Roads trains road kill.

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Big drive inland from the Cape Range peninsula, the crosswind battering the van from side to side, Elton John blasting out of the stereo. Few hundred kms to a free roadside camp ground where we baked some potatoes on an open fire. No poetry readings this time though.

Eat up some more miles the next day. Drive for nearly 2 hours without passing another car. Open red plains either side, with rolling hills on the horizon. Lose count of the number of dead kangaroos in various states of decay by the roadside. Big old eagles feasting on the carcasses. Pull over a couple of times to let road trains thunder past.

Stay a few nights in Karijini National Park, which is in the top left hand corner of Australia in the Pilbara region. We clamber down into Dale Gorge, and follow it along. Huge steep walls either side, layers of red sandstone, all carved out more than 2 billion years ago.

We also have a walk up Mount Bruce, which is the second highest peak in Western Australia (it’s a pretty flat place though, so that’s not saying much).

Can see an open cast mine down in the valley, with enormous trucks driving about full of iron ore and loading it onto trains nearly 3km long. The ore is everywhere. You can pick up the gravel rocks and clink them together, and everything is red from the rust.

Great place. Hardly any people. Loads of kangaroos, dead and alive. Bush toilets. No snakes yet.

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