The Outback Way (WK 4)

Crossing the Outback Way from Winton QLD to Laverton WA (2800km) has been an amazing experience. I’m not sure either of us want to repeat it anytime soon but we are glad we did it. And we are loving being back on tar after 5 days driving 1100 km on the western section mainly on dirt.

Leaving Uluru on 14/04/2021 we had amazing views of the Rock and the Olgas as the road to the WA border was through the National Park (NP). Before we left the NP we deflated the tyres for the gravel.

Our first stop was a free camp at Docker River 2km from the WA border. A beautiful spot which we enjoyed by ourselves until a car turned up (who needed a jump start in the morning).

We crossed into WA on the 15/04/2021, our original planned date despite the QLD lockdown which was revoked by both NT and WA in time to allow us to cross. We had our travel passes, road passes and disposed of fruit/veg as instructed but have not been asked to produce any despite police at Warburton Road House and being overtaken by police later in the day.

15/04/2021 was not a great day. The rain started on our entry into WA and continued most of the way to the Warburton Road House, our destination for the night. Interesting place: petrol pumps are all caged and the accommodation is a compound surrounded by fences with razor wire and cctv. We felt safe but were pleased to wake up to blue skies and to be on the road again.

Our next stop was meant to be another roadhouse but we decided to have a longer day driving and continued on to Laverton, the end of Outback Way. We had a few anxious moments driving into Laverton due to the wet weather driving using more fuel that expected. We arrived at the petrol station with 20L to spare!! We celebrated by having a meal in the Desert Inn Hotel (first pub meal since our first night of the trip!) and buying some takeaway cask wine (buying alcohol in NT was difficult…..).

We have seen some amazing wildlife on the road: loads of wedge tail eagles (wow they are big), emu, wild dog, camels, brumbies with a foal and some roadkill but no Roos – no idea why. We have also seen more abandoned cars than we can count. Very disappointing.

We are spending 2 nights in Sandstone for a bit of downtime before heading to Geraldton for a car service. Love Sandstone, a sweet safe town with a superb caravan park, pub, tea shop, post office and museum. Downtime included a visit to London Bridge, a unique natural structure consisting of weathered basalt, believed to be 350 million years old. In its early days it was possible for a horse and buggy to cross the bridge. However, erosion has put paid to that!

Tomorrow (19/04/2021) we head to Geraldton which was meant to be the start of our WA coastal adventure. However, due to a once in 50 year event, a cyclone (Seroja) last week means our plans are up in the air. We thought we’d be able to help with the cleanup but our destination, Kalbarri, where the cyclone made land, is closed due to asbestos contamination. We have booked inland for 7 nights to have a breather, replan and hopefully help the recovery effort somewhere.