Not a good day....

We left Millstream full of expectations, on our way to Karijini park, we'd been before but had not seen many of the gorges due to the restrictions of the roof tent, we have to pack everything away to move and some of the gorges are a drive away from the camp.

A drive of two hours took us alongside the railway track again, we saw three loaded trains within three quarters of an hour, giving us a hoot and flashing their lights as they passed We went through pleasant countryside, with abundant birdlife including eagles,  till we arrived at Tom Price, a true outback town where we filled up and had coffee

A further hour's drive took us into the park, and as we arrived in the camp site it was notable how quiet it was- we could only see one tent and one caravan in a very large area. So our first question was "are you open?" to be told yes, but the gorges are all closed because it rained heavily last night and there is a danger of flash floods. Oh dear, that was all we had travelled all that way for.

There was no point in staying there, as there was no prospect of going into the gorges in the next couple of days.

So back down the road we had just travelled on the way to our next destination, Exmouth, some six hours drive away. A massive storm hit us, lightning, solid rain, floods on the road.There was no way we would make it today, so at 5 o'clock we pulled in to a roadhouse, very short on petrol, and just a little irritable. Having filled up with very expensive petrol, ($2 a litre, usually £1-49) we set up camp in a dirty yard, among other late comers, and made dinner. I went for chips and some ice for our esky, and paid twice the usual price.
It was obviously a workers camp, and we found out later that they had to pay $200 a night for a donga, which is literally a very small room with nothing but a bed in it, no facilities, just have to share with the rest of us. So much so that the ladies had been converted into a gents, ( almost all the workers were men) and the ladies had one disabled toilet between them.
A bus pulled on to the site, with about twenty Germans, mainly ladies, the bus had cabins for everyone in the rear, and they were travelling in that for six weeks. You can imagine the chaos in the toilets and showers, they had driven at least eight hours that day.
So, tired and miserable, we went to bed. I slept well, till the workers had to go to work at 4 am, big wagons reversing and revving up just outside our tent. Might as well get up, and on the road, must be a better day today!