Friday 19th September 2014 – Warm – clear skies – Stanley Rest Area to De Grey River Rest Area.

Our camp at Stanley Rest Area was quite good, early in the night there were road trains passing which were quite noisy, but later into the evening that stopped.  We were awake before the first morning one went by.  There was no fog, but moisture everywhere dripping off the trailer.  We didn’t hurry with the pack up, but were on the road by 7.30am.  The country side changed after a few kilometres and opened up into vast grass plains.  The plains had white sand again indicating in the distant past it was covered by water.  We are still in red sand country.  On some sections of the road we were 45 metres below sea level, lucky for the dunes and some high ground in front, that’s all I can say.  We were commenting not seeing any wedge tailed eagles and put that down to the lack of high ground or trees, however, within a couple of kilometres there was one on the roadside having breakfast ignoring the road traffic buzzing beside him.  We also put to flight two bustards who were not that far from the eagle.

We had to move off the road a couple of times a couple of convoys of very large mining trucks. (late this afternoon, we passed two large semi trailers just carrying the wheels for them)  The first time, we parked on the left as one passed by and on the second occasion, we spotted a parking bay on the right hand side of the road and drove into that.  After witnessing a huge shift in the load on the camber of the road, I don’t think we will park on the down side again.  It was really scary seeing the truck driver trying to control it.

 

 

We passed our first desert red dunes to the east a sure sign that we are close to the desert.

 

Here is our first port of call today, a drive out to 80 Mile Beach, simply beautiful.  It is the longest straight stretch of beach in WA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking north and then looking south.  Those bushes are prickles and there is no camping along the beach because of several things, like the high tide mark is at the base of the sand dunes, the nesting turtles and there are no tracks off the beach to behind the sand dunes.

The beach is littered with thousands of shells. Most were in good condition.  The variety of shells was amazing.

White sand, turquoise water and low tide so we could drive on the beach, perfect timing.  We set up the side shade awning – it truly makes all the difference.  It is so cool to sit under.  You could not sit at this time of year on this beach without shade. 

80 Mile Beach Caravan Park is $36 a night and looks a fantastic spot to camp, there is no comparison to Port Smith Caravan Park for $1 more, that’s for sure.  They had a car wash off point and a beach shower and drinking water, so we filled up the camper and the washing drum (for showers tonight).

We were late leaving 80 Mile Beach and so it was a late lunch at our next stop. 

It was about 12 klms to drive out and most of the road was bitumen.  This reserve is run by the Pilbara Council.  There is a day entry fee of $10 and I think it is $15 a night to camp there.  There is free wi-fi at all of the shade shelters.  They provide toilets, no water.  There are a lot of rules, a little over the top, more than you even get in a national park.  It was very scenic and there were quite a few caravans parked there.

 

The rock formations look like ancient undersea bed.  There were a few little passage ways and signs of some sort of marsupial living in there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was still low tide.   Another rock shelf exposed in the middle of the bay

We visited the creek on the way out and a photo of the tidal flat with the road built up.

It would be harsh if the wind got up and quite hot without any shade. I think that we visited on a good day.

Back at the highway.  We could see the difference in the terrain from the Kimberley to the Pilbara and it was more evident the closer we got to our camp spot tonight.  The De Grey River.  Pilbara council has also provided wi-fi here, but we have camped further from the road tonight and our signal away from the shelter is a little weak.

We are now about 90 klms out of Port Hedland and will head in tomorrow to restock for our trip to Karijini National Park.  We have another free camp just south of Port Hedland before Karijini.