Eighty Mile Beach

Trip Start May 28, 2009
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Trip End Ongoing


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Where I stayed
Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park
(Port Hedland hotels)

Flag of Australia  , Western Australia,
Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Ok, so the map pin says Port Hedland (which we drove through) but we actually stayed further east on a random campsite in the middle of nowhere, but it seemed like the best option for a stopover between Karratha and Broome (the map feature is just not letting me pinpoint it on the map, even though it is mentioned!). The drive from Karratha to Eighty Mile Beach was fine, just hot, long and boring! We saw many road trains (huge lorries pulling massive carriages), some as long as four carriages! I have to admit that today was the first time in a month and a half that we have had to use the air-con- so naughty yet so nice!
 The turnoff for Eighty Mile Beach was well signposted and we knew it was 12km down a dirt track road (unsealed road as they call it), but we've done unsealed roads with Queenie before and never had any trouble, coz although they are dirt tracks, they are well compacted and usually flat. Well, not this one! Sure, it was solid, but so many 4x4's had driven over it at speed, that they had created ripples in the road, which I presume off-roaders just skim over, but we felt every last bump and jolt Argh! Huge road train!
Argh! Huge road train!
 ! What probably takes four-wheel-drives 5 minutes to drive, took us over half an hour coz we discovered we couldn't do more than 15km per hour, or we were jostled beyond recognition!
 Anyway, when we finally got there, it was well worth it! The site was lovely, with lush trees and friendly faces, and all based just a stones throw away from thelongest stetch of uninterrupted white sand in Western Australia- bliss! Just wish we could've stayed longer, but they were choc-a-bloc and we had a moon to go and see!
 This night was the very first time we've had to use our tent, as Queenie was just getting too hot to stay in. The tent has excellent ventilation and mossie nets on all sides, so you can leave the outside flaps open, and still get the air through, which cools it down nicely in the night- I even had to get our duvet (or 'doona' as they call it here!).
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