We spent a pleasant three days on the banks of the Ashburton River as we were trapped and couldn’t get out.

Sunset on the Ashburton River

We met two couples, one from Sydney that have been on the road for 8 years and another couple from somewhere near Narrogin who had an old Transperth bus converted as a camper and were planning to stay there until Sept.

We spent the three days relaxing, skyping our family and talking to them on the phone and socialising with our new friends who were also stuck. We found out that, although we were stuck , we had left Exmouth just in time. The Cape Range National Park sustained quite a bit of damage and people were evacuated from there. There was so much water that some caravans had water flowing through them. That was where we had been the day before the rain. Exmouth ended up being isolated for several days – no one could get in or out. Probably our camper would have been damaged – some trailers were washed away.

Our first campfire, Jacky was not impressed, it was still 28C

On Wednesday we went for a drive along the road and found that the centre of the road was reasonably dry and above the water so we planned to take our chances and get out on Thursday. Whilst we were so close we drove down to Old Onslow to check it out.

Jacky at the old Onslow Police Station

The old Onslow Gaol

There wasn’t much to see except signs were the buildings used to be telling you what they were and who owned them. There was one ruin – the old jail, police station and the courthouse.

Black Swans on the Ashburton River

During our three days we saw a group of five black swans swimming up and down the river with a couple of pelicans in tow. All in all it was a pleasant few days but it means that we will need to forego Karijini and Millstream this trip and come back and do them at some other time.