Well the repair job on the punctured tyre wasn't acceptable according to the tyre guys and we now have three new tyres, though they did say that Geoff was good to seal it as much as he did considering the damage. Karratha was a bust as we couldn't find anywhere away from the wind to camp and had to continue up the coast back up to Port Hedland. The first place we stopped and tried to set up blew the poles out and turned our camper into a balloon so we packed up and tried 3 more stops before finding one with enough shelter to set up, we have enough expenses at the moment without adding caravan parks to the list and prefer to free camp.
On the way up one of our spotlights fell off when the bracket on our 3 month old bulbar snapped off, so Geoff has been having words with Karma and feels he has been ripped off. He says that Karma has a lot to answer for when we have stopped and helped everyone we've come across that need help, so why has so much been going wrong. His reply from Karma was a melted fridge plug and another trip into Port Hedland (82km away) to buy a more heavy duty plug and another set of fuses as we have blown 4 trying to get the fridge working again. Not happy Jan.
On a brighter note, Erin hasn't been happier. We met a large family at Clem Walton in Qld with 4 kids (11yrs boy, 13yrs girl, 16yrs boy, 19yrs boy) and bumped into them again while shopping in Port Hedland last Monday. They have been camped with us at De Grey and their daughter has been staying with Erin in her tent, so every night has been a slumber party. The youngest two have DS's also so they link and race each other between swims in the river. It's common at the moment to find 4 kids crowded around under our awning and we have to hunt them out of our chairs just to sit down. Earlier in the week there was another 13yr boy nearby and he had joined in too. It's great to see Erin so happy.
As for me, I am enjoying comparing notes with other mums and quite content to just stop for a little while and catch my breath. Too many trips lately and what's the rush? I don't mind if we stop here for a few more weeks, plenty of water, shade and company, what else do you need?
Hopefully I'll get around to updating the photos soon, it's hard to pick the best from so many. I'll also try and get around to updating our trip map eventually, we are not in range very often so I can only update as we pass through towns and the map takes a lot longer.
Happy Birthday to Brianna and a big hug from Erin, she misses you heaps.
