Day 5 - Let's Get Outta Here! - Tjukayirla R/House - Kalgoorlie

We survived the Great Central Road and everything it had to throw at us :)

Left Tjukayirla at 6:55am this morning, 

The roadhouse/camp ground is really good, we decided if we are ever travelling down the Great Central again we will definitely stop there. 

Road report wasn’t going to be updated until 8am and we decided that as long as the road is still open we are going before it is closed again and just hope for the best.

We had a huge amount of rain last night that pretty much stuck around all night so we just had to think positive and hope that it was only at Tjukayirla and not further up. 

Travelling down the road which turned back to dirt just past the Roadhouse, the edges of the road were covered in water, puddles and puddles from where rain has been. Taking it steady we kept on moving, there were a lot of slippery parts of the road and water over the road in some sections. It was really clear to us at this stage why the road was closed yesterday, it must have been so much worse then. Photo's are attached below of the water on the roads edge.

We spotted a roo at the last minute on the side of the road, quick learning curve for us both WA have grey kangaroo’s not red ones... luckily he hopped back into the bush which was good because I’m not so sure we could have pulled it up in time if we needed to with the trailer on the back and a wet, muddy dirt road. 

Had been travelling for a few hours, and for the first time since the start of the trip we have 360 degree views on clear blue skies, here’s hoping it stays as the camper definitely needs a dry out and we are waterlogged! We also found that the camper has a leak just above the bed, so this morning our blanket and mattress were wet, not sure why, perhaps needs re-waterproofing or stitching has come loose.

10:30am we reached the end of the Great Central Road and are back on the black top again. 

10:45am drove into Laverton and fuelled up to continue onto Kalgoorlie. Fuel is 171.9c per litre, we couldn’t decide who would be cheaper between Laverton and Kalgoorlie so just filled car completely up there. 

As mentioned on the first blog for Great Central, there were hundreds of dead, burnt out, rusted old cars all over the road... We were curious as to just how many so when we left Warburton I started to keep count, I counted all the way to the end of GCR from Warburton and in total we counted 140 cars. We would, at a guess assume there would be about 300 cars in total from start to finish of that road. Just an interesting little fact for you all :)

Also some more photos attached below for you of the car and camper just after we got off the Great Central Road, no matter how hard we tried to avoid water over the road we hit some puddles and the road was just so wet that every time the wheels went around the mud flicked up, needless to say completely covering every last inch of camper and car. After a 45 minute stop at the car wash most of it is off but no doubt we will be leaving a trail of red mud for the next 6 months!

Now safely set up in the comfort of a very nice caravan park - Prospector Holiday Park. Washing on, shopping done, and blog updated :) We have decided to have take away for dinner tonight, we deserve it after the last 24 hours. 

Off to Northam tomorrow, 5.5 hours from here, will probably get going about 9am. Will update blog again tomorrow evening. 

Weather looks like it is starting to clear for us, very good news, we only hope that report remains accurate! 

Until tomorrow, we hope you are all well.

Rhianna and Anthony. 

                                              The camper at the end of the Great Central Road

                                               Maybe we should have bought a red car??

                                           Just one of many large puddles of water on road edge

                                                           Another water photo...