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Published: August 18th 2008
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Headed down to 80 Mile Beach. Caravan Park looked full and we wanted to get down a bit further, so collected some shells, had a bite to eat and continued on to Cape Kernaudren. Three camp grounds, very spread out, just basic toilets, but a lovely view over the low tide flats out to the Indian Ocean. Unfortunately extremely windy in the morning which made it hard to pack up the camper. Drove into Port Hedland for a look around and to get mobile service for messages & to ring Ultimate for replacement spas. Got to see the trains coming in with Iron Ore and the Salt Piles awaiting shipment. Saw 2 other Ultimates and low and behold it was Jan & Peter (from Batavia Pearls). Had a chat, caught up and got some groceries. Jan lent me her foldable steamer which was nice, now I can do steamed vegies. Yum. Gave the kids a treat with lunch at MacDonald’s. Continued on to Marble Bar. Stunning entry with metal sculptures, took photos of each one. Kids did some homework and we had yet another bbq. I had stew with steamed vegies. In the morning we drove out to Chinaman’s Pool and
the Jasper rock bar. You had to take a bucket to scoop up the water and throw it over the Jasper (originally they thought it was Marble, hence the name). The amazing colours show up when the rock is wet. Yellows, reds, black, white, brown and varying shades of each.
From there we went to Newman and found the caravan park was cheap - makes a change. The Visitors Centre was also a mine museum and the kids had fun climbing over all the machinery, trucks etc. Booked on the Mt. Whaleback Mine Tour, the world’s largest open cut mine, for the following day. It was a struggle to find long sleeves, long pants and closed shoes for all of us. We were allowed to leave the camper at the caravan park until after the tour. So we got some bread, had lunch, packed up and then left. Stayed at Mt Robinson Rest Area overnight - nice to get a free one. You can’t have fires in National Parks in WA, so the only campfires are at bushcamps in rest areas etc.
On to Karijini National Park. Booked into Dales Campground. The kids got an activity sheet to
complete and hand back to get a Junior Ranger badge. Got our bathers on and walked down to Fortescue Falls, then on to Fern Pool. The pool was stunning, but freezing. Two waterfalls on the other side were warm. Alex and Rod swam over, but Kate and I had more sense. It was warm, but you got cold swimming back the 50 metres to the ladder. Back to camp and straight on to the Activity Sheet. With a lot of help from us, they got them done, all but a couple of questions in regards to the visitors centre.
Next day to the visitors centre. It was well set up with examples of bats and snakes of the area and emu eggs, just to name a few displays. Bumped into people we met at Windjana Gorge, Derby, then Broome. They were on their way home to country WA. We drove to the North side of the Park and did some lookouts and walked into Weano Gorge and Handrail Pool. Hancock Gorge had a spider walk, but too wide for the kids, so we skipped that. Some of the walks we did; got up to Level 5, which is the
Marble Bar
It might be only Jasper - but the colours are stunning hardest level without abseiling equipment. Alex wanted to do abseiling, but the rest of us didn’t. Phew! The gorges in Karijini are narrow and very deep. You wouldn’t even know they were there if they weren’t signposted. The eco-guide was telling us that if it looked like rain, then we need to hightail it out of the gorge, because the water just pours over the top and goes one way - up. They have had to rescue the odd person. There was another Ulty behind us when we got back to camp, and we said hello. They are from Leeton, NSW and it is their first trip also.
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