Make Sew Bake Grow: Driving Days, Revisiting Old Haunts, Cattle Spotting and Instagram.

Wednesday was a driving day. We drove from Monkey Mia to Fortescue Roadhouse, leaving at 9am, arriving at 10:30pm, with a few stops in between. 1000 kilometres.

The kids were golden. They slept some, watched a few DVDs, we played some travel games, and they did their drawing.

We crossed into the Pilbara during that time. It's been a bit bittersweet. On the one hand, we are loving the wildness of the landscape we miss so much, and there is so much familiar here. We have visited some favourite places, got in contact with some old friends, refreshed some old memories.

On the other hand, there is so much development up here, some parts of the landscape are barely recognisable. So much of the land has been raped and pillaged, it's heartbreaking to see what money does. It's made me a bit edgy, that this place that is in so many ways so familiar to me, is in other ways so changed. It has been nice, though, to take the kids past our old house, the places Nath worked, the schools I taught at, and favourite spots we went to when we lived here.

Late Wednesday night, within a distance of about two kilometres, I narrowly avoided hitting some cattle on the road and somehow managed to avoid flipping the trailer when I swerved to miss them. I just got my heart back into my chest cavity from my throat when we heard a very loud bang and I looked into the rear view mirror to see that a flicked-up rock had shattered the back window. We limped another few kilometres (Nath drove, I was so sure it had been a gunshot that that was the end of my nerves - my knees were still knocking an hour later!) into a No Camping rest bay - and set up camp. The kids were still awake and difficult to settle. Eden ended up in my swag under the stars with me. No windscreens in Karratha, so we have booked ahead in Broome and will do the last leg with a tarp closed into the back tailgate.

We bush camped last night at Miaree Pool, 30km out of Karratha, and today, after a splash at Dampier and a much needed shower, we headed to Point Samson for the night. Tomorrow, we drive to Broome. We will then be ready to kick back and not drive anywhere for a few days!!

The kids have seen some fantastic things - I'm so glad we live in a country where we are not altogether removed from Mother Nature. From curious emus, to soaring eagles, to lazy goannas, to a couple of surprised bush turkeys, to herds of wild goats, to jellyfish on the beach, to frolicking dolphins..... and not one zoo fee has been paid!!

There's not much to do on a big driving day, apart from taking in the view, settling backseat fights, and, my new-ish discovery, playing with Instagram. Today's lot of photos is brought to you by my boredom on Wednesday's big drive and the joys of Instagram.