WEDNESDAY 18 OCTOBER   ONSLOW TO EXMOUTH   444kms

We were up early and managed an efficient final pack and departure, getting away at 8am.

It was a fairly tedious drive, back over to the highway, then south. John is missing trees! There were not many around Onslow. The prevailing vegetation in the country we drove through today was low scrub. There was a section of jump up country beside the highway, for a while, for a bit of interest.

We stopped at the Ashburton River, near Nanutarra Roadhouse, for a coffee break.

The section of WA that we have covered from Port Hedland to Nanutarra has been new to us. In 1993, going north, we turned off at Nanutarra and went inland through the Pilbara, not returning to the coastal regions until Port Hedland. So that gap has been filled in.

I drove for a while.

We ate lunch as we drove. John was anxious to get to Exmouth to try to sort out the phone situation. We have become dependent on it!

We took a gravel road short cut, from the highway to the Exmouth road, via “Giralia”. It was a reasonable road and easy enough to drive.

We passed the airfield and RAAF base at Learmonth. Not long after that, reached the Kailis prawn factory just before their closing time of 1pm. I bought 2kg of Endeavour prawns for $13 a kilo. I was pleased with that.

We parked the rig near the shopping centre at Exmouth and went to Betta Electricals. Putting in a new sim card did not make the phone work. The young assistant was mystified. We found out that we could get a new phone, at no cost, as long as we renewed our contract for a year. We did not really have much choice, so acquired a new CDMA phone. Changed the plan to one for $35 a month that gave us a cheaper call rate. We could possibly save more by combining our bill with the one at home – but K is paying that, so it would be complicated. But will investigate that further.

Refuelled Truck – $1.22cpl.

We did a quick shop and then went on out to the Lighthouse Caravan Park – “around the corner”, 19kms from town. The park was a bit rustic, but adequate. It was near enough to the sea for us to hear it, even if we couldn’t see it. There was a pool and we had a fair sized site. We paid $121 for a week.

After setting up, I peeled the prawns, which took some time. I froze half. We had the rest for tea, with lettuce and bread. They were delectable.

The TV here was pretty limited – WIN and GWN only – but the picture quality was good.

John phoned K and had a chat, after tea. All is well there. The mail was sent yesterday.