Who Is Tom Price?

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Friday 10th June. Today was the start of a long trek which would eventually take us to an area of Australia we have never been to before – Karijini. Our destination on the second day of the trek would be Tom Price – the best part of 700 kilometers away from Exmouth. Graham had contemplated doing it all in one day, as Sarah and Darryl had done in the opposite direction on their tour. But we’re not very good at very early starts – we often wake up to find some neighbours have already gone but we obviously aren’t that well organized. Anyway, we like to have a reasonably leisurely breakfast and to take our time while travelling. Even if we could maintain 100 kilometers per hour (without breaks we average 80) it would involve 7 hours of travelling so we knew we would have to stop somewhere on the way and a roadhouse called Nanutarra, at about 300 kilometers, was probably favourite. We had stayed there 8 years ago and Graham’s notes of the time described it as “grim” so we were in no hurry to get there too early.

We left the lighthouse at about 9:00am and called into Exmouth to do a bit of shopping and to post some cards. Then we were on the road back towards a junction about 85 kilometers out of Exmouth, to start our journey further north. After that there would be another bit of travelling of about 80 or so kilometers before we reached the main highway. Progress was easy, not a lot of traffic, and Graham was able to maintain a nice speed for PIE of about 90 kilometers per hour. We had been warned that we would meet a head-wind which could affect fuel consumption but we were well stocked and had our two spare containers to fall back on if things got bad. As it happens, we didn’t encounter any head-wind, maybe a bit of cross-wind, but progress was good and comfortable. On the main highway the journey became a little monotonous, not unlike crossing the Nullabor, with long straight stretches of road and little or no vegetation to view. The very occasional bends gave us the opportunity to check there was nothing behind us as, on a straight road, the wing-mirrors do not extend far enough to give a full view behind. We also had the CB radio on to the truckers channel as Graham does his best to accommodate the large road-trains which always seem to manage to maintain the 110 limit if not faster. But throughout the whole day’s journey we were not overtaken by a single thing and we hardly saw anything coming the other way. About half way through the morning we pulled into a rest area, Giralia Bay, for a bit of a break – probably the high-light of the day’s journey so far!! There weren’t even any flies to annoy us although we did see lots of flocks of small birds frantically darting around. Eventually I realized they were flocks of green budgerigars.

So with the flocks of budgies for entertainment, we continued our relatively uninteresting journey north until we reached Nanutarra. It was much as we remembered it – a small “oasis” of sorts in the middle of nowhere. It was so remote that there was no mobile phone signal although the roadhouse itself had satellite connections for emergency use. There was fuel available and we decided it would be wise to top up the tank, albeit at a cost. It wasn’t the most expensive fuel we’ve purchased but not far short. We wanted to “check out” the facilities here before committing to staying overnight. If they were poor then we would stay in a roadside rest area a little further along the highway. We bought lunch in the café and it was fine, although very expensive, and the dining area was very comfortable. A stroll around the camping area revealed just what it was like – basically a parking area with power and water. But people were already beginning to park up so, after a quick check of the shower facilities, which looked acceptable, we decided to check in. We selected a reasonable “drive through” pitch so there was no need to unhitch the caravan. We chatted to our near neighbours who hailed from Wangaratta and who knew of the Lawns. The lady had been at school with two of Jack and Wilma’s daughters recalling all of their names. The weather was splendid and the distant views of the mountains convinced us that we had made the right decision to stay. As night fell we were, once again, astonished by the night sky – it was glorious.

In the morning we were up and about quite early and without any major preparations to be made, we left Nanutarra at about 8:15. Several units had already left but there was no sign of activity from our near neigbours but we hope to see them at Tom Price as they were also heading that way. Today’s journey was to be more interesting as we left the main highway and got nearer to the hills of Karijini which we could see in the far, far distance. We couldn’t believe that anyone would live in this very remote area but occasionally we would see signs of cattle stations. Sadly, the only cattle we saw were dead ones that had been hit by vehicles and sometimes we saw the remains of vehicles which hadn’t survived hitting a cow!

We stopped for a cuppa in a rest area – one of the ones we may have considered yesterday if we hadn’t been happy with Nanutarra. Two other caravans had pulled in for a break and another unit had clearly been there all night. They were to tell us that, last night, seventeen caravans stayed there!!! We think we made the right decision staying at the roadhouse with about six others. The road was quite narrow in places, especially over creeks and we gradually climbed the somewhat winding roads to Tom Price which is the highest town in WA at 747 meters above sea level. On approaching the only community before Tom Price – Parraburdoo – we spotted a low flying helicopter performing sharp manoeuvers. Graham speculated that perhaps they were locating and rounding up cattle. Sure enough, a bit further along the road, we encountered some drovers on horseback who had collected a large herd of cattle which were being held prior to being moved to stockyards. There’s a lot of controversy in Aus at the moment involving cattle stations in this area. Most of the cattle are exported live to Indonesia where their extremely harsh treatment has caused a huge uproar resulting in the government establishing temporary export bans. Needless to say, ranchers are up in arms in WA and the controversy is bound to run for a while yet until a resolution can be found.

We had been advised that Parraburdoo was the best place in the area to get fuel so we called in and topped up again. Both Parraburdoo and Tom Price have only relatively recently developed, purely through the prosperity of the mining industry in an area formerly known as The Hammersley Ranges. Top quality iron ore is mined here, amongst other things, and, as we were to learn on a trip we were to go on, is worth millions and millions and millions of dollars for the Australian economy in general and WA in particular.

The town of Tom Price only came into being in the early 1960’s and was named after Thomas Moore Price, who was Vice-President of the American company, Kaiser Steel. He came to the area to appraise deposits of ore and was instrumental in convincing the mining companies that it was worth mining there. He returned to America in 1962 and died at the age of 72 from a heart attack two hours after being told about the very rich ore deposit discovered on the mountain. In recognition of his efforts the mountain and the town were named after him.

The caravan park was a couple of kms north of Tom Price so we were able to avoid the town and make straight for the caravan park. It was a pleasant looking park and the site we were allocated was well placed and with a bit of hard standing to park next to – not a “block” as it was level with the ground. With the sun shining brightly, the view at the back of us was great as we sat and looked towards Mount Nameless (called that by the 1960’s surveyors in the area). This mountain is the highest peak in WA that is accessible by 4WD vehicles and is 1128 metres high. Its Aboriginal name is Jarndrunmunhna. We drove into town to check out the facilities. The visitor centre closed at midday (it was Saturday) but the Coles supermarket was open so I got a few groceries. There were a couple of tours we had our eye on and had the visitors centre been open I would have booked them – one for Sunday and one for Monday. Because the main one was a 7:30 start, I rang the company and left a message declaring an interest. Later, Bob rang me back and we were able to get on the Sunday tour – an all day trip into the Karijini National Park – so we had an early night and set the alarm for 6:30.

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Photos

Just one of the many Whistling Kites we saw today
this one was circling around the roadhouse

We hoped we wouldn't meet a big truck on this bridge
there were a few like this we had to negotiate

The scenery was becoming much more interesting
as we neared the Hamersley Ranges

Two drovers - the cows were hidden from view by the trees
the drovers looked like ladies - good on em!

A HUGE Terex Haul Truck
A permanent feature near Parraburdoo