CORAL BAY TO TOM PRICE

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CORAL BAY TO TOM PRICE

Wednesday 26th May, Pam and I drove around to the boat launching ramp and pier to the south of Coral Bay and walked around the coast on the rock pools and sand flats where we saw many small clams and sea slugs exposed by the low tide. After a relaxing afternoon we again de camped ready for the trip tomorrow.

Thursday 27th May, nothing much to see along the way except for rubbish thrown from vehicles and the many dead kangaroos on the side of the road. We had planned to stay at the Nananturra Roadhouse camping area, but, as we got there earlier than we expected, we went on another 70km to a 24 hour free camp on the side of the highway. ( It was the first time we had been game enough to try this ) It turned out to be a great night, sitting around talking to the other travelers for the rest of the afternoon. There turned out to be 12 other vans, campers and motor homes there for the night. We needn’t have worried at all.
We met several couples that we continued to see along the way north.

Friday 28th May, The scenery on the trip toward Tom price was very different from any that we have seen so far. The Hamersley Ranges vary from red rocky outcrops to black, tree and grass covered monoliths of varying shapes and sizes. We fuelled up at Parabadoo, a satellite mining town out in the middle of no where. Tom Price is a pretty little town well laid out with good facilities for all.

Saturday 29th May, I went on an organized tour of the Rio Tinto iron ore mine in the morning, where it is very evident that even though they make good money from mining, the costs involved in getting the ore out of the ground, processed and shipped overseas are also huge. We had another relaxing afternoon.

Sunday 30th May, One of our neighbours told us that the road out to Hamersley Gorge wasn’t too bad, so we decide to give it a try. The climb down into the gorge made the 90 km drive on gravel roads well worth while. Beautiful views of the waterfalls and rock formations. After that we continued on through to Dales Gorge in the Karijini National Park. The climb down to Circular Pool was a grade 4 hike, and took us over an hour there and back. Nice little waterfall at the end though. We ended up doing around 290 km that day.

Monday 31st May, BIG rest day. We really deserved after our efforts yesterday.

Tuesday 1st June, Even though we saw some of the Karijini National Park on Sunday, today we went on a full day commercial mini bus tour. Left at 7-30am and got back at 5-00pm. There were only 4 of us on the tour, us and a delightful young Swedish couple who helped make the day very enjoyable.
Geoff, the tour guide put his all into the trip even with the small numbers. (quality, not quantity)
We went to the majority of the gorges and waterfalls and pools and had a great day. Fantastic place.

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