The mood in the car this morning was pretty somber, we are all very disappointed at not being able to get up to Exmouth but clearly we are just meant to have to come back over here at another time. As the days gone on though I think we are all feeling better knowing that we've made a decision and not just hanging around waiting anymore.
Basically we have spent all day driving today, we didn't get away too early and took it in turns with the trip stopping and changing drivers very regularly. We had driven this stretch only a few days ago so the scenery wasn't new to us although we were still amazed at the redness of the dirt and the flatness of the country side. We saw heaps of wild goats - a few of them were standing in the middle of the road and we had to stop for them to run across.
We stopped in at the Billabong Roadhouse again (had to have some more of their delicious hot chips - the best ever!!!) and Dave was talking to the guy who works there. Apparently yesterday there were hundreds and thousands of wild budgies all over the road house. The ABC even came and video'd them. Late in the afternoon they had a heavy shower of rain and they all took off and they haven't come back yet - hopefully we might see them somewhere else whilst on our trip.
We've staying back in the same caravan park we did when we stopped in at Geraldton before although have a different site more into the middle of the park so hopefully we won't be so affected by the trains that bore past every 2 hours! Our site has a shade cloth canopy over it which offers us great shade and protection from the tree above so setup was very quick as we didn't need to bother with the bed flies.
We setup this afternoon and couldn't believe how badly the van smells like bush fire smoke, thank fully there is a fairly strong breeze blowing so hopefully that will help air it out.
Went for a drive into town and found the seafood market - when we were here last time it was new years so all the shops were shut. We have spoilt ourselves with some more fresh lobsters for dinner tonight. Geraldton is the central port for distribution of lobsters, doesn't matter where they get caught they all seem to come back to here before being shipped on.
Tomorrow we head off to Sandstone on our way to Kalgoorlie. They are getting a lot of run off rain from the cyclone and the flooding in the Pilbara. We need to review the maps and the road closures as we may have to detour and come through another way. Our country sure is a strange one - flooding and fires in one part of it and we just heard today that there has been snow at Hotham over the last 48 hours - such a contrast.
Latest fire stats..
Fire activity on the northern perimeter has increased throughout the day. The area that was burning to the north on the eastern side of the North West Coastal Highway has been contained to south of the Manberry Homestead Road. However, the fire is still not controlled. There is active fire near the North West Coastal Highway west of Cooralya Homestead.
The fire has burnt through more than 319,000 hectares and has a perimeter of 457kms. A community meeting is being held in Carnarvon this afternoon. The black shaded area is the fire area.
Kms travelled today 489
Total Kms travelled 9725 (WOW! that's a long way, with still many more to go)
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