Day 64

Saturday 9th May 2015, clear 25 degrees at 9:30

Barradale to Beasley River Rest Area

There is loud moaning coming from the cubicle next door, the sign above the drop dunny says “If you didn’t eat it don’t drop it down the tube.” Heaven knows what he ate!

The road passes a range of mesas, red soil stippled with green spinifex buttons. What an interesting drive. The grass is lush and thick from the rains and in the distance the ranges are purple and lavender. What beautiful country this is.

Nanutarra road house is clean and neat and the fuel not as dear as we had been led to believe. They’re cooking hot chips and Woody and Shirley can’t resist, they’re off like a shot to grab some. Hey, this is a road trip not a diet.

We clock over 10,000kms. Where did that go? And arrive at House Creek Rest Area a bit earlier than expected. It is a pretty spot but closed due to flood damage so we press on. The Nanutarra Wittenoom Road is very good.

Beasley River Rest Area is well off the road with good facilities and shady trees. I bounce over the red dirt to a couple from Berlin and extol the virtues of the area. They look at me in shock “Vot zees?” he says. They leave shortly after obviously he’s looking for the scenery. An hour later a lass from Cologne rocks up and is just as excited as we are about the red dirt and the spinifex and settles in happily.

The Beasley River is almost dry and our neighbour warns us of a pair of territorial dingoes down there, he has his small dog safely locked in the van. 

So now we’ve gone from flies to angry dingoes. The interesting thing about today is that we’ve travelled 250kms from one rest area to another without passing a town, just the gates of a couple of cattle stations.

Accom: $0

Travelling Kms: 251Kms

Note: It’s funny how you become accustomed to remote areas. On our first trip to Western Queensland we had a feeling of remoteness, yet on this trip through the Pilbara Western Qld began to feel almost urban.