Eighty Mile Beach to Whim Creek

We got up this morning with the intention of packing up and heading off to Port Hedland for a night but our plans changed as the day went.

We left the caravan park and slowly headed towards the highway along the corrugated road taking it slowly so as to make it as smooth as possible. It appears that the road was graded this morning as it does not appear to be anywhere near as rough as when we entered.

Well, what can I say, we have been to Eighty Mile Beach and are in no hurry to return there. This is most probably the first, and hopefully the last place on the trip that it feels like we could have missed and not felt disappointed. I guess that you never know until you go. But once was enough.

We headed to Port Hedland with the intention of staying there a night before heading further south. I had expected the parks to be open from now and had not prebooked and guess what, the park we wanted was full. It was a quick drive around the area and then off to South Hedland to find another caravan park. I tried ringing several times but there was no answer. When we arrived, the sign on the door said that they were at lunch and had a mobile number to ring which we did and were told to find any site. After a quick drive around, it was clear that this was not much of a park and so we quickly decided to move on.

We had lunch, Macca’s, much to the kids delight and then headed off down the highway unsure of where we would end up tonight.

We stopped at Whim Creek, an old hotel that had been demolished by a cyclone years before but had been rebuilt to its former glory. From the stories on the wall, it was a fairly famous place and a regular stop for people travelling through the area. It’s main purpose now was for the miners in the area, providing accommodation, meals and entertainment for them.

The caravan park area had to be rebuilt, and I think that they really are not concerned about this aspect anymore as they are making their money elsewhere. They did however allow people to set up in the car park area, even providing electricity if required, all for free. We were able to use the toilet and shower facilities which were very clean.

Thinking we were settling in for a quiet night, we did not realise that it was the end of shift for the miners and so they were having a party night. They work two weeks on, two weeks off on a rotating basis. They had finished the two weeks shift and so it was party time until after midnight, how lucky were we. At least the music was not bad as they played all of the golden oldies!

So after a long day, we eventually got off to sleep.