Port Smith Lagoon

Our first stop after leaving Port Hedland was a free 24 hour roadside parking area. These are established and maintained by the Department of Main Roads and provide basic toilets and a dump site, but generally with no water. About 20 groups stayed that night and it felt safe. There was a young Japanese man who had ridden his bicycle from Brisbane via Katherine - he was very skinny! I asked him if he needed drinking water and topped up his bottles. Other travellers offered him food and water, all concerned about his welfare.

We booked into the Port Smith Lagoon Caravan Park for 3 nights. This park is 140kms south of Broome along the North Coast Highway, and 23kms along a dirt road. The sandy road was reasonable and the park is friendly. There are some limitations because of the remote location - power is rationed limiting the number of appliances that can be used at one time; water is precious so the laundry closes by 5pm to allow for showers; and most significantly there are very limited telephone and internet connections. Instead emus this park has kangaroos wandering through, particularly late afternoons. One cat got a big surprise when this kangaroo hopped nearby, but I suspect the kangaroo also had never seen a cat before.

About 700m further down the dirt road is the lagoon - well there is water in the lagoon at high tide! It is a lovely swimming location for people and the dogs. It seems those fishing from boats have more success than land lubber fishers. At low tide it can be a half kilometre walk across the sandy mudflat to the water's edge as the tides here are extreme. One Toyota owner parked his rig below the high water mark, where it may have been quite safe the day before. Apparently the owner's boat was stranded on the receding tide!

We packed up this morning and were driving out the park entrance when the Jeep electrical system had a complete meltdown. Fortunately we stopped under some shade while one of the caravan park workers (Rob) tried to get us going again. The Jeep started with a jump start but kept failing after only a couple of minutes. We are so glad this did not happen on the dirt road or the highway! Rob towed our van back to our recently vacated site while we organised with Jeep for a tow into Broome under the terms of our extended warranty which provides cover Australia wide. The RACQ has limits on its roadside assistance and we would not have been covered at this location.

We were warned it may take up to a week to have the Jeep repaired if parts have to be sent from Perth. I came up with the tow truck to pick up a hire car, because we need supplies to last that long at Port Smith, and because we will need transport to get back to Broome when the Jeep is fixed. I am staying one night in Broome because it is too dangerous to drive after dark with the risk of cattle and kangaroos on the road. I also would not fancy being on the road at night if the hire car were to break down!

There is not much to do at Port Smith so we will be reading a lot and improving our Scrabble techniques. Depending how long we are there we may have to work on our fishing skills!