Day 3 - 'The Pines' to Warburton

Sun 16 Aug 2015

 

The Pines was a lovely rest stop on the edge of the Great Victoria Desert and although it can get very cold in the desert at night, surprisingly and thankfully last night wasn’t too cold; although we did sleep with our beanies on. On the down side the air mattress which had served us faithfully for many trips had gone down during the night. A quick inspection revealed the plug had split at the base of the mattress so we made some running repairs, we’ll see how that goes tonight.

Breakfast was a quickie then we packed up the Pajero and were on our way again. Not long after being on the road we saw some more Marlu Kuru Kuru ( Sturt’s Desert Peas ) so we stopped and got some photos. Marlu Kuru Kuru is the name given to this plant by the Wongi people who call the Western Desert region of Western Australia Home. Marlu Kuru Kuru translates to Kangaroo Eyes, Marlu is the Wongi word for the Red Kangaroo.

Camels and crows were the only other living things we saw, but we know there is heaps of wildlife going about their business we just can’t see them.

Corrugations aside, the road to Tjukayirla Roadhouse was pretty good with only one bad section about 30kms west of the turnoff to David Carnegie Road. The cost of diesel at Tjukayirla was $2.00 / lt and ice was $10 / bag, we topped up fuel and ice. After one of the best steak burgers we’ve had including beetroot 🙂 we were back on the road heading to Warburton approx 240kms away. Warburton roadhouse closes at 3.00pm. It was midday when we left, hopefully we’ll make it in time.

Today was AFL Western Derby day ( Dockers v Eagles ) so we tried to pick up the game on the radio – no go but we kept trying. Along the way we hit some very badly corrugated sections and our speed ranged from 15 – 20km at the slowest. About 40kms out of Warburton we come across a car stopped along the road so we slowed down to check they’re ok and they were. It’s common courtesy in the outback to check if travellers are OK.

What’s this coming up??? Its bitumen……… 15kms out of Warburton – gee that’s smooth and what’s that feeling? Ah… our bones have stopped rattling 🙂 But it was short lived, 5kms to go and we were back on the gravel and still not having any luck picking up the footy on the radio.

Arriving at Warburton about 2.40 pm to top up the tank we had this brilliant idea to watch the footy game on TV, so after confirming that their rooms have TVs and could pick up the footy we invested $150.00 and booked a room for the night to see the Fremantle Dockers beat the West Coast Eagles. We spent a few more dollars on some nibblies and settled in for what should be a great game. Well… two hours later the Dockers had lost and we wondered if we could claim the $150.00 back off the Dockers 🙂 Still, our room was great and had a good selection of teas, coffees, drinking chocolate & soups, better than some hotels. Kudos to Warburton Roadhouse. Folks, if you are in the area it are worth spending a night.

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