Advertisement
KARIJINI NATIONAL PARK
Fortescue falls down hundreds of steps to the base of the gorge... just stunning!After our farwell to Exmouth dinner at Froth Brewery in Exmouth with Keith and Jo and a good nights sleep we set off for Tom Price. After six hours driving we pulled into a camping spot on the edge of the road about 100klm out of Tom Price. Then onto Tom Price for a night to replenish food supplies and catch up on washing etc. There is a Coles in Tom Price and the prices are really reasonable because Rio Tinto subsidises the freight for supplies to be bought into town. Friday onto Karijini National Park 100klms all sealed roads, school breaks up here today so were very lucky to get a spot booking at the end of May to get 2 nights at Dales Camp Ground and then another two nights at the overflow camp, EVERYTHING is booked out! So being at Dales Campground we did the Dales Gorge, Gorge Rim, Fortescue Falls, Three Ways Lookout, Circular Pool.....absolutely stunning set out at 1.15pm and got back to camp at 4.00pm a decent hike from the top deep down into the gorge at Fortescue Falls then walked the base of the gorge through water, mud and heaps of rocks, it was
PILBARA AREA
Between Nanuturra Roadhouse and Tom Price hard going but just so beautiful! Limped back home but had such a great afternoon. As you will see from the photos boots and a long sleeves were the dress of the day, quite cool down in the shade of the gorge (though people were swimming brrrrr! not for us) and the boots were great to keep the feet dry. We did meet a couple of swiss kids down in the gorge and he said we left Switzerland in summer and came to your winter and it is still much hotter than our summer so swimming for them was a breeze! In the whole of Karijini there are only 3 campgrounds and a few ECO units....so some people camp in free camps outside the national park and drive in each day but this park is huge so I would not advise that.... book well ahead! No fuel in the park so have to make it last as its 108 to Tom Price and 83 to Auski Roadhouse the other way and you do quite long distances within the park to see different gorges and lookouts! Saturday saw another day exploring Karijini after hearing dingos howling all night.....it truly is spectacular...
TOM PRICE
Shortcut to Tom Price we are loving it, first up a big gorge walk into Weano Gorge and then drove 25klm to Knox Gorge and then to Joffre Lookout and a hike down to the falls but the falls were not running but still magnificent... very steep to get into Joffre with big metal ladders for the last 100 metres or so! Saw someone have a nasty fall.... you have to be so damn careful....no phone reception down in the gorges. Sunday another glorious day in Karijini.... today 50klm return trip to hike Kalamina Gorge, a very pretty gorge with lots of different scenery, fairly steep climb down into the gorge and went to the waterfall then took a hike the other way for just over an hour so it was two and half hours altogether in here today, another magical spot! We have been totally blown away with the beauty of Karijini. Last day at Karinjini decided to leave our camp as it is 100klm around to Hamersley Gorge on the most western side of the National Park so instead of coming back we would head in the direction of our next stop Marble Bar having a couple of nights on the way.
PILBARA
You never tire of the scenery On that 100klm run from Karijini to Hamersley Gorge saw in the distance these lush green paddocks, turns out it is another Gina Reinhardt project, Hamersley Agriculture Project. It is over 5,000 acres and has been going for about 12 years and utilises dewatering water surplus to the nearby mines, huge big show with dams and pumps etc John managed to get a couple of good shots with the drone. We were glad we went to Hamersley it was so pretty and different again from all the other Gorges we went to but there were a lot more people here too, I guess school holidays and kids everywhere swimming. We had to unhook the van at a free camp spot near Hamersley as no caravan parking at the Gorge. Had a great morning there and then headed along the dirt road to Auski Roadhouse to fuel up as getting pretty low but always carry a spare 20 litres in case. John has his app all sorted as to where we will fuel up next so all planned well ahead. We got behind a road train fuel tanker and because of the dust just too hard to overtake and they are
TOM PRICE
Mine trucks are pretty big 4 trays long so not small. We are in the middle of mining country so there are dozens of these very long road trains on the road. Petrol price not too bad at Auski 209.9, we then headed north towards Port Headland and took a road off to the east about 65klm out of Auski heading towards Marble Bar and stopped at a free camp called Tambina Creek, no other vans there and right on a little creek and very peaceful. Couple of days rest and then hit the Marble Bar Races.....if my foot gets better, woke up with very sore foot today can hardly weight bear! Not sure whats going on here maybe a stress fracture or pulled muscles! Anyway the show goes on!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.09s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 9; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0613s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Murray Lanyon
non-member comment
Magnificent Australia
Enjoying all your blogs, as you travel through the vastness of Aussie, I must apologies in not mentioning a couple of people that we know very well, one that you may have meet at William Creek is Trevour Wright who I think owns all of William Creek, he originally hailed from Boort, he owns a very large fleet of Aircraft operating scenic flights around outback Australia. Another is Wayne Bramely who worked for us back at Boort, he loads the iron orr onto the trains destined for Port Kembla, if he was at Tom Price when you were there, he could have shown you through the mine. If you eventually arrive at Kununurra we know Michael McConarchy who operates about 18 Helicopters, various other Aircraft including a Cessna Citation, he managed Turrumbury Estate Noth West of Echuca, he knows the Ord River and Irrigation system well, I could get you his Phone Number if you wish. Cheers Muzz