Day Four

After an absolutely terrific night with AJ and Amy in Port Hedland, we packed up Bertha and headed towards Karratha. We were grateful to have spent the night in a house, which also happened to have industrial strength A/C! It also had rooms with doors and stuff, it was great. A change is as good as a holiday, and we'll get back to holidayin'! I have to say that AJ can grill a mean steak, and Amy's potato salad was nothing short of sensational...even with bits of apple in it!

Right, so we pottered around South Hedland for a bit so that Lachlan could spend some cold, hard birthday cash. The Kmart there happened to have the very DVDs he sought. We also treated ourselves to a cheeky second breakfast from Macca's. We hit the open road again, stopping for a quick bite to eat in the town of Roebourne, a mere 34 degrees at 1pm. The campervan has A/C, but only in the front cab. The back section does have it too, but only when we're connected to power at a caravan park. So, it can get fairly toasty. The two schmos in the front lap up the cool air, while the other two try to keep cool in the back. Zappa tends to oscillate between the two areas, but tends to dig lying under the feet of the Bolgie riding shotgun.

I have to say that driving is my favourite part of trips like these. I get a big kick out of driving anyway, as it's a great excuse to listen to music and take in some scenery. Our tour of Tasmania in January this year was just wonderful, and I ate up the kilometres like a starved hyena. When Rhona and I picked up Bertha on Sunday we noticed that the CD player was fairly basic, so we'd need to bring some CDs with us, and not mp3 discs either. I had the idea of bringing a heap of my old CD compilations, some dating back to when we got out first CD burner in 2000. Of course, some stuff turns up that would be on my iPod, but every now and then a nugget or two slips into the mix. It's been fun listening to tracks from particular albums show up as they turned up in our collection. Oh yes, I'm listening to them in chronological order; does that surprise you? Got through the first twenty or so already. Only another forty or so to get through.

Rhona took the Roebourne to Karratha shift and once we arrived, we fuelled up (again!) and got a few supplies before meeting our friend Kelly and her two boys, Jace and Nathan. Kelly is our good friend Shaun's sister and she's lived up there for years. It was nice to see her on her home turf. She took us to a great park called the Mara Guthurra Adventure Playground, where the kids got to burn a little energy. Lachlan and Jace took a shine to the flying fox setup and spent a bit of time riding together.

Back on the road once more, we headed towards Carnavon. We knew we wouldn't reach the town by a reasonable hour, so we were going to check out a few roadhouses along the way, because we knew they had powered sites available. Luckily for us, we were able to set up camp at the first stop we came to, Fortescue Roadhouse. It's quite a pretty stop, in spite of the FIFO populated dongers bordering the back of the area. The dusk time lit up the sky with a lovely mix of oranges, reds and purples, bouncing off the hills surrounding the roadhouse.

After a suitably expensive roadhouse meal, we washed the kids (and ourselves) and then finished the day with a game of Trivial Pursuit for Kids. Lachlan won. Kinda. Both he and Alyssa answered some great questions without any help. Alyssa in particular was showing a broad range of knowledge. Tomorrow we'll head to Carnavon. Hopefully it'll be a little cooler as we head down the coast. We're currently 1433km away from Perth.

Alyssa says
"I loved getting Hot Cakes from McDonald's this morning. I also really liked watching the Upside Down Show DVD in our campervan."

Lachlan says
"I enjoyed spending my birthday money. Oh, and the flying fox at the park. I liked winning Trival Pursuit too."

Zappa says
"Woof woof woof woof...yawn...snort."

Bolgies out!