We had been told that the free camps in Western Australia were popular and you needed to arrive early. With that fact in mind and the need to be close to Halls Creek for a plane ride on Thursday, we decided to leave early.
We have been waking early so a 6:00am start to the day was not a problem.
By 8:00am we very ready to leave.
We have been disappointed with our accommodation for the past five nights as the Hidden Valley Caravan Park is overcrowded with unpowered campers (backpackers) who are picking fruit in the area. They pay $14pn without power but have the run of the place. The camp kitchens are totally monopolised and we have had to wait to use the amenities as the eight toilets near us also contain showers. The number of the unpowered campers plus those on power in the area where we camped does not equate in any way when compared with the facilities available. Also there is little control over where the unpowered sites are and as a result there were people camped on one of the access roads when we decided to leave today. That access road was our intended departure route.
Nevertheless, we were able to find our way out and we were heading towards Halls Creek at 8:00am.
Today there was a lot of traffic on the road. Add to that a head wind when we turned left onto the Great Northern Highway then rain for an hour or so and you had an interesting drive.
We had to negotiate several one lane bridges and being the third in our group, we had the advantage of being informed by radio of oncoming traffic.
We arrived at our planned overnight stop with three additional vehicles to our group. With six vehicles arriving at the same time, the remaining spots in the free camp were quickly taken. We had elected to remain on solid ground rather than looking for a site near Spring Creek where the group would have been impacted by further rain.
The fourth member of our group arrived later in the afternoon and found a spot adjacent to the access road. We saw several vehicles arrive late and were unable to find a camp spot.
One of the couples in our group cooked curried sausages for tea. We rigged some tarps to enclose one of the shelters from wind and we all enjoyed a great evening meal.
We returned to our caravan to learn that NSW had won the final State of Origin game. We were in bed by 9:15pm under our doona as it was cold. Yesterday it was 34c, today it is in the teens with a wind chill factor added as well.