Perth to Darwin - Day 20 - The Long Drive to Broome and a Spendid Stay on the Coast

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Moving camp to the east side of the park gave us an extra two hours so we slept in a bit and then had things packed up and ready to depart at 8AM.  The GPS laid out our journey.  Now it was up to us to decide how much of it...if not all the way.  At the point of takeoff, we were all for the long haul and kept to the maximum speed limit the whole day.

 The road was great the whole time and we were passed by countless road trains, the longest being five wagons and a tractor.

 There were several wide loads that made us pull over to the side to wait for them to pass.  This one was carrying mine trucks.

 The rocky outcroppings were beautiful on the desert grass plains.

 At Port Hedland we finally got to see a mine train.  This is the last half of the 139 cars and they were empty coming back from unloading ore at the port.

 Once again we met up with a wide load.  This time we had to follow it for about 40 minutes until it was safe to pass.  That slowed us down quite a bit and we were concerned about getting in after dark.

 The prairie gave way to honest to goodness desert with alkaline lakes.

 The red shoulders were stunning in the late afternoon sun.

With 13 kms left to go the sun set on us and we had to find out way through a dimly lit neighborhood.  With the help of some friendly folks on the street, we finally found our apartment.  The mosquitos were famished and we made our way in as quickly as possible/

Quite a nice layout and everything brand new.  Not a scratch or smudge on the walls.  We opted to wait until morning to fully unload.  After our long awaited chorizo and bean dinner we collapsed into that king bed for a nice sleep in air-conditioned splendor.

In the morning we really appreciated our spot with a private garden.

 We also realized that we must have a guardian angel that kept us from missing the overhand of the awning by less than five inches.  So much for arriving in the dark in a campervan again on this trip.

We will be in Broome for six nights and are looking forward to some long and quiet days relaxing and getting ready for the hardest part of our journey, the next three weeks through the Great Sandy Desert and on to Darwin.