Day 122 - Sunday 5th May 2024

My body must have known that today was a big drive day; rather than waking me at 04:30 today it was 03:45 that I lay wide awake! Eventually I gave up on getting back to sleep, and was all loaded and ready to leave at 06:30 ..... there was nothing holding me to Halls Creek, so leave I did.

The first stint of the 868 kilometre (426 mile) journey was the three hours to Fitzroy Crossing. I stopped off at the Halls Creek filling station to get a coffee drink to keep me going, and then set off on this epic journey. The scenery was beautiful on the way to Fitzroy Crossing, but as usual there were no lookouts to stop at for photos and videos. Most of the time I felt totally alone on the road, and the journey was uneventful until about a half hour from the stop when a large herd of cattle decided to cross the road in front of me.

I sat waiting for them for 10 minutes, at which stage it seemed that they had all passed, so I passed the crossing spot and had just got back up to speed when I checked the rear view mirror, and a second group were crossing.

I arrived at Fitzroy Crossing at 9:20 fully expecting to have a good rest, but that was not to be. I filled the car with fuel, and when I went to pay there were no toilet facilities available. Apparently the ones at the other service station were also out of order, and they couldn't direct me to anywhere else, so I rejoined the road and found the first available rest area 10 minutes up the road to ease the pressure.

At this stage I reset the Satnav to Broome; I'd done three hours already, and still had another 4 to go. The next stint to Willare Bridge roadhouse was I reckoned about 2.5 hours, which would leave me the shortest stint to finish with. The road was now more than a little boring, and I could feel the boredom and fatigue starting to set in, so the volume of the music was pumped up, and the air con fan set to max, which did the trick in keeping me going.

I arrived at Willare Bridge at 1:43, and had the long break that I needed. There was a barista coffee available, so I had the large cup that I'd been craving for a while along with a caramel slice. Back onto the road, and the last 90 minute stint found me arriving at my accommodation, Seashells Resort, at  about 13:45. All checked in and unloaded, the first job was to do a load of laundry; I have a washer dryer in my suite so that's handy.

Then I went to check the departure times for the things I have planned for the next two days. I have a 6:35 pickup tomorrow, but that's a bit in the air currently as I'm the only person booked on part of it. This is the thing I've already had to reorganise once. They are going to contact me later to let me know what's happening, but it's disappointing. You never know, they may get some later interest!

I have nothing further planned for today; I may wander out for the sunset later. There are no photos for today (yet), but I'll update if anything further happens; that drive has left me just wanting to relax!