Auski Roadhouse

Saturday 13th June
Another early start got us on the road by 8:30am. Heading up towards Port Hedland but turning south about 30km before Port Hedland to head for Auski Roadhouse on the edge of Karijini National Park. Although the total trip distance is 437km, fully loaded up with a headwind for most of the way and no fuel there was no way we'd make it without extra fuel. I was lucky enough to borrow a 20lt jerry can from another traveller which got us through to Auski where we arrived safely around 2:30pm. The headwind was very strong for most of the way and fuel consumption was accordingly high with just under 24lt/100km at times.
The landscape has again changed and the red earth is showing very prominently amongst the vegetation. The most prominent feature as we came closer to Karijini were the large red boulders and piles of red rock - all set against the backdrop of those typical Pilbara hills.
I must have overfilled the tank and the Diesel went out the overflow and was distributed all over the back of the car and the front of the caravan, all nicely mixed with the red dirt. Needless to say, I spent quite some time cleaning most of it with Metho.
The caravan park is quite nice for a Roadhouse and has the usual population of mining workers.
While filling the car I got talking to a few geologists from Cambridge University who are travelling around looking for old rock to find future drill sites. Goes to show that this landscape doesn't just look ancient, it is so ancient that scientists from the other side of the world come here to research it.