Saturday July 28

Quick update before we disappear into the depths of Cape Range National Park and the Ningaloo Reef tomorrow morning.  Since Wednesday we have driven down from Karratha via Onslow and tonight are in Exmouth. 

Just outside Onslow is an amazing plain with hundreds of termite mounds.  They are the homes of spinifex termites, which are found right across northern Australia.  Most of those in this photo are at least 2 metres tall, although they can be as large as 7 metres - spinifex termites build the largest mounds of any of the termite species.  Each mound is home to just one colony or family group – mum, dad and a million or more kids.  Imagine trying to get all of them to leave home! Did you know that termites, which are commonly called white ants, are more closely related to cockroaches than ants?  I didn't, but now I do!

As I have taken very few photos since we left Karratha, there is not much else to share!  We did however see a few lovely birds on Thursday, when we camped by the Ashburton River near Old Onslow.  The Rainbow Bee-eaters amused us for ages as they swooped over the river catching insects and as the dead tree they were using as a dining area and perch was right in front of us, I was able to get a few shots of this one:

Further down the river this group of pelicans was resting and even though I didn't manage to get a photo, there was quite a large flock of Little Black Cormorants like the ones in this photo, swimming on the river.  We have seen a few large flocks of these cormorants recently, which has amazed us somewhat as we have never seen them in such large groups before.

Today was taken up with boring stuff like washing, shopping and filling the van tanks and jerry cans with water to make certain we are organised for two weeks of bush camping, although this time it is bush camping with the caravan. We are, of course, very excited about having two weeks in one spot, especially when it is such a beautiful spot! The snorkelling gear is all ready to go, as is the fishing gear.

After the two weeks, we will return here to Exmouth for about five days so Murray can do some offshore diving and as we are assuming that there we will not have phone reception whilst in Cape Range, this will be it until then.

Wednesday, July 25
Here we are, safely returned to Karratha and the van after our wonderful time in the Pilbara.  After a day of washing (lots of very red dust to try and get out of stuff), shopping, puncture mending (which we are quite sure happened in town and not out on the rough, rocky roads, like the cracked windscreen we managed to end up with in town in South Hedland!) and catching up on the last couple of things we wanted to see here, it is time to update the blog before we leave and travel further south tomorrow.

We left Karratha last Friday and travelled to Millstream Chichester National Park via the road which follows the Tom Price Railroad.  This did, of course, provide lots of opportunities to see the huge ore trains which travel between Paraburdoo and then Tom Price to the port at Dampier.  We now know that these trains, with their three diesel locos, are 2.5 km long and have 236 trucks.  Because Tom Price is uphill from Paraburdoo, two extras locos push the ore trains between these two mines.

To reach the camp ground at Millstream, we travelled some 50 km through the Chichester Range, a fascinating landscape of spinifex hills, spectacular red rock escarpments and the winding tree-lined watercourse of the Fortescue River and its tributaries.  The Pilbara is classified as the arid tropics and in the plains between the ranges and away from water, the vegetation certainly reflects this dryness.

Along the way, we took a diversion to the north east of the park to have a look at Python Pool, a permanent fresh water pool at the base of a sheer cliff in the Chichester Range escarpment.

This road passed by Mount Herbert, which provided fantastic views across the range to the coastal plains – more spinifex, red rocks and beatiful white Snappy Gums (what a great name!).  Trying to stop myself taking ever more photos was a major challenge!

Millstream is on the Fortescue River and natural springs overflowing from the Millstream aquifer have created an oasis in this otherwise arid country.  We camped at Crossing Pool, one of the pools in the river fed by the springs.  This very small campground was just lovely and afforded the opportunity for a swim, a close-up encounter with a beautiful Buff-breasted Rail.

A walk through the Fortescue River erosion zone by the campground provided stark evidence of the power of surging water.  How do you think these silver paperbarks manage to remain standing after the storm-affected river waters have eroded so much of the soil around their roots?  The paperbarks here in Millstream and in Karijini are huge – we had no idea they grow so large.

Other plants more typical of the tropical north grow near the permanent pools and the most special of these is the Millstream Palm, the only Livistona palm which grows outside the Kimberly.

We were entranced by this acacia, with its curled bark (discovered in Karijini that the Aboriginal people call this curling 'minni ritchie').

Before we left Millstream, we walked to Cliff Lookout and marvelled yet again at the incredible red rocks as we looked down from atop the escarpment into the bed of the Fortescue River.

The trip to Karijini continued our amazement with this area.  As we travelled along the Roebourne Wittenoom Munjina Road (a serious mouthful and no, we did not go wandering around Wittenoom!) we began to see the Hamersley Range rising from the plains in the distance and this shot of Murray enjoying lunch gives some small impression of the vastness of this landscape:

As we got closer to the northern boundary of the park, the Hamersley Range became even more imposing and I couldn’t resist trying one more time to capture the magnificent views of the spinifex clad ranges with their dark red escarpments.  Even though, as soon as you look through the viewfinder, you realise that the vastness of the scene is lost and the resulting photo in no way reflects the view seen with the naked eye, we offer this as an attempt:

The drive along Karijini Drive into the park and camp ground brought another astounding moment – we passed Ross and Alison, the couple we had met in El Questro, then seen again in Derby and Broome and camped with at Bully’s Camp! Once we had set up the tent (after moving many metres of stones so we had a clear spot to ensure the floor of the tent did not ended up full of holes – thank goodness for the kind neighbours who lent us their rake!), we went and shared a drink or two with Ross and Alison – what fun!

Saturday was spent exploring the gorges, waterfalls and pools of the area around Dales Camp, so named because it abuts Dales Gorge.  The arid plateau forming the Hamersley Range has been deeply dissected by rivers and forms resulting steep cliffs in the 2,500 million year old red rocks known as banded iron formation, which is very resistant to weathering.  Some of these cliffs plunge into 100 metre chasms, which widen further downstream and their sides change to steep slopes of loose rock.  Layers of softer shale and dolomite are less resistant to erosion and form gentle slopes and this alternation of rock types forms the landscape of Karijini.  Later horizontal compression caused the rocks to buckle, causing numerous vertical cracks and here endeth my attempts to briefly explain the geology of this spectacular national park!

Fortescue Falls and Circular Pool are two superb features of Dales Gorge and both can be enjoyed from vantage points on the rim of the gorge, which suited my capabilities very well.

Fortescue Falls

Dales Gorge Rim Walk

Dales Gorge Rim Walk

Circular Pool

 From here we went to the Visitor Centre, the design of which represents a goanna moving through the landscape and is symbolic to the Banyjima people.  The displays and information about the Aboriginal culture and natural history of the park are excellent.

Later in the day, Murray did the Dales Gorge walk, which allowed him to enjoy the creek-side trail between Fortescue Falls and Circular Pool.  One of the aspects of the geology of this place which has just astounded us is the incredibly regular rocks – they look as if someone has squared them up before they cracked and some of these photos Murray took show this really well.

What gigantic force piled up these huge pieces of rock?

More amazement whilst I was amusing myself at the tent when Murray was walking!  A car and caravan stopped by our site and lo and behold – it was Graham and Josie, the couple we had met at Fitzroy Crossing and then run into again on our way up to the Dampier Peninsula.  More drinking and carousing Saturday night as the six of us shared stories.

Murray & Heff with Ross, Alison, Graham & Josie (photo credits to Josie)

Packed up on Sunday morning, bid goodbye to the others and headed for the Kalamina, Joffre and Knox Gorges, then the Weano and Hancock Gorge areas of the park.  Yet more spectacular scenery and we spent ages gazing incredulously at impressive waterfalls, precipitous cliffs, deep pools and narrow passages.

Joffre Gorge Lookout provided another opportunity to appreciate the power of water to shape the landscape -  a curved waterfall forming a natural amphitheatre, which we looked way down into:

At Weano Gorge we again marvelled at the views of the gorge and pool from the top:

From here we walked the short distance to Junction Pool Lookout, with its breathtaking views into Hancock Gorge, 100 metres below.

Another short walk around the rocks saw us at Oxer Lookout, where you can look down into the Hancock and Weano Gorge gorges and across the plateau to other gorges which converge in this area.  Just astounding!  Unfortunately none of the gorge walks were ones I could manage, so we will have to come back one day and spend longer so Murray can escort me around the easier bits, then go off and do all the walks. 

Next destination was out of Karijini at Tom Price, the highest town in WA and deep in the Hamersley Range.  A huge iron ore deposit was discovered at Mount Tom Price in 1962, which led to the construction of Tom Price and Dampier.  We took the 4WD track up Jarndrunmunhna (‘place of rock wallabies’) or Mt Nameless as it was named by the Europeans (offending the Aboriginal inhabitants of the area, who make the very valid point that it has never been ‘nameless’) and which offers incredible views across the ranges, the mine site and the town.

In the midst of all the dust, rocks and dirt of this landscape, there were still beautiful things to enjoy up on Jarndrunmunhna, like the newly-opened flowers of this magnificent mallee-type eucalypt and the gorgeous little (about 10cm) Ring-tailed Dragon  

Got ourselves booked into the caravan park before going into town to have a look around and buy our own rake (ready for anything now!).  Back to the park to put up the tent and have tea.  That night we were very grateful for the down sleeping bags as it was the coldest night we have had since the Bungle Bungles!

Up early to pack up and join our 8am mine tour.  We spent an hour and a half touring around the mine site, looking down into the huge, deep hole on the side of Mt Tom Price – about 40% of the mountain has now been excavated for ore and marvelling at the monstrous dump trucks (each worth $4.5 million) lumbering along, laden with iron ore.  Even though it is impossible not to be almost overwhelmed by the scale of the environmental impact, we all use the products created by this mining, so it was worth seeing. 

From Tom Price we hot-footed it back to the western edge of Karijini so we could visit Hamersley Gorge and what a sight it was!  Best of all, I was able to negotiate the steps down into the gorge (with the aid of the ever-patient Murray) so could enjoy all the colours, textures and shapes of the beautiful rocks and the magnificent reflections in the pool at the base of the waterfall.  What a way to end our time in Karijini.

The trip back towards Millstream Chichester along the Tom Price Railway Road was fantastic and certainly provided lots of opportunities to see the ore trains, especially when one arrived at a level crossing just ahead of us, so we got to sit and watch all 2.5 km of it roll by.

As the afternoon was rapidly disappearing, we amended our plan to spend another night in Millstream Chichester, as we wanted to get going early in the morning anyway.  So, it was back up the black top to Karratha once we got off the railway road and that brings us back to just about where I began!

Tomorrow we start the journey down to Cape Range National Park, where we are booked in from Sunday.  We are looking forward enormously to these two weeks on the Ningaloo Reef, so the next update will be when we get internet access and who knows when that will be . . .

Thursday July 19

Quick update from Karratha before we head into the wilds of the Pilbara in the tent for five days!

We most reluctantly left Broome last Friday, the 13^th with the feeling that a very significant and wonderful part of our trip was now over.  Even though we knew that there are plenty more adventures to be had and special places still to visit, our time in the Kimberly has been so remarkable that we felt quite sad.

Barn Hill Station, which is right on the coast, was our destination for the first night and as this was a mere 120km south of Broome, we were soon set up in the scrubby fringes of what was, to us, a surprisingly huge and full-to-the-brim caravan park.   The WA school holidays meant that lots of others were already here, so we were quite happy to be accommodated in the ‘non-powered’ area. The unseasonably strong wind which had buffeted us a bit on the trip down also stirred up the red dust around the park.

The beach, with its beautiful white sand, was bordered in parts by more of the incredible red mudstone cliffs we have been so amazed by on this coast and in other parts by equally incredible coloured and fractured sandstone When these are set against the colour of the Indian Ocean the result is inevitable - loads more photos to edit!

As we were taking the 10km drive out of Barn Hill the next morning we had another of those extra special moments which cause huge excitement and awe.  A large Black-headed Python had just crossed the track and we were able to stop and watch as it slithered slowly up the bank on the side of the road – what a truly magnificent creature.

Extremely strong winds made our 200km trip down to the Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park a little slow, although luckily it was blowing across our path rather than into us.  As we drove, we reflected on the fact that we were now travelling through very different landscapes.  Much more ‘scrubby’ vegetation and few large trees and sadly of course, the Boabs have now disappeared. 

Again, the park was very busy, but we managed to snare an unpowered site.  We spent two nights here and spent time walking on the beach, which really is eighty miles long and very wide.  Normally it is a fishing mecca, but the wind and an apparently unusually cold current had caused mayhem amongst the fishers.

As so many people come here each year for three months or so, the park has regular ‘events’ organised by residents.  We were able to enjoy an afternoon Musicians’ Concert (not as good as the Balnarring Musos’ nights though!) and a market at which many of the residents sell handmade goods.  Quite charming and a bit like being in a retirement village.

On Monday we made it down to Port Hedland, despite being told by many not to bother going in there as it is unattractive and not worth visiting.  Given that this is our first trip to WA, we are still of the view that we need to see everything and create our own impressions, so off we went.  Finding somewhere to stay in this part of WA is tricky though, as the mining boom has put huge pressure on all types of accommodation, including caravan parks. 
 
The day and a half we spent looking around the port and the town centre was most enjoyable.   Of course, resource-related infrastructure is never going to be attractive and despite my misgivings about the environmental impacts, it was interesting and gave Murray lots of opportunities to indulge his fascination with boats and ports. 

 

As well as iron ore, vast quantities of salt are manufactured and exported in Port Hedland.  Amusingly, the ‘spin’ on the hoardings by the drying pans is that this is ‘solar salt’, produced using only solar energy – surely the way salt has always been produced!

The Courthouse Gallery had some fantastic work on display and in the adjacent park we were astounded to find an American diner car set up as a café.  It was a carriage from a Silver Zephyr train which had been out on the BHP site for years before being relocated and ‘done up’ as an addition to her cafe by a young local woman – fantastic!  Good coffee too!  We were particularly entranced because of our wonderful trip on the California Zephyr in 2010 (wasn't silver though!).

Yesterday we travelled another 200km from Port Hedland to the Pilbara Coast and back into red rocks and hilly country.  Once again, we were struck by the contrasting colours- green and yellow spinifex, dark red rocks, green vegetation and the blue sky.  I keep feeling like we are driving through a Sian Dodd painting!

We spent last night in Point Sampson, a lovely little town on the eastern side of the Point Sampson Peninsula.  It was established as a deep water port to service Roeburn and districts around 1910.  The iron ore export port is now located at nearby Cape Lambert, which has one of the tallest and longest jetties in Australia – 3.98 kilometres long and a minimum clearance of 17.8 metres above high tide.  The ships in the photo below are actually loading at the jetty, even though it is difficult to see!

Point Sampson and its gorgeous sandy beaches (like Honeymoon Cove below) are now a popular holiday spot and the now-small port is used for fishing boats, survey vessels and tugs. Had a swim (well, Murray did anyway!) and a lie on the beach in the sun – very nice indeed.  Definitely worth a return visit.

Saw our first Sturt Desert Peas growing by the roadside as we were exploring the town and as these photos show, they were two quite different varieties - crimson with black bosses and crimson with red bosses.  Apparently white hybrids and crimson and white variegated varieties have also been found in this area.

Today we moved on to Karratha – a huge distance of about 40km.  Drove through the historic towns of Cossack and Roebourne en route and after setting ourselves up in the caravan park, took off for Dampier.  Looking around as we left town, it was obvious that Karratha is undergoing enormous growth.

Dampier, purpose built in the 1960s to accommodate employees of Hamersley Iron and their families, is dominated by the port facilities for Dampier Salt, Pilbara Iron and Woodside Energy.   The Dampier Archipelago, which consists of 42 islands and islets within a 45 kilometre radius of Dampier, would be a wonderful place to explore with a boat – next time!

A memorial to Red Dog has been erected in Dampier, so we had to stop and have a look!

 

We also managed to stop at the overpass on the rail line to get a photo of one of the huge ore trains which travel from Tom Price to the port.  Some of these trains are 3.75 kilometres in length and have up to six locos - Scott and Gordon will be pleased to know that even we are impressed by such trains!

We drove up the Burrup Peninsula to Woodside’s North West Shelf Visitor Centre and Lookout.  It was quite interesting, but looking out over the enormous gas plant made me deeply sad as I contemplated such a facility imposed on the beautiful Dampier Peninsula at James Price Point.  Surely we should have reached a stage when we can be more sensitive to our environment and do our best to confine industrial developments such as this to as few areas as possible.

 

A 4WD track takes you beyond the Visitor Centre further up the Burrup Peninsula to Withnell Bay and as we drove we marvelled at the incredible piles of dark red rock, which look as if they have been dumped by some giant truck.  These rocks dominate the landscape all around Dampier and they are just astounding.

The Yaburra People, who once inhabited the peninsula and adjacent islands, left a rich cultural heritage – one of the most prolific sites for prehistoric rock art in the world.  There are over 1,000,000 pieces of engraved rock art (petroglyphs) on the Burrup Peninsula (Murujuga) and I was very excited to spot one on a large rock as we went along.  If we have time when we get back from Karijini I would love to come back and drive out to Hearsons Cove to see more examples.

Whilst we were at Withnell Bay, we watched a Brahminy Kite, which was perched on a rock by the beach.  Much cursing ensued as it flew off just as I got the telephoto lense on the camera, but then I spied this one sitting on top of a huge pile of rocks.  What a great colours - the beautiful chestnut and white of the kite's plumage against the deep red rocks and blue sky

Back then to Karratha, where we visited the Visitors' Centre to get our permit to drive on the Rio Tinto Railway Road, which follows their rail line (the longest privately owned rail line in the world I believe) on which the huge iron ore trains travel to the port.  Before we could get the permit we had to watch a twenty minute DVD on road safety – a small price to pay!  Back to the van then to repack all the camping gear – we are getting very efficient at it now though.

We will be back to Karratha and our van next Wednesday, after our trip to Millstream-Chichester and Karijini National Parks and Tom Price, so until then . . .