Mackenzie: Today me and Fletcher went to the park and then we drove all day. For lunch we had Chicken treat, it was good, then we drove again. Then when we got to Marble Bar we went to a lake and we had a swim in it. It is the hottest town in Australia. For dinner we had tuna pasta.
Today we went from Point Samson to Marble Bar, we had to head 150kms inland to get there, but Daniel assured us it was worth it. We had to pass through the Coongans to get there and didn't have time to change our 2 way radio to the station required to go through the pass, all went well though as no trucks came through at the same time, when we really thought about it not having a 2 way on was almost a death wish as the road isn't wide enough for car & a Quad road train. Yep, I've now seen a quad road train, these things are monsters at 53.5metres long and a triple is 50mts, can you picture how long that is, it is unbelievable. Well we survived the pass but our windscreen didn't, poor Dan could see it happening, as we passed a quad road train on a bend, Dan was hugging his side of the road and the truck his side but the truck flicked up rocks. The first I knew was the thud of a rock hitting the windscreen and a crack making its way up the drivers side. I went 24 hours without looking at it as I knew I would be cross but when I think of the kilometres we have done we are lucky to get this far with our windscreen intact. We made it to Marble Bar and it was just how Dan had described it, you know when you have a mental picture in your head of something described or a character in a book. Marble Bar is in the East Pilbara Shire and it is the biggest shire in the world. It is the hottest town in Australia and it was living up to its reputation today. On record it has had 160 consecutive days of being over 38.7 degrees. Insane, but this isn't a one man town, people live here! By choice! It's a community- a few stores, a pub, accommodation, a gorgeous park for the kids, and a really modern public toilet block- you know the ones with automatic doors and flashing buttons that everyone is too scared to use just in case they open while you are still sitting on the loo, or is that just me?! They also have a beautiful memorial park set up, which was very fitting being Anzac Day, Dan and I are disappointed we didn't think to get up early today to go to a dawn service somewhere in one of these lovely towns. We went to the caravan park, which needs a bit of love but the owners are so nice, the toilets are a bit iffy but when you think of where you are on the grand scheme of things, a fully equipped caravan park is amazing. The accommodation Dan & Cam had stayed in has now been condemned, it was a donga style accommodation with ensuites to each room but a fire saw the health dept condemn the buildings so they are currently trying to renovate them now. We set up and headed down to the river/waterhole that Dan had loved on his last visit with Cameron. He was disappointed as it wasn't flowing but we were happy to be having a dip and I loved the spot. Cattle walking around, all the sounds of birds and kangaroos hopping about, this is what I think this trip is all about and to be honest we have really enjoyed the simple things the most. Well we wont mention one child asking is there a button to flush while they were in a drop toilet and the other freaked out by it- so maybe they aren't enjoying the simple things! A few campers had been stuck here an extra day as the town had run out of fuel waiting on the truck, the truck had driven in behind us. There were also a lot of machinery waiting on the fuel on the outskirts of town too the lady at the petrol station was telling us. She was also waiting on a truck with her delivery of bread, milk, meat and a few other supplies coming from Perth!! Check on a map where Perth is and then where Marble bar is - 2000 kms at a guess, give or take a few- that's a bit more than a sunday drive. We headed back to the van and made friends with the parks dog, Indi who is 3/4 dingo and loved Bentley, she was a beautiful placid dog. We had some leftovers for tea, we have had a few treats for snacks along the way so we are trying to get as many vegies into us daily, even if I have to hide them so I seem like the cool carefree holiday mum that isn't serving vegies everyday, if only they knew.
Hey ... nothing wrong with a Getz as we well know! xx
ReplyDelete