be a bit disappointing and after a quick photo or 2 it was back on the gravel to link up with the Rio Tinto road.
 The road we took was fine for the first part, mainly because it serviced the Solomon mine site but after that it deteriorated and was pretty rough in parts. The Rio Tinto Road was better but it had a really rough patch that had the speed limit reduced to 60. I offered to take over the driving, so we swapped and about 200 meters up the road it improved markedly. Just the luck of the draw. We left the Rio road at the Roebourne-Wittenoom Road and again we were back on the trough stuff. We joked that it must be looked after by the Ashburton Shire after driving on their roads earlier in the trip and as it turned out it actually was!! Pulled in to Stargazers camp site about 4:30 and selected a site near the camp hosts. Carol backed the Mitchell onto the site while I guided her and it was a breeze. The camp host was most impressed when he came to collect our fees. Told him that we'd done the towing course with Global Gypsies and he said he'd seen the demo at the camping show. Might be a new customer for Jeremy.

There are 2 camp-sites at Millstream-Chichester National Park, Stargazers where we stayed has about 14 sites of various sizes, generators aren't allowed and the toilets look very new. Not much shade though. The other site is called Miliyanha and has more sites and more shade. Generators are allowed so it is probably noisier too.

After setting up we drove up to the Cliff Lookout to watch the sunset and take some photos. We had forgotten to take anything out for dinner so it was Thai red beef curry again for dinner which was no hardship. 

362.2km travelled.

Day25 Stargazers camping area Millstream Chichester National Park to Pardoo Station.

Set the alarm for 7 but we were awake and up by 6:30. On the road by 8:30, would have been earlier but we had to let the back tires down on the Pajero to get the tow pin under the hitch. I couldn't get the jockey wheel down when we unhitched last night, so I'd changed the position of it to the lower one. I had to wind it up to its maximum to get it off the pin and it must have settled enough so that we couldn't get it high enough to hitch up. Oh well, lesson learned. I'll make sure I put a block of wood under the wheel if I have to do that again.

We called in to the Millstream homestead and had a look around. It's had an interesting history, with the family who owned it before the Government bought it bringing in some portable homes and opening the homestead as a tavern after the beef price crashed in the 1970s.

Back out to the Roebourne-Wittenoom road and it was much the same as yesterday, OK in parts but enough rough bits and wash outs to keep your speed down and be on the alert. The section where it crosses the Chichester Ranges is actually sealed and I checked the map to see if that was the end of the gravel but no such luck. Did see a few Sturt Desert Peas in flower. 

Down passed Python Pool and over a particularly bad flood-way and it wasn't long before a sign announced “Welcome to Karratha City” . The road surface had been OK for the last kilometre or so and improved out of sight from here to the seal at the North West Coastal Highway. A glance in the mirror when we passed the sign showed a “Welcome to Ashburton Shire” sign going the other way, so our thoughts of yesterday about the state of the road proved to be right!

After stopping to air up again it was on to the highway and a stop at Port Headland for fuel before getting to Pardoo Station turn off about 2. the sign at the gate said “Caravan Park No vacancy” but we'd been looking on Wiki Camps and one of the comments posted by someone said the sign had been the same when they arrived but when they rang there were sites available so we gave them a call. Yes, sites were available so pop on down said the Irish lash on the phone, so we did just that. $35/night for a powered site and just go and choose one but if you change your mind there’s no refund. We took the chance, booked in and eventually settled on site#1. Had a sprinkler going on it but Carol turned it off and moved it along a couple of sites and turned it back on.

Nice grassy sites “no red dust!” was Carol's comment, I suspect she might have been falling out of love with the red dust somehow. Our neighbour at the back was Ross and his wife, been here since May and staying until October when it starts getting a bit warm as he put it. They have been coming to the same site for 8 years, not quite a local though as there were plenty of couples who had been coming for 20 years!! He said he and his wife looked after the red toilet block, cleaned it every morning so they advised everyone they spoke to to use the next one along. Makes life a bit easier I guess. The showers were lovely and hot “take yer skin off” as Ross put it and it was so nice to be under running hot water after a week or so of sponge baths. There was a real community feel about the place. A few of the long termers do things around the place to help out which I guess gives them a reduced rate. One couple just up the way fed 5 or so calves that were in a pen across the road from the sites. There was a mass exodus of people, drink in hand to the communal fire pit at 5. We cooked dinner first, leftover Mongolian lamb then after doing the dishes in the camp kitchen, took a glass of wine up to sit around the fire. There were only 2 guys there by that stage but by the time we left about an hour or so later there were 10 or so having a chat. The size of the logs that some of them were putting on indicated it could be a long night! 

427.8km travelled

Day26 Pardoo Station to Barn Hill Station.

Up at 7 and did our breakfast in the camp kitchen. Pretty good facilities, we've had worse for more. On the road just after 8 checked the tires before we hitched up and they were a bit low so after we drove back to the main road we stopped and I aired up. We'd been told the night before that there were 45knot winds expected and it felt like it. What's worse was we were driving almost into them. Filled up at Sandfire roadhouse and the fuel app showed a fuel consumption of 18.2/100km against an average of 15. That improved a bit as the road turned more north but it was barely under 17 by the time we got to Barn Hill Station. Stopped for lunch about 70km from our destination in a 24hr stopping area. Similar to the one we stopped in at Nerren Nerren with drop toilets and several camp sites with small fire pits. 
 Nice set up at Barn Hill, the office and store where you check in is very rustic and we'd read all about the amenities with no roof. 

 Un-powered sites followed the cliff face around so we chose one back from the face even though there were a couple looking right at the water. The way the wind was blowing meant we would have been facing the wrong way. 

 The wind had died off a little so we went for a walk down to the beach. A few steps to negotiate that had seen better days but nothing too hard. Lots of unusual stones and rocks on the beach. 

 We headed back and decided to have a shower, they're solar so if you leave it too late you run the risk of a cold one. They were nice and warm, 2 hot showers in a row.........luxury!! We were debating whether we should spend more nights at Pardoo Station or here and opted for here. As nice as Pardoo Station was, I think we've made the right choice. Cooked Teriyaki beef for dinner, delicious.

401.5km travelled.