Big cleaning and organising day today. Both Col and I worked hard and achieved a lot. We did a few loads of washing, cleaned the windows and screen door of the van, swept, mopped, changed sheets. We headed into town to do the shopping and get the gas bottle and fuel, went to the bank and dropped into the Tourist Centre on the way to drop off some of the Giralia Station brochures.
Col found an issue with the grey water tank pipe on the van which had been smashed by a big stone on the dirt road driving, so we dropped into the hardware store for him to buy the parts he needed to try and fix it. Col did a temporary workaround to get us back on the road again and will keep looking into a permanent fix in the meantime.
Happy to report that the next shower experience was much better. Overall the Blackrock Tourist Park in South Hedland is somewhere for an overnighter. This park was a 3 star while the other two parks are 2 and a half according to Wiki Camps. If that is the case I really don’t want to compare the other parks. South Hedland and Port Hedland itself were not as bad as the stories I had heard. South Hedland was actually a nice looking and feeling part of town, but I won’t be rushing back that is for sure.
Next stop is Eighty Mile Beach and I am looking forward to that.
I asked Col what his top 5 places or experiences were so far and we started running through them and compiling a list. We narrowed it down to the top 15!! Here is our list so far and we will adjust it as we go. As a blog reader, if you think we have forgotten anything let us know.
- Jarrahdene – partly camping in the Karri forrest, partly hanging out with the Cunninghams
- Giralia Station Stay, Bushcamp Host experience
- Karijini
- Monkey Mia – kayak hire
- Shark Bay fishing and Denham
- Catching prawns in a cast net at Giralia Bay
- William Bay National Park, near Albany – Elephant Rocks and Greens Pool a highlight
- Kalbarri, Murchison National Park and Murchison Gorge
- Lucky Bay, Cape Le Grand National Park
- Walpole
- Eighty Mile Beach
- Glass bottom boat and snorkelling Coral Bay
- Denmark
- Pinnacles
- Stonehenge Esperance
Hey hows the Mazda CX5 traveling. With all the red dirt and remote locations I think you should remind us that this is a stock diesel Mazda CX5 no lift kit or tricked up suspension & towing a large tinnie, you appear to be doing alright. I know Skiddy has the FJ but everyday people could follow and visit some of these incredible places . Well done Mudflaps and Mazda xxx
Thanks Tania, you are right it is just a standard CX5 Maxx Sport Diesel and it has been doing really well. No mechanical issues encountered so far and we have clicked over the 10,000 km mark on the trip. Quite a bit of that has been on corrugated red dirt roads. It has been handling extremely well and I have been very happy with the performance. It also has great fuel economy, averaging 10 to 13 litres per 100km towing the 4.8m tinny. We have filled a 20L diesel jerry can just in case, but haven’t needed it to get to the next town yet.
xx
That’s pretty darn good.
That is fantastic x