We got going and stuck to the coastal roads instead of the highway. A stop in Hopetoun and then we hit the track through Fitzgerald River National Park. Great new bitumen paved the way as we drove out stopping at some of the spectacular lookouts, lakes and beaches just outside of Hopetoun. Soon after the main tourist attractions were passed the road deteriorated to a corrugated mess of a track – but being a through road in the direction we wanted to head – we chose to keep pushing on rather than backtracking and taking a much longer route.
We passed only a few cars – one family from Stockton NSW had stopped at fresh car roll-over – no one in the wreckage but it was a good few rolls with broken windows and even the car battery thrown out. Strangely enough as we were standing there chatting, the owner came driving along – no major injuries apparent – and was planning to pull the wreck (that we found out occurred last night) onto a car trailer he was towing – hoping to get it onto the trailer and away…..before the cops showed up and asked questions! He reckons he was “just going slow” (out in the middle of nowhere…in the middle of the night….) and the big 4WD tyres and over-lifted height of the car made him bounce off the corrugations and roll…….
We pushed on and overall it was a very pleasant area to drive through – spectacular scenery and some strange plants in the heathland that really stood out as different to anything we’d seen. We made it out to the highway and pushed along a fair way finding a nice riverfront campsite at the Wellstead Crossing of the Pallinup River. A nice level spot we didn’t have long after getting the tent up before dark. We’ve been getting into the tent early quite a bit lately so we get school work done, read books and escape whatever biting insects might be at a certain site!
JALC-OZ-2018 