October 28

NOTE - now this is dedication, it is Nov 1st and over the past few days while keeping the blog up to date on textpad I have kept checking to see if we can find a net connection to upload the info.  We are now in the car and on the way to an old sheep drinking well which has been turned into a hot tub - oh the sound of something resembling a bath sounds wonderful <g>.  I will upload as much as I can before we lose the signal once again. Please excuse typo errors, doing this in the car of lumpy sandy tracks is not easy lol :)

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We are rather sad to be leaving this beautiful camp spot but as they say, onward and upward, keep heading north.

Today we are going to Port Gregory where there is a pink lake, yes, you heard me right, the lake is pink. Now what wonder of nature has turned this lake pink or is it another human intervention. In this case, it really is a wonder of nature, the lake is a natural source of beta carotene, the same stuff that make carrots orange. I remember seeing a TV series some years ago where a district nurse in the Scottish outback had three children visit her. She though they all had Jaundice but no matter what she did their yellow skin stayed. It turned out that they did not have much money for food but knew where there was an abundance of carrots and that is all they had eaten for ages.

We drove through Northampton, now this Northampton was a one street affair with a few shops and a population of 813. No fear of getting lost here or caught up on ring roads, one way streets, traffic jams etc which one would find happening in Northampton, UK. We missed the main turning for Port Gregory, goodness know how, but never mind there is an unsealed road up ahead which will take us to our destination.

Blast, 20 minutes down the unsealed road and both our sat-navs died, the fuse for Winston's lighter socket has blown. Time to pull over, rake out the manual and find where the fuses are hidden etc. As much as we like to be away from people we don't quite seem to be able to do without our technology - sat-navs, cameras, laptops etc and we have this amazing converter which looks like a regular three socket adaptor we use in the real world. We have been using this to keep all our batteries charged . Up with Winston's bonnet, give him a poke here and a prod there, carry out minor surgery and his fuse was replaced. I wish it was as easy to change my fuse when I blow my top every now and again.

Sorting the blow fuse

Me larking on

Time to move on and find this, locally know as 'The Pink Lake', if you are interested, the proper name is Hutt Lagoon. Here is a photo for you just to show I am not pulling your leg :)  

Pink Lake - Hutt Lagoon

There is not much else at Port Gregory, a few houses, a camp site and a little beach so our visit was short and sweet. As it was still early in the afternoon we decided to continue on our journey heading in the direction of tomorrows destination, Kalbarri National Park, we are sure to find another free home for the night. One of our missions on this 2011 adventure is to see how long we can last without going to a motel or paying for accommodation!!!!  

Alan found another unmarked track just on the south border of the national park, we have put our pre-paid park pass just in case we are inside the foundry and the warden comes along. Oooooo rocks ahead, 4x4 time and a big grin on Alan's face. Let me see if I can video this :) - I did but it is not very interesting so I will not post it.

What a view, beautiful sand dunes and clumps of greenery which go on for miles with the ocean in the background. Keep following the tracks and see where we end up. Now these tracks we are seeing are made by quad bikes and Winston is a little bigger than a quad bike and a lot heavier!!!!! One sand dune has defeated us, Alan got half way up it and then started sliding backwards down the steep incline to our left. My heart was in my mouth but Alan was not phased in the least. Now how to get out of this dilemma I wondered. Simple, continue reversing down into the bushes, through the bushes, out the other side and up a less sharp incline of one of the dunes we came down. I had this dread in my stomach when Alan said, no worries just let the tyre pressure down some more to about 5psi. I had to speak, against my principles, I really had to butt in and say "No way try that again, the track we see are from quad bikes not 3 ton vehicles".

Our skid marks sliding into the bushes below

Alan relented, turned Winson, minus his rear mud flaps around and headed in the opposite direction. What an awesomely beautiful place, big sand dunes shifting their load before our eyes. Alan would not give in, he was determined to find a place to camp the night in this strange place and he did. Round the rear of a dune with lots of plant life, firm sand and sheltered from the biting wind, well we thought it was sheltered, it looked sheltered but it wasn't. The wind was coming from all directions and so cold. What the heck, we will give it a go and spend the night. We tried putting up the tarpaulin but gave up on that, the wind would have ripped it from Winston's side during the night and we will need it at a later date. Forget Winston's cooker too, the wind kept blowing the flame out. Sausages had to be cooked and that was my task, all 12 of them but I will use the portable camper stove we bought for the task. Now this is strange, last year we lost our block of cheese for three weeks, this time we have lost a new loaf of bread. Both of us hunted in ever nook and cranny of Winston's insides but it was nowhere to be found. Looks like sausages without the bread tonight, but this is really bugging us, how can we loose a loaf of bread, it is not exactly small!!!  

Winston's home for the night

Early to bed tonight, we have named this place 'Chicago Dunes' and won't be staying here long. Now how am I feeling, on a scale of 1 to 10 for being in a comfort zone I give a 1, I am far from comfortable here. For sheer nerve racking terror, it is not that bad so I will give another 1, all that is needed to increase the blood pressure to tipping point is for something like Alfred Hitchock's 'The Birds' or some other alien creatures landing on earth to finish the day. Somehow I don't think I will sleep well tonight, I have visions of Winston blowing over with all the wind or in the morning finding that the sand had just about buried us and we will spend the whole day digging our way out. I will let you know tomorrow how we got on.  

Two sunsets pics for you to end this blog entry with.