Newman WA

I chuckled to myself last night whilst in bed at Meekatharra. The couple from Tasmania, who walked through the town of Meekatharra, came back, packed their van and left with only 30-60 min of day light left. They obviously haven't enjoyed the joys of seeing a town with a large aborigine population.  Every aussie should visit places like Meekatharra, Tenant Creek or better yet, visit an aboriginal community (could I suggest ones on the Great Central Road) to see how the aborigines live PLUS discover how their tax money is being spent. I hope the tassie couple learn a little more and have more acceptance of these towns. By them leaving early, businesses suffer.

I've made a friend called Fred. We met at Meekatharra and are both staying at the same caravan park at Newman. He's a 77 y.o.  from Ferntree Gully. His wife passed away 6 weeks ago so he decided to travel and visit his sons located at Tom Price (Pilbara's) and Coffs Harbour. He has travelled around Aus many times with his family, camping in a 4wd and wanted to make this his final swan song trip. He was an avid gun enthusiast so between that, 4wd's and him regaling his tales about places he has been in Aus, we passed the hours away at Meekatharra and Newman.  He doesn't realise it, but Fred is still in the recovery cycle of loosing his wife and is having trouble moving forwards. 49 years of marriage would do that to you though.  He misses her very much.

The travelling from Meekatharra to Newman (400 km's) is pretty boring in the car. But there were a few highlights.

Gascoyne river network - I drove down a 4wd track to the flat of the river bed, which was concreted. Not much to look out now, but  in the wet season, there would be a torrent of water flowing.

Count how many wheels on this semi. Not a great photo, but this style of semi / trailer setup is designed to tow very heavy loads.

On this section of road, I encountered at least +10 wide loads. These entail a pilot car in the front, about 500 mts to 1km in advance of the wide load. Flashing lights and signs gives the oncoming traffic a clue as to what's coming. But I'll be honest, most of the wide loads, you can fly past in your own lane. But there are a few which require you to stop and get off the road, as the load takes up both lanes of the road. I will admit, early on, I have traveled at +120 km thinking yep - it's going to be small and then have to hit the brakes hard to get off the road. Now I'm taking it easy and slowing down when I pass the pilot car.

In the distance I noticed animals walking across the road. Not unusual as there are no fences and all animals, native and farming roam as they please. But these did not look like cows so I wondered. A herd of brumbys perhaps (wild horses) but no, a herd of wild donkeys. I was going slow, passed them and did a U-turn. Not something you see everyday.