Finding Karratha...

Tuesday 10th October

Our next planned stop was Exmouth, where the scuba diving is supposed to be fantastic. The drive was about 1000Km, which we figured we’d box off in a couple of days as there’s not a lot to do between Broome and Exmouth. The first stop was at Eighty Mile Beach which, as the name suggests, is an awfully long beach!! I squeezed in a quick run and was back in time for another wicked sunset – ironically, the ‘staircase’ here was even better than at Broome! We also had a laugh trying to out-handstand each other, which I think I won!! ;-0) The fishing here is supposed to be awesome and I would’ve loved to try another night.
When we got to Port Hedland, I think we both wish we’d driven straight past as this place is CRAP – don’t come here either. Mind you, it was bloody hot – 41 degree’s again at the Tourist Info shop. Either the thermometers sold at the local are pre-set to 41 or it was facking hot. All I know is that when I stepped out of the van, I noticed my hands were wet. Looking down, sweat beads were forming on my fingers – I’d say that was hot!!

Wednesday 11th October

I’d like to say that we left Port Hedland with a heavy heart, but it’d be a lie. For the first time, I noticed that Harriet’s radiator needed topping off – not by a lot, but this was the first time since I had Harriet, which rang some alarm bells, but despite a good check over, I couldn’t see a leak and put it down to the heat causing the radiator cap to relieve, it’d been a scorcher. I also noticed Harriet wasn’t pulling under power as well as she had done in the past which was a concern but it was here that the fact of the temperature gauge not working was to haunt me!

Poor Harriet on the side of the road having left her insides over the preceeding kilometre!!

I’d just overtaken a lorry when the van started pulling up, losing power quickly. Pulling over and opening the bonnet, there was radiator fluid everywhere! In cooling down, the radiator was empty and a good look showed that the bottom hose had burst – nightmare. The engine smell wasn’t good either and after letting the engine cool down, I tried patching the hose and refilling. Alas, the hose had split along its length and there was no way of patching it, however temporarily, so an RAC tow was needed! We’d broken down just 10Km from the nearest town but there was no phone signal – bummer!! So there we were, standing on the side of the road, thumbs out…. Which worked as a lass stopped in her Ute. Sadly, there was room only for one and I was the only member of the NRMA so off I went. I was expecting to be only about an hour or so. It was great to sit in an air-conditioned car that accelerated straight up to 140Kmph effortlessly! I nearly passed out with the luxury of it all!

After eventually finding a phone at the BP garage, I was told the breakdown assistance would be 3 hours.

Sniff - Does it hurt?! Oh yes.

Our tow turned up about 5PM and the lad, Bill, was very cool. After finding out we had nowhere to stay and seeing the state poor Harriet was in (and having a good laugh!), he invited us back to crash at his place, where he lived with his wife and son – how cool! They’d just moved up from Perth and had only moved into their house the previous week and Bill told us he’d put other travellers up as well, so we decided ‘why not’ and mooched back. Viv, Bill’s wife, was a lovely lass and Kent, the son, was a newbie Painter/decorator and a rum lad to boot, so we grabbed a slab and some barbie food and kicked back watching the sunset. Bill and I had a good look at the van and he confirmed my worst fears – I’d warped the cylinder head! Even more trouble was that all the garages were booked out solidly with work and we were looking at a few weeks stay – Oh my god! I had a bad nights sleep that night, with worry!! Bill, bless him, loved it and was on hand to make me feel so much better with his advice about how long these sorts of repairs take and what not! I was feeling a miserable failure as a male at that point!