Doolgunna Station Trip. Days 4 and 5

Day 4 and it's Sunday, the truck is loaded and we are off, heading back the way we came, aiming for New Norcia which is a couple of hours north of Perth.  We'll stop for food, toilet break, smoke break.  Hopefully these will all be at the one stop as we want to get to New Norcia before dark.  We're not too long into the drive when the clouds come over and soon it was raining.  And it didn't stop.

There was also a lot more traffic on the road today, a lot of roadtrains and trucks taking up machinery for the mines.  We saw 2 trucks, each carrying 2 tyres.  Mind you, they were BIG tyres...A truck with a massive scraper and another with the body part.  Put the pieces together and build yourself a haulpac to use in the mines.  We had to slow down and pull over for the wider loads, add in the slow driving due to the heavy rain and we lost quite a bit of time.  We saw a lot more eagles on the way home as there was a lot more roadkill and the properties are not fenced up here so you need to be careful of cattle on the roads as well.  At least with the radio on we were forewarned of any upcoming hazards like water over the road...

 

 And oncoming oversized loads..

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Hubby drove and kept driving.  I looked at the scenery, read a bit, had a bit of a sleep...all the stuff I do on long distance trips when I am not the driver.

We had to unload the truck in Perth on the Monday and if Hubby had been by himself he would have pulled over somewhere and slept but because I was with him and I really wanted to see a bit of New Norcia we planned to stop off there on the Sundy night and had booked a room.  I was hoping to see a bit of the town before night but it was a lot later than we wanted it to be by the time we came close to New Norcia.   It was wet, dark, cold...not exploring weather and after being on the road all day all I wanted was a hot shower, hotter coffee and a warm bed.

Driving up the road to the hotel I was keeping an eye out for it but it was a pleasant surprise when I finally realised which building it was.

The above photo was taken from the web but the one to the left is one I took on Monday morning.  It's a bit dark because it was overcast and still raining.  It is the top balcony, each room had doors opening onto this but I didn't see anyone else out there the whole time we were there.

This hotel is old and a bit worn but I loved it. 

Unfortunately it was raining when we arrived, it rained all night and it was still raining the next morning so I didn't get to explore the town like I had  planned.  Still, that gives me a reason to come back and if I can overcome my stupid fear of driving near Perth I will come back in the van.  We did don a raincoat so I could go and visit my rellies in the cemetery but then we left for the seemingly short trip into Perth for the drop-off.

That was achieved with no trouble so we drove back to Byford to finish unloading and to refuel then home.

I enjoyed the whole trip and look forward to going again.