Team Chubb and Chauncey

This is a bit behind the times now but enjoy anyhow!


I managed to find a standby campervan relocation from Broome to Perth going on pretty much the exact days that I wanted to go so that I would have enough time in Broome, and enough time in Perth to see everybody and do the things I wanted to.  All the information I had on it was a pickup time and place, and I knew that it was a 2 berth hi-top camper.  When I picked it up I found out that it was pretty much the biggest camper 2 people could get, you could stand up and walk around in it, and was equipped with a shower and toilet, along with everything else you could possibly want in your home.  Since it was so massiveI decided that it would be okay to take Louise with Sharon and I because even though it wasn't strictly in compliance with the rules it wasn't going to hurt anyone and would even benefit the three of us.  We managed to get out of town around 11am and it was a balmy 28 degrees.  I drove about 800kms that day and we parked at some random rest stop.  I was obviously a bit tired and glad that the girls were there to take care of dinner for me, nice and easy tomato, cream corn and tuna on bread - no toaster :(

The next day we made it to Karijini National Park, despite a bit of traffic on the roads.  This was pretty funny to see when you hadn't seen this many vehicles in one spot after 1000kms of driving.  The park was absolutely beautiful.  The most amazing part of the gorges was that you could be less that 100m away from the gorge and unless you knew it was there you could walk right past.  All you can see is the rugged landscape of the Pilbara region stretching off around you and you follow the track that is there, expecting a bit of a walk at time and all of the sudden you make a sharp turn to start descending into the gorges.  Each of them is a hidden oasis of water, plants, birds and animals.  The pictures just cannot capture the majesty, especially with the little camera I had at my disposal.  We stayed in the park that night and woke up to a temperature around 12 degrees, the coldest I had seen, perhaps since I came to Australia.

intersection of 5 gorges

  Once we got out of the park I decided that I ought to take a break from driving since I wouldn't have a choice from that afternoon onwards.  Even though she did a good job of it, I was probably more stressed about having somebody else drive, especially since it was my money on the bond and name on the line.  When she eventually got too tired to drive she pulled over, it just so happened that we were only a couple kilometers down the road from Wyloo Station, one of the places owned by the same people I had worked for before going to Karratha!  When I left the station I never would have thought I would be back so close to it.  Even more peculiar was that the girls were going to go WWOOFing on Lyndon station, the neighbour to Maroonah, I had even met the guy who came and picked them up.  Despite the massive distances and space in the Pilbara region it sure is a small world. 

I was on my own, and my calculations were telling me that I wouldn't have many spare kilometers within the allowance I had been given.  The sights remaining on the coast were Monkey Mia, 300kms of driving round trip, Kalbarri an extra hundred or two, and the Pinnacles desert which I wasn't sure where it was and I didn't check the map I bought closely enough before the transaction, because it had no information on it!  I quickly decided that I would much rather get to Perth quickly and catch up with Nicole and Cat again, rather than go off on my own to do things for the sake of doing them.  I drove until about 10pm and luckily didn't see any kangaroos on the road as you will later learn are nothing like seeing deer on the highway.  The next morning I woke up at dawn and it was 4 degrees!  The blanket I had really wasn't cutting it anymore I luckily had tea and porridge for breakfast so I got something hot in my belly and let the sun into the camper then got on the road with the heater turned up to full.  I had a moment's doubt about making it back home to catch a bit of winter, but then I realized I was still wearing shorts and jandles rather than proper clothes and shoes.

I was a bit dissappointed when I drove past the turn to Kalbarri thinking that the pinnacles were surely somewhere in that national park.  I consoled myself by taking a random tourist drive and stopping for lunch in a quaint little village and having my lunch by the little jetty full of sea gulls.  These were proper gulls as they didn't have any interest in people food and didn't harrass me like my lunch breaks in Karratha.  I took the time to get my feet wet and the water was the perfect temperature for soaking my feet that were stiff from driving without cruise control.  I continued down the scenic route and low and behold I was on the route to the pinnacles!  It must have been my Jedi senses guiding me when I impulsively took that turn off, this is another reason why I go along with them.  I probably could have spent a long day investigating these mysterious rock formations, but I was quite sick of driving around on my own and satisfied myself by reading up on how they think the pinnacles formed and taking pictures.  I made the mistake of going on the drive around, because the lady at the entrance told me that "It's just under the length restriction, so you'll just have to go slow at a few spots".  I thought I would see more and it would be quicker than the walking track.  I deffinitely should have walked around because I was so stressed about damaging the van in the tight spots that I just wanted to get out of there.  I hardly took the chance to look around and enjoy it at all!

Chauncey at the Pinnacles

Despite a major delays due to a fatality accident on the freeway, getting lost everywhere I went once I hit the city and leaving the van so quickly I was still wearing my jandles, which are a no-no in city bars after 7pm.  I managed to catch up with Nicole and Cat and sneak into a pub for a couple of drinks with them.  The long journey south was over.  I travelled 2900km in four days, woke up to weather that was 10 degrees colder each day and wouldn't change a thing about the trip.


Chauncey was so massive that he beeped when I backed him up.