Category: Go West

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Go West, Day 82 – Broome

Itching for Hitching

Day 82 Wednesday 27th May 2015, warm 32 degrees Broome We ‘do’ the Pearling Lugger Tour and sit in an old wharf shed learning about the romance and horrors of the pearling industry of the past. In its heyday there were 404 pearl luggers operating out of Broome harvesting pearl shells for mother of pearl and sometimes they found natural pearls. What a far cry from today’s industry. We were surprised to learn that like in Queensland, ‘black birding’ (a polite term for slavery) was practised to coerce the Aboriginals into doing the shell diving. This was prior to the … Continue reading Go West, Day 82 – Broome

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Go West, Day 78 – Barn Hill

Itching for Hitching

Day 78 Saturday 23rd May 2015, warm 26 degrees @ 8:20 Eighty Mile Beach to Barn Hill A connection snapped off the water filter this morning so we’ll just use our own tank water until we get to Broome. We pass through grassland and low scrub, termites and wandering cattle. We pull into the Sandfire Roadhouse for fuel and I jump out to get a photo. I reckon that this place must come alive during the night because there are more animal and bird foot prints in the red dirt than there are tyre marks. The countryside is alternating now … Continue reading Go West, Day 78 – Barn Hill

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Go West, Day 77 – Eighty Mile Beach

Itching for Hitching

Day 77 Friday 22nd May 2015, overcast, clearing and muggy 29 degrees @ 9:30 Pardoo Station to Eighty Mile Beach Wow, we get 4 spots of rain before breakfast, can I call that a wet day? We leave Pardoo station and follow the highway through flat scrubby grazing land. We turn left onto the red dirt road into Eighty Mile Beach undecided as to whether we will stay or continue on to Barn Hill. I get the feeling that my ‘Outback Jack’ is a little over red dirt as he is starting to grumble about the corrugations on the roads.  … Continue reading Go West, Day 77 – Eighty Mile Beach

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Go West, Day 74 – Pardoo Station

Itching for Hitching

Day 74 Tuesday 19th May 2015, some cloud, sticky Port Hedland to Pardoo Station Like so many other towns on this coast Port Hedland was bombed twice by the Japanese in 1942. We hit the road again. The country is grassy and flat with lots of termite mounds. In fact, one section has each mound wearing a white hard hat! Large white Brahman cattle munch happily along the roadsides. As we pass, the De Grey River has water in it and shady white gums. The camping area extends along the bank and is huge. The road into Pardoo Station is … Continue reading Go West, Day 74 – Pardoo Station