After another late night we packed up reasonably early but then got talking to a few people before we finally got going after 9am. We did invite the German globe trotters to visit us at home when the they reach that part of the country - very interesting people full of hands-on knowledge about the world. Here is a link to their [very interesting] website.
Our first stop today was Pardoo roadhouse, only 45 kms from Pardoo station, where we refuelled. We battled into a strong headwind and fuel consumption was over 26lt/100km. The landscape has now changed from the undulating Pilbara to wide plains covered with low trees and shrubs. We've also seen large patches that have been hit by bushfire recently.
It seems strange that we are well into the tropics here yet with rainfall totals of 300mm/year this area is a lot drier then Albury - and I always thought tropics are wet.
However, this area is actually classified as "tropical-arid" which seems somewhat of an oxymoron.
Now that we have seen a few cattle stations I realise that out here some of the century old skills are still in high demand. A man who can ride a horse and muster cattle can always get a job in the bush around here, just like a hundred years ago.
We saw a few mobs of cattle by the side of the road and they seemed to be chewing on the small trees which are very green and plentiful. The temperature is now well up with 32DecC today but the air is fairly dry. The soil is orange-red and ground up into very fine dust which penetrates every little crack of caravan and car.
After driving 140km from Pardoo roadhouse we arrived at Sandfire roadhouse around lunch time and topped up with fuel again before continuing on for another 170km before turning onto a dirt road. The road took us another 20km to Port Smith Lagoon caravan park where we set up camp.
The park is quite nice but grass is a rare commodity and most sites at just red dirt. The water in this park comes from a bore 5km up the road and is very nice with no salt whatsoever.
A short trip down the road is the lagoon which is suitable for swimming - they tell us there are no crocs here. I'm not sure if I should believe that so I'm not likely to try it.
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