Highway 95 North

G'day Adventurers

I've just ventured back home above the 26th parallel after 22 days away, mostly doing 'stuff' that can't be done anywhere in the Pilbara or Kimberley simply because we are too far from the comfort zones most professionals (sic) call home.

My wife and I choose to tow/use our caravan when the situation has us venturing away for any more than a few days, it is convenient as the initial 1160 kilometres can be covered over a two to three day period, not quite a holiday but a relaxed run giving us enough time to get into the rhythm of travel, this seems an odd thing to say, but I need a couple of hundred kilometres behind me to feel at ease with the noises and vibrations the Land Cruiser and caravan generate as we travel, we logged a total of 3968 Kilometres over this 22 day period, traveling south to Albany and back to the Pilbara all trouble free regarding the caravan and Cruiser.

The first major population base south of our home town is Meekatharra in the Gascoyne region of the big state, Meeka is actually a very nice tidy town and a far cry from what it was 10 years ago, this initial 420 k run is through mostly unfenced cattle country there are plenty of suitable places where you can pull up for a break, some of these places are set up with the ubiquitous concrete table/seat and shelter affair some actually have dunnies that are wheelchair friendly and all have a dump point if you need to off load 'product' if you have an on board dunny.

A few of these designated rest areas are a 24 hour free camp place, though a tad too close to the highway for my liking, they are okay if you don't mind people coming and going at all hours, or a road train or two hauling cattle or sheep parked up close by.

Our preferred camp style is well off the Highway somewhere deep in the scrub, but these preferred places are steadily disappearing as more and more unfenced lease hold land is being plundered for whatever resource a would be miner is chasing, I was surprised to find a favorite place in a Nature reserve is now an active mine site, I deleted this little camp spot from my GPS favorites menu.

Mount Magnet is as close to half way to the city from home at 600 k's, it was once a nice place to stop, fuel up and at times actually stay in the caravan park, now there is only one service station operating, the Swagman or Caltex servo is it and now there is a long wait or queue just to get fuel, as most travelers grab a hot take away meal etc or use the facilities before moving away from the fuel pumps. The BP service station closed down a couple of years ago.

Gold Miners have taken hold of most of the once open country side, fencing 'their' land off so it's totally out of bounds to the would be metal come gold hunter.


Cue the 'Queen of the Murchison' is a little town that is undergoing some very visual changes, fairly touristy but nice and the caravan park is always chock ablock with prospective Gold hunters at this time of the year, near by Lake Nallan is bone bloody dry and seemingly not a nice place to camp or even stop for a break.

There are roadworks going on in many areas along the highway, with the usual slow points controlled by the 'lollypop' people who for the most don't seem to be enjoying the out door life/job style they have?

The highway it self is the main road that connects the state so it's a vital link, but sadly it's a real shame, disgraceful actually and not a hell of a lot has changed with it in the 30 something years that I have traveled it's length, I've seen it flooded and cut off due to scrub fires, road train accidents and all sorts of stuff that causes a closure ~ bad luck if your caught up by a couple of swollen creeks or a section of highway that has been washed away because of the once in a hundred year flood event.

This particular trip/journey had it's highway hold ups too, although the weather was and still is magnificent so there is no issue with Mother Nature, there are major road works south of the wheat belt town Dalwallinu, where the highway is being completely re aligned re engineered and hopefully better built than the already deteriorating New Norcia section.

The hold ups along the skinny bits of the Great Northern Highway or 95 North were all rolling holdups for most parts rolling between 20 to 80 Kmph, with little or no chance to get around them for a long ~ long time.

So if you are planning a trip into the northern regions of WA and planning on a run up 95 North expect to be part of a rolling road block somewhere along the way.

Safe travels : Joe Fury.