Day 19: Karijini National Park - Port Hedland

We are still becoming early birds in Australia. Everyone is awake by 6:30 in the morning. Playing, having breakfast, and packing up determine our morning routine.

Today, we continue heading north. Port Hedland is our destination for the day.

We leave at 10 am. The first part of the journey is very scenic. Many mountains and piles of rocks, reminding us of the Devils Marbles in the Red Center, shape the landscape. As we move further north, it becomes flatter and hotter. It's already 5 degrees hotter than in Karijini National Park.

About 20 kilometers before Port Hedland, the unexpected happens. The tank of our Maui is empty. We find ourselves on the side of the highway, looking quite foolish. Along the entire route from Karijini National Park to Port Hedland (about 350 km), there was only ONE gas station, and it was right at the beginning of our journey. Michi didn't think about refueling, and when the tank was running low, there was no gas station in sight. We were hoping it would last (we were lucky at Ayers Rock). But unfortunately, it didn't. We had a stroke of luck in our misfortune. A man who was dropping someone off at the airport stops and assures us that he will bring us diesel on his way back. We pass the time with Lego and Uno and sweat profusely. And true to his word, after about 40 minutes, he returns with a jerry can of diesel. We are saved, and luckily the Maui starts without any problems. We are extremely grateful to Brian, our savior, and want to show our appreciation financially. However, he refuses to accept even a single Australian dollar. He doesn't even want payment for the jerry can and the 20 liters of diesel. That's apparently Australian helpfulness, as a Swiss person who has been living in Australia for 45 years tells us later at the campsite.

In South Hedland, we refuel the Maui and go to McDonald's. We use the free Wi-Fi to FaceTime home. We have had almost no cell phone or internet reception for a week. There were occasional "reception rays" in between, but they usually lasted only 1-2 minutes.

We continue to the campsite in Port Hedland. It is almost 6 pm when we arrive. Unfortunately, the office has already closed at 5:30 pm. But we are not the only ones hoping for longer opening hours. We check in with three other families. The camp manager is initially annoyed by the many late arrivals, but becomes thrilled with us. We are the first guests from Austria to stay at the camp. Our camp neighbors, who are Swiss, assist us with parking. Like in Karijini National Park, we are warned that there are snakes around. Luckily, we haven't seen any yet.

We take a short walk around the campsite, shower, and fall into bed, exhausted.

September 30, 2018

Accommodation: Discovery Holiday Park / Port Hedland (1 night, AUD 42, nice place by the sea, small pool, beautiful outdoor camp kitchen)

Weather: partly cloudy and windy, 31 degrees

351 kilometers traveled today out of a total of 3,028 km