Leaving behind the
misfortunes of Karijini, we were brave enough to stop overnight at a place
called RIP Rest Stop. It all sounded a bit Wolfe Creek until we noticed that
the stones and rocks bordering the site bore memorial messages and plaques. Once
our neighbouring campers turned off their music, we rested in peace overnight.
The next morning
we met a very handsome fellow called Tom Price, a hot-headed miner with deep
burnished skin and blonde hair; a bit prickly around the edges, but we fell in
love with him. Tom Price is a very neat and picturesque mining town set deep in
the mountains of the Pilbara, and its residents are fiercely loyal to their
hometown. In fact, they are pretty sure they live in the best place in the best
country on earth. We visited the Tom Price Baptist Church on Sunday morning and
were greeted enthusiastically by very friendly members of the congregation who
couldn’t wait to tell us how much they loved living there.
The local
swimming pool is closed May-Oct each year (daytime temperatures ~20-30°C). The
locals informed us in all seriousness that the local gorges are amazing
swimming holes in summer (daytime temperatures up to 50°C), but far too cold
for swimming the rest of the year. Of course, we’d just come from the
neighbouring Karijini, where everyone was swimming the gorges every day. Locals
all have their own secret gorge locations, which are never divulged to
outsiders (and only to other locals who have lived there at least 7 years, on
pain of death at disclosing their location).
The next day we
drove up the nearby mountain, which shall remain Nameless, and were rewarded
with 360 degree views of breath taking mountains (and the local mine).
Tom Price is a
lovely place, and looks like a lovely place to live – as long as you don’t need
to leave your house in daylight hours in summer (at 700m altitude; it does cool
down overnight). The caravan park is also lovely, although the signs there are
a bit disconcerting: “Snakes frequent this park, do NOT harm them.” Don’t harm
THEM?! What about the harm they may do me?!
So after a
refreshing and laid back stay with Tom Price’s warm hospitality, we pushed on,
meeting up again with the great North West Coastal Highway, southbound. We
picked Barradale Rest Area as our overnight stop, and hoped we wouldn’t be too
late to claim a patch of dirt, competing against the now countless stream of
travelling rigs heading both ways. Well, Barradale. What can I say? More pop-up
city than small rest stop, this was Occupy Roadside WA. There must have been up
to 100 rigs parked over the off-road maze of dirt tracks and low-lying bushes. A
small sign indicated that this was an official free overnight stay area approved by
the WA Government (good on you, guys). This small city even has its own pop-up
café – the Burger Bus. But as soon as darkness descends, so do the sounds of
silence, and nary a peep is heard until daybreak (except for the creaking
hinges of that one small toilet block).
PS – at long last
a recall letter from Jayco! It warns us that “there is a risk of the spare
wheel and bracket falling off the back of the van”. We would add “and the whole
bumper”.
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