When driving away, we noticed that the RPM, fuel, speed, and other indicators on the dashboard did not work. We stopped in 4 electrical shops in Port Hedland and later in the larger town of Karratha to get it fixed. Nobody could release any of their mechanics to have a look. We therefore used our garmin GPS for speed indication and each time estimated how much fuel we still have over. In Perth, Stuart solved this problem by replacing a blown fuse.

Before Karratha we stopped at the historical town of Cossack. This is an old pearl/fishing settlement which has been restored by the locals. The stone buildings are refurbished and there is a couthouse and hotel as well as a boat launch for fishing and possibly boat tours (peak season?). When we were there, everything was closed so we stayed at the campsite in Point Samson, a bit further up the peninsula.

Karratha is a booming industrial town/harbour. On one side of town the trains from the interior arrive with iron ore which is loaded into boats for export. On the other side of town is a harbour for LNG tankers. Woodside (ie Shell) has built here a large LNG plant (6 trains compared to Brunei 2) for liquifying the gas of the North Rankin gas field which is located 135 km offshore. The fields are depleting and only 5 trains are running.

Next to the LNG plant is the UNESCO World Heritage site “Murujuga NP”. You drove up to the large rock piles and walk over a boardwalk to admire the many 10.000+ year old petroglyphs. Because we were there at midday, they are sometimes difficult to spot in the strong sunlight. You have to search the piles to find the ones with figures of mostly animal on them. At the foot of the hills are large seashell remain, which indicate that the first native people lived here for many generations. It is unclear for me to see how much of the sight has been damaged due to the construction of the LNG harbour and processing plant. The acid rain from the industry also does not help.

After staying overnight at the Nanutarra roadhouse, we drove on to Coral Bay. On the way up (first time), it was fully booked. Now, in the low season, the 2 campsites has a lot of free space. The bay has a white sand beach and very blue water. Rudy put on the snorkeling equipment to investigate the local coral reef. That was a disappointment. The coral is dead and looks like it is covered with gray dust. Rudy made the mistake of relaxing in the full sunlight on the beach and is still paying the price of severe sunburn, even after 5 days. In the evening the wind cools down the air enough to be able to sleep without the aircon. This is good because we no longer feel comfortable running the aircon due to the problems experience previously. The whole system tripped once the aircon compressor kicked in. Later we observed that the earth cable was not making proper contact. Therefore the wire heated up and was melting away into the power cable of the system. That was when we decided to drive back to Perth ASAP to get it fixed (still 1,300km away). On the way back to Perth we made 2 more overnight stops. One on the very windy beach of Gladstone and one further inland at the agricultural and mining town of Eneabba. The drive was pleasant. The camper drives well and the scenery is changing. No more bush plains to drive through but rolling agriculture hills covered with grain. The roads are busier though. Because it is less warm and the sun not so intense, driving is also more relaxing.

In Perth we dropped the camper off at Stuarts house. He has booked it in for service and will look into the electrical problems. Currently we are staying again with Carel and Bernadette. Stuart lent us a small car to drive around with so we can tour the sights of Perth.