Day 127. Karijini N.P. to Pardoo Station

Train after train….. Road train that is!

All night the rain fell. We had hoped by morning that it might have eased up, but unfortunately that was not the case.

We woke to the sounds of heavy rain drops on the caravan roof. I dreaded climbing out of bed, because I knew that as soon as I did I would be outside battling the weather as I packed up the van ready for another day on the road.

It wasn’t as bad as I had thought; but all the red dust had turned to red mud and it did make my job that little bit uncomfortable. I had everything packed away within an hour and a half, and Bec was on top of everything inside the van. Bec also had hot cuppa’s brewed and ready in our thermal travel mugs. It’s just what I needed after spending the morning outside in the rain.

On the way out of the campground, we stopped in at the Rangers Station to hand in Scarlett’s Junior Ranger Worksheet that she had been working on aver the last few days. Scarlett was awarded an embroided Karajini Junior Ranger patch that she absolutely loves. It has a Spinifex Pigeon on it that she thinks is cool as she spotted one of these critters while on the way to one of the gorges yesterday.

It took us four hours to drive to Port Hedland; via some very interesting landscapes as we followed the edge of the Karajini National Park. The rest of the countryside was very mind numbing, but the wet weather and constant road trains kept me alert.

At one stage, we had to get off the road as two trucks carrying the dump trays of big mine trucks rumbled past. They were a strange site to see roaring down the road toward us in the middle of nowhere.

On the way up to Port Hedland we must have come across at least thirty road trains; consisting of mainly gravel/iron ore trucks, fuel trucks, and cattle trucks. Some were only three trailers long, and some were three and a half trailers longs; but the majority were four trailers long and they seemed to weave all over the road. Bec and Scarlett loved the trucks, as they had never seen so many road trains in their lives.

We were going to stay in Port Hedland tonight, but we weren’t very impressed with what this town had to offer, so we decided to continue another 130km further up the road to Pardoo Station. The only thing we really enjoyed in Port Hedland was seeing and visiting our first McDonald’s restaurant since Esperance, so we were all very excited. Next door was a Coles, so Bec ‘topped up’ on our groceries.

Two hours later and another twenty road trains later, we finally reached our destination for today – Pardoo Station..........

It took us until sunset to finally finish setting up camp. As it took so long to get here, we’ve decided to stay for two days before heading off to 80 Mile beach Caravan Park. It will give us a day to get back on top of the washing, and a chance to top up with fresh water etc after spending the last four days camping with no supplies or amenities.

The best thing I am looking fwd to tomorrow is the sleep in. Nothing has been planned, so hopefully it’ll be a day of rest and recuperation.

What did you say dad?

posted by Shane

Day 126. Karijini N.P.

Beautiful Karijini


Shane had to do a tyre repair after finding a
screw had punchered it

I woke this morning with blisters on my blisters, and sore muscles I didn’t even know I had. Stiff, and sore, I packed another lunch, swimmers and gear to go out hiking again today. This place is just so beautiful that I can’t resist another gorge exploration; and everyone is so keen to get back out there.

‘Kalamina’ Gorge is the last gorge to visit on the map, and supposably the best one for kids. So I placed two layers of elastoplast on my blisters, and we were off. This hike is 3km’s, and it’s meant to take about 3 hours. The descent was quite steep, but shorter than any others we have done this week. I was thankful, as my calves were now killing me.

At the bottom was the magic ‘Rock Arch Pool’. This lovely little grotto had a waterfall, ferns lining the walls, and a huge paperbark tree growing right in the middle. This is a photographer’s delight, and we have seen many keen photographers here over the last few days taking advantage of the amazing colours and rock formations for their photos. I myself have been reading ‘Steve Parish’s’ photography guide, hoping to pick up some tips for my photo’s. I’ve lugged my tripod down, to try out some of his suggestions.

Rock Arch Pool

After the kids decided it was too cold to swim, we moved on to walk the length of the gorge floor. This was a considerably easier walk than the past few days, with shale pathways most of the way, and water crossings quite shallow. There were sections where we had to shimmy along the rock walls, and some hairy water crossings over slippery rocks, but fairly easy to get through on the whole.

 

The gorge was lined with towering rock walls of many vibrant shades of red, and in patterns the kids all thought looked like ‘liquorice allsorts’. The water flowed the whole way along with us, over little water falls, and pooling every so often in big ponds filled with little rainbow fish. These made this gorge a lot different to the others we had encountered so far. The kids found that broken shale pieces made for great skimming rocks, and Grace gave Scarlett some very patient lessons.

It was a lovely walk back; and making it back out to the top of the car park, I must admit I was a little relieved. My feet were hurting, and Scarlett was starting to get tired. When we decided that enough was enough and we should head back up the gorge back to the car, she was most unimpressed and wanted to continue. But I think we had pushed her far enough in the last few days.

It’s now official; Karajini National Park is my most favourite park of the trip so far. My favourite used to be ‘The Pinnacles’ just north of Perth, but after visiting here I can safely say it’s a must do for anybody travelling this part of the country.
I will be sad to move on tomorrow…

Day 125. Karijini N.P.

Pilbara Princess

Today we woke to grey skies. The forecast was for possible isolated showers, but this suited Bec just fine. Yesterday she wanted subdued lighting to practice some new photographic shots she has been reading about, and today someone upstairs granted her wish.

Fortescue Falls

We all packed lunches, swimmers, towel and dry clothing for today’s activities. We want to stay close to our camp, so we are exploring Dales Gorge. This gorge has a number of features that have been highly recommended to us to check out, so that’s today goal.

Dales Gorge

First stop was Fortescue Falls; a 800 mtr walk down the gorge while negotiating a number of manmade steps on a narrow trail to the waterfall below. After yesterday’s introduction to the Karijini Gorges on the western side of the national park, we were eager to see what the eastern side had to offer. Everyone easily made the trip down to the waterfall; which was spectacular. We took a number of photo’s of this natural wonder before heading back up the eastern end of the gorge to visit our next stop – Fern Pool.

Flying Foxes

During the walk to Fern Pool, we came across a colony of Flying Foxes that were making a small racket in the trees above. We watched the antics of these wonderful creatures, but soon the sound of rushing water beckoned, and we continued on our way.

Fern Pool

As we came around a bend on the track and we were greeted by Fern Pool. As legend goes, Fern Pool (Jubura), is a special place. This pool was created by great serpents in a time when the earth was still soft. These serpents still live in the gorge pools today.

Swimming in Fern Pool

The water was a little cool, but Jace, Maya, Jo, Jai, Scarlett and myself, all braved the cold and slipped into the tranquil waters of this special place. The swim over to the falls was ‘refreshing’, but believe it or not the water falling from above was definitely a few degrees warmer. We enjoyed the calming cascading water before swimming back over to Bec; who was busy trying to capture this ‘sacred’ special place in the form of photos for the blog.

I forgot to bring a towel and a change of clothes for poor Scarlett to change into after her swim, so I climbed back up to the top of the gorge and to our car to get some, before Scarlett froze to death. By the time I returned to the bottom of the gorge, everyone had moved back to Fortescue Falls to continue exploring. I soon had Scarlett back into dry clothes, and we were ready to continue our journey deeper into the Dales Gorge.

Fortescue Falls

About an hour or so later; after negotiating a myriad of obstacles along the bottom of the gorge (incl: rock climbing, bouldering, water crossings, paperbark forests, and tall grass), we finally reached Circular Pool. This place is at the very end of the gorge where more water from the countryside above cascades down the rockface into a pool at its base.

We arrived here late morning, and as we soon discovered, it was a very popular spot. There were people everywhere (to Bec’s disappointment, as she wanted to take natural setting photos), but Jace and Maya braved the very cold water and took another dip. The temp here was near zero; so there was no chance of me sliding back into the cool clear waters of the Pilbara today.

By this time it was after midday, and all the kids (and adults) were getting tired and hungry. We decided to head back out of the gorge via a different route. The way up was very steep in places, and by the time we reached the top everyone was starting to feel just a bit exhausted. Luckily it wasn’t a very hot day, or I think we may have had an issue or two with the little ones.

By the time we reached the cars, everyone was stiff and sore. Bec even got blisters that ended up bursting, so she was feeling a little worse for wear. We drove down to a picnic area where we quickly devoured our lunches; and Bec surprised everyone with a moist date and walnut loaf that she baked in our caravan’s oven earlier this morning. It was a very welcome treat that we all savoured and enjoyed. Bec received much praise for her forward thinking, and great cooking skills. Out here she is earning a reputation as the Pilbara Princess!

The gang

The afternoon was spent relaxing back at camp. We were all too tired to do much else; but somehow the kids found the energy to ride their bikes around the area for another hour or two. During their travels, they soon learnt that a dingo had been spotted at a nearby camp ground. This spooked Scarlett more than I would of expected, and she didn’t want to go off riding her bike with the other kids after that.

Circular Pool

This evening Scarlett and I are watching TV (I have set up the satellite dish and we are using our solar panels to power up the system – which Bec absolutely loves), and just relaxing, while Bec – the Pilbara Princess, is up at Jo’s caravan helping her with her computer. Another day we will remember forever in the Pilbera.

posted by Shane

Day 124. Karijini N.P.

By Gorge


Oxer Lookout

We had a huge day planned today, so after a hearty breakfast we were off and straight into it. We went straight to ‘Hancock Gorge’ first; as this one is closing for maintenance in a day or two, so we need to get in and see it ASAP. At the top of ‘Hancock Gorge’ was the ‘Oxer Lookout’, and it was outstanding. From here you can see straight down into ‘Red Gorge’, ‘Joffre Gorge’, Weano Gorge’ and ‘Hancock Gorge’. It was breathtaking to see all four gorges joining together from the one lookout.


Descending into Hancock Gorge



The kids - ready for the challenge

Next we decided to get brave and decided to hike down into ‘Hancock Gorge’. It’s a 3hr hike and a class 3 & 4 (Class 5 is the hardest) so we weren’t sure how the kids would handle it. We decided to go as far as they could take it, and stop if it became too difficult. After a short way the we hit the class 4 section which was a ladder that led down to the gorge’s floor; everyone got down with relative ease.

We proceeded along the bottom of the gorge walking through water courses and shimming along rock ledges. It is one of the most spectacular environments I have ever entered. There was such an amazing contrast of the green Spinifex grasses, red dirt and numerous red colours of the rock faces that stretched at least 150mtrs up to the sky above.



As we got further into the gorge the water levels rose, and the rock ledges became so narrow we had to enter the water to get through. At one point the water was up to our waist; it was cold but so much fun. I was surprised as the kids never complained.

Unfortunately the water then became too deep. The crevice was too steep to navigate with the kids so we had to turn back. The kids were so disappointed but they will never understand how amazing they were to even get that far. The rest of us were very impressed with all their efforts!

After a well earned lunch break, we decided that the last walk (although very challenging) was so much fun we would try another. This time it was ‘Weano Gorge’. We were only 100mts in, and I was already carrying the kids across the deep sections coming up to my waist. The water was very cold, but bearable; and the scenery again was breathtaking.

At one point the ledge the kids were shimmying along got too narrow and I was going to try and carry them all across. Poor Grace who was first; the last thing she said to me was please don’t drop me in, well it must have been a jinx because two steps along I slipped on a submerged rock and we both went in up to our necks into the cold water. I’m not sure if it was the shock of the water, but poor Grace was most upset with me. Again we decided it was time to turn around.

This gorge walk went both left and right from the bottom, so we decided to head back and explore it now in the other direction. The track was a lot easier, and the water crossings were nowhere near as deep. We found a big cave up in the rock face, and we had a ball trying to get up to. It was worth the effort though, as the kids had a ball.

Climbing deeper and deeper into the gorge...

On the way back to camp, we decided to stop off and check out two more lookouts that were only short walks from the car park. First was ‘Joffre Gorge’ and second was ‘Knox Gorge’ and both were equally amazing. I am astounded at the contrasting colours here; the deep red colours of the rocks highlighted by the huge termite mounds, with the green Spinifex and plant life makes for an amazing site. I think today we hiked over 3kms of quite difficult track, that all up took us over 4hrs to complete. It was well worth ever step.

Joffre Gorge

Hi there! Remember me?

Day 123. Tom Price to Karijini National Park

Rio Tinto – a new career?


Mt Nameless - the mountain we 'climbed up' yesterday.



We spent a very cold night in Tom Price last night. Now that we have moved back inland (not to mention that we are at the highest town in WA), the temperature at night has dropped dramatically. To remedy this, we dressed warmly and all had a hot breakfast when the sun finally rose.

Big Boys Toys

We packed up camp and went back into town to the Visitor Information Centre, where we were to get picked up for our tour of the Rio Tinto Iron Ore Mine. While we were waiting for our bus, we dropped into Coles and bought some fresh veg and bread rolls. Bec was amazed how cheap everything was, and she said she regretted buying up big in Exmouth, as the prices here were so much cheaper (i.e. Chicken breast in Exmouth was $18.99kg, where here at Tom Price the chicken was only $10.90kg – bugger!) Even the diesel here was only $1.55 per litre.

The kids were all excited about visiting the mine and seeing the big machinery. Scarlett tried on a dozen hard hats and safety glasses before finally settling on something – even though everything was the same! She can be very funny sometimes.

One of seven open pits here at Tom Price

The tour lasted for about 1hr45min, and the kids loved it! We thought they might get bored, but they enjoyed seeing the big excavators, even bigger dump trucks, and the huge bucket scoop that moved hundreds of tons of iron ore a minute. Even the process of how they load the trains; and the infrastructure behind building a town, a railway, and a loading port in Dampier kept everyone intrigued.

Probably what scared me the most was when Bec started asking the tour guide about jobs at the mine and how to go about applying for them! She later informed me that she could easily live here in the Pilbara for a few years while we both worked in the mines to help get us back on our feet again after the disaster we recently experienced with losing everything in the floods back in Brisbane. I’ve been thinking about this all afternoon, and the more I think about it, the more interested intrigued I find myself. The country up here is beautiful, and there is so much to see and do that we couldn’t possibly get bored. Mmmmm….

Bec asking about job opportunities at the mine...

After the tour, we headed west again into Karijini National Park, where we plan to spend at least a few days exploring this wonderland of gorges and waterfalls. We arrived at Dales Gorge campground, paid our $14 per night for camping fees, and set up camp before relaxing the afternoon away while Scarlett and the kids rode their bikes around the campground for hours on end.

Our camp at Karijini National Park

We talked to fellow travellers about places to visit, and we took note on a number of locations we plan on touring over the next 6 months. Grey Nomads are a wealth of information about this very big land of ours, and if you’re willing to sit back and listen to their stories, you’re guaranteed to walk away with a lot of useful tips.

Posted by Shane

Day 122. Tom Price

Welcome to the Pilbara

Today we entered the amazing landscapes of the Pilbara.

This morning after pulling out of our free camp, we saw our first dingo run across the road in front of us. Unfortunately he was so quick, (and Shane not slowing down); I was unable to get a picture of him. This part of the country is all huge cattle stations, some bigger than states in the US. We passed the western boundary of one station yesterday, and then about 100km's further on down the road today, we passed it's eastern boundary. They have no fences along the road, and cattle can regularly be seen browsing along the roadside. I have seen a couple of dead ones that have been hit by either cars or trucks, and I recon the poor thing would have done some major damage.

By mid morning we pulled into Paraburdoo for some diesel, and couldn't believe that out here in the middle of nowhere the price of diesel was only $1.59 with my Coles voucher! Unbelievable! It wasn't even that cheap in Perth. So needless to say we filled up the Pajero  and the jerry can too.

Today's destination of 'Tom Price' was only a 180km's journey for us; so a relative short easy drive. When we arrived, we pulled into the visitor centre first. Here we booked in for a mine tour tomorrow, we also got a heap of information on Karijini National Park; which we will be entering into tomorrow afternoon (after the mine tour).

We booked in at the Tom Price Holiday Park, and couldn't help but notice the huge mountain that towered over the town; by the name of 'Mt Nameless'. It turns out it's the highest mountain in W.A that is accessible by four wheel drive, so off we went. It was a very steep road up to the top, but one filled with the most spectacular red iron ore rocks that we have ever seen. This mountain is part of the Hammersley Ranges in the Pilbara, and over looks the whole town of Tom Price and the Rio Tinto Iron Ore mine.

Jai, Scarlett, Grace, Rebecca and Maya

The view was amazing! We were 1128mtrs above sea level and could see for miles in every direction. Also seeing the mine from this height, gives a true perspective of exactly how huge it actually is. We looked everywhere for rock wallabies without success, as they are supposed to be very common here. Time began to get away, and before we knew it the sun was starting to set. So we found a great spot to watch it go down, and get a few photo's.

Rio Tinto Mine

It was a slow drive back down the mountain in the twilight, and one we made very cautiously. We have been totally captivated by the dramatic landscape of the Pilbara, and its opened our eyes to an area of Australia that I really knew very little about up to now. It has huge mountain ranges and deep gorges, and I can't wait to explore more of the Pilbara tomorrow.

Our Pajero heading back down the 'track' that leads to the top of Mt Nameless