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Published: August 3rd 2014
We reluctantly left Millstream, it is such a pretty place, and backtracked to the Roebourne / Wittenoom road. Once we turned onto the R/W road it was obvious that this area had received some rain because of the odd puddle and the mud in the process of drying out. We dodged the majority of the puddles and mud and the healthy looking cows which littered the next 130 kms east but still managed to get a decent covering of red mud.
There are still three families living in Wittenoom despite the town having been closed for years because of the asbestos contamination. Their choice. We visited last time and chose not to go in.
Just before Wittenoom we turned south towards Tom Price down the Nanutarra to Munjina road. We had heard horror stories about this road, it was in excellent condition, no issues at all.
We had forgotten we had to pass through Rio Tinto gorge going this way south. It is very beautiful and darn narrow. As you enter the gorge the hills about you are looming overhead then you come to a section for about 4 kms where at times there is only one lane
of traffic. There are small laybyes to go into if anyone is coming towards you. Lord alone knows what would happen if two of the behemoth caravans came face to face in this area as there is barely enough room for our little rig to tuck away to let someone pass let alone get out and take photos. We were lucky, no-one came towards us.
20 kms south we headed off into Hamersley Gorge. It is the smallest of the gorges in Karijini NP but lovely. Once more the area has been developed with good lookouts, loos, car park and steps down to the bottom of the gorge. Here we chose to simply enjoy from the lookout. Hamersley gorge is the only one where there are really visible foliations in the rocks, even exposed well in the walls surrounding the car park.
Back on the road we headed for Tom Price and a fuel station then continued south and turned west onto the Carnarvon to Paraburdoo Road and overnighted at the free camp site at Beasley River. When we arrived at about 2 pm there were 8 vans in situ, by 5:30 pm there were 29 and they
were still coming in, though it is a very big area. Thank heavens we had the foresight to go to the very edge of the camp site as we did not end up hemmed in anywhere. Despite the huge number of vans it was very quiet and peaceful.
Once more we found the green bird flower and a cheeky little bird which someone had identified as the noisy minor bird. Consultation of our bird books told us it couldn’t have been as this bird is confined to the east coast. Lots of photos later we discovered it was in fact the Yellow Throated Minor bird. The river itself was dry.
On the way in to Carnarvon next day we kept seeing a pink purple flowering bush, but this only appeared when we were passing through the ridges of sandhills and where hampered by double white lines and unable to stop to take a photo to try and find out what it was. After about the 6
th time this happened GMan declared the bush named the Double White Line bush. Eventually we passed through one set of hills and there was a truck park 150 metres down the road
so we stopped and Chris walked back. So far we have not been able to nail down what it is.
Once in Carnarvon we entered the first caravan park we could find and ended up in the Capricorn which was very nice and cheap by WA standards at $40 pn. On our second day a young fellow came in with a motor home trailing a mobile coffee van and set up across from us. He did not seem to do very much business at all.
We went sightseeing and discovered that Carnarvon has discovered their supposed tourism potential. Everywhere you go it is $5 entry fee – even to walk on the pier, the two exceptions being the tram ride at $10 and the lighthouse keepers cottage museum which is free. If we had paid and gone to all the various place it would have cost us over $100. As it was we indulged in the free aspects and probably got the best deal of all as many of the collections appeared to be very small and repetitive. How do people just on the pension manage to do this?
The really interesting bit was the OTC satellite
Dish which has now been decommissioned but was an essential part of NASA’s moon missions and the first overseas television reception. GMan had the small lens on his camera and took some excellent shots.
We visited the Tourism Information centre for advice about the roads to Kennedy Ranges National Park and Mt Augustus. The young lady who helped us was very knowledgeable and helpful. She told us precisely which roads to use and that the roads on the route she had given us were graded once a month. So far this has been very true.
Monday morning we headed off towards the Kennedy Ranges National Park and visited Rocky Pool a place we camped in 1990. The road in to Rocky Pool was rough in places and the whole pool is surrounded by very rocky terrain. It was as we remembered, a nice place to free camp for a few days if you don’t mind the rough entry.
We pulled into Gascoyne Junction to have lunch. In the ladies loo (the place for the best gossip) Chris met one woman who said she had been told “the authorities say the roads are okay but they are not”.
A large amount of money has been poured into a development of a service station, hotel and accommodation park here. GMan read a sign that it is controlled by the Council. It is very new and posh, there are even ensuite sites in the caravan park. Tourism is definitely a growth industry in this region. Here it is a staging point for grey nomads to get through to Mt Augustus. Also three tourist trails or pathways twine through this region, the Miner’s Pathway, the Wool Wagon Pathway and the Kingsford-Smith Mail Run which attracts a lot of travel.
We dined on very expensive hamburgers in our van reading our kindles. We were interrupted by a fellow knocking on the door to tell us we had a flat tyre on the van and when we got out to inspect it, it looked fine to us but he insisted it was low. We checked the tyre dog and it was 44 lbs about where it should have been. Very odd. Maybe he had the wrong glasses on.
After lunch we headed north towards the Kennedy Ranges National Park. The road continued to be fine. We are horrid people we
actually managed to wake up the Brahman cross cow people having their post prandial nanna nap when we crossed the Salty Springs Creek.
From the turnoff near Carnarvon to the turn off to the Kennedy Ranges NP there were no flowers other than the odd wattle tree every now and then. Once into the park a few appeared which we will have to stop and photograph on the way out if we cannot locate them elsewhere. One was a green Mulla Mulla. We are amazed at the range of MM’s we have photo’s of about 8 different species so far. Then the dreaded Double White Line bush appeared – there was no white line! GMan offered to get out and paint one.
Further down the road we came to the actual escarpment. It rises out of the flat ground, quite amazing, there is no gentle rise in height it is suddenly there.
We got into Temple Gorge camp ground and found about 6 vans in place and as usual, camp hosts. The first thing we noticed was another Desert Sky – but the smaller van the Warrior. After talking to them these are the people who have
been flitting in and out of our view for about 5 weeks Ian and Pat. We have apparently been flitting in and out of their view as well. It is a nice little place to camp with brand new bush loos and a well laid out camp site. For dinner Chris invented a Thai Green Curry Turkey meatloaf which was delicious.
Next day we headed off to do the Draper’s Gorge walk, a class 4 walk. We were doing fine until we came across an almost vertical climb up a rocky escarpment. Chris has been feeling a little off colour for a few days including getting dizzy spells, so we did not proceed. No worries about the health we worked out yesterday GMan who hands out the tablets had given her the wrong pills (repeated doses of morning pills and no night pills) and now she is back on the correct dosage things are levelling out. A bit of a worry though, is he trying to do me in?
As we were heading back we came across another couple on their way in and we commented about the vertical climb and that we had turned back. The male
sort of poo pooed us and kept going, the woman was a much more sympathetic. We lingered taking photos of the scenery and some small flowering plants and then we heard them coming back. He strolled straight past us but she confirmed that they chose not to do the vertical climb either.
The scenery here is much starker than the other gorges which are broken by water, trees and ferns. There is very little water here and it is obvious that there has been no rain for a considerable amount of time.
After lunch we headed off down the Temple Gorge walk, a class 3 trail. We were in about half way when three young people passed us and headed off at a rate of knots. Most of it was fine, but when we got to a section very close to the end once more we were faced with sheer rock or a very haphazard scramble up a rocky hill. Chris chose to opt out and GMan continued. He said is really wasn’t worth it.
By this time we were sweating and ready for a quiet sit down. During our rest Graham said “I think we are
getting past it” and expressed his concern about us being able to do a lot of the sightseeing we wish to undertake. Really I think it is me (Chris) my lack of confidence and bad balance are an issue. I will have to work on that. After listing everything we figured that we have actually done most of the difficult walking stuff and the rest is about difficult driving. Birdsville Track, Strezlecki Track, Canning Stock Route, Savannah Way, Far West Queensland and Victorian High Country. GMan has no interest in going to Cape York, too hard on car and van he reckons.
Back on our way again and we came across the youngsters who had completed the additional class 4 walk and were heading off to do the class 3. They lapped us again before we got back to the car park. That really rubbed in our inabilities. I pointed out that we needed to get fitter before setting out each year and to do that we needed to WALK every day to increase our level of fitness. That did not go down well.
Chris has had a blow out in her walking shoes and needs to buy
a new pair. There is nowhere before we get to Geraldton about 800 kms away to do this if we keep to our current route. So into the Dawgs (fishing shoes to wear on rocks) and we will see how they go. Other than that it is ugg boots or her best Kumpf loafers.
Some people parked next to us and he appeared to be worse at backing than us. He gave up trying to get into the actual site and has parked in the roadway in front of it also achieving blocking the easy access to our site and the path to the loos. Chris devised all sorts of horrid revenge things including going past their van at 2:30 am on the way to the loo and tripping and hitting the side of their van with my torch.
GMan has improved out of all sight with backing and we can get into spaces fairly easily now if we have enough room.
Next morning we talked to the people mentioned above and they were really nice! She came over and asked if we had been kept awake by her coughing in the night and apologised. They also
put us on to another conservation park further south to visit. Coalseam apparently noted for its wildflowers. It must be good and popular you are confined to three nights stay during the wildflowers season August – October.
We did the Honeymoon Gorge walk and were astonished by the sculpture like patterns adorning the walls. Well worth the walk.
Next day we headed off to Mt Augustus about 300 kms away. The young lady in the tourist bureau was correct the road was just fine, very dusty because no rain, but well graded and easy to drive on. I think the lady in the loos was wrong.
Mt Augustus is the largest single rock in the world, 11 times the size of Uluru. We got here and once more the other Desert Sky was here. The camp site is fine and we have grass to put our table and chairs out onto. After setting up we had a late lunch in the shade of the trees. GMan had to back again and did it second time.
One fellow wandered over and asked if Port were winning and we said, but it’s Thursday – he believed the footy
was on tonight. We wouldn’t know there is no TV, mobile or radio here a total communications blackout for us, though there is a phone box. We got our computer out and checked the information we downloaded before we left home and had to quickly do our footy tips and ring them in via sat phone. After last week’s picking fiasco hopefully we will do better this week.
One of the things we were banking on was being able to fill up with fuel here, having not filled up since Carnarvon. What we have discovered is that fuel is rationed at the present time because they are running low and the truck is not expected until Monday. Friday morning GMan tried for 60 litres and managed to get 40 which should get us back to Gascoyne Junction, but we were not planning on going that way, now we will have to, to refuel. We can understand because as the fellow says, if we get all we want someone else will miss out. Better that we all get enough to get us to a fuel station than some being stranded.
Chris cleaned the dust off the back window area
because it is so warm we needed to open up and we didn’t want the build up inside. She had 7 offers from other vanners to come and do theirs. No one seemed prepared to pay her wages though.
We spent Friday morning sightseeing. First we went to the Gum Grove trail which winds through some incredible huge river gums before going across some gibber country to the beginning of Kotka Gorge. The first walk was a class 3 and the second a class 4. We only try the 3’s because the 4’s are all about scrambling up rocky faces etc. On the walk we discussed getting a stick for Chris to help with balance when walking. We even found one which had to remain to be collected on the way back because it was too long and needed modification. The walk was interesting and we managed to get some nice photos and new plant species.
Before leaving Gum Grove out came Dave Oakley’s great pressie of a small pruning saw which GMan suffered intense envy about when he saw Dave’s at Purnululu last year. They found a cheap one in a throw out bin somewhere and presented
it to GMan who thinks it is top tool. Anyway he levelled the thicker end of the stick and Chris stood about finding the best length required and the top got lopped off. Next all the little twigs were removed down the sides using both the saw and the 2
nd best top tool (having fallen in grace) the Swiss Army knife.
Back into the car and we headed for “The Pound”. Every rock seems to have a place called the pound where cattle used to be held just prior to transportation. There was a steep walk to the top of the pound called the “Saddle Trail” and we headed up. Chris found a new eremophlia very quickly. The walking stick was great and really made things easier. No assistance required at all, though this was a very easy class 3 walk. At the top the view was breathtaking – no camera could really record it. We were looking out across the sparse plain back to the west.
We had been following an “Oka” on the way to the pound and we got talking to the owners at the top of the hill. Apparently we were to be treated
to a group of 4 Oka’s at the parking area. It was an Oka convention. These were real enthusiasts. There were also two non-Oka’s there – only because they were waiting for theirs’ to be rebuilt from scraps. I know they went out of production about 8 years after they came in, then started being produced again years later and 5 years ago the company moved to Malaysia.
On the way back down I asked Graham what he thought the collective noun for a group of Oka’s should be and at the same time I suggest an Orca of Oka’s. Not right he replied and suggested a Rabble of Oka’s, not to my taste. I then came up with a Galoot of Oka’s. At last a good term. At the car park we tried them out on the Oka people and they approved the Galoot.
On again to Flintstone Rock Trail, once more a class three and Chris managed this one with only two bits of help one with a very high step and the other with a smooth rock descent. The walking stick has been declared a success and has a place in the back of Brutus.
On this walk we started on a good path which went into a creek bed with small boulders about the size of soccer balls, then up a smoother slop until we came to a large slab. When you ducked underneath and looked there were rock carvings which we photographed. Back to camp knackered – we worked out we had walked about 6 kms and most of it was uphill over rough ground.
Next day we went off on two more walks in the early afternoon. Firstly to Mundee Petroglyph Trail (when did rock carvings become petroglyphs?), an easy trail there then up some rocks to view the actual art sites. On to Ooramboo where we had another east trail till it was time to climb up the rocks to see the carvings the an additional 100 yards across more rock took us to Edney Spring. There has been so little rain the remaining water is badly polluted, hopefully they will get some soon. The stick was invaluable once more.
We went back to camp till later in the afternoon when we headed off to Emu Hill lookout to take photos of the rock as a whole. Can’t do
it because there is another small hill which cuts off the very western end of Mt Augustus. This thing is huge.
Our final bit of sightseeing was to Cattle Pool. Every place of note appears to have a permanent pool in a nearby river and Mt Augustus is no different. This is the Lyons River and the pool is very long indeed. We did not manage to walk from one end to the other in about 25 minutes of walking. Once more an idyllic oasis in the middle of nowhere.
By the time we got back to camp we were pleased we were leaving the next day. The number of caravans and camper trailers about was three times when we left. The groundsman told me they were expecting one of those car runs on Tuesday. The Groundsman is unhappy to see me go because I have been changing his sprinklers around for him when they start to flood.
Very early next morning we were on the road back to Gascoyne Junction to be able to refuel. We took the Cobra Station to Dairy Creek road, part of the Kingsford Smith Mail Run. The road was not as
good as the one via Kennedy Ranges but still okay. The land was pure gibber country, very thinly vegetated and what was there was very parched.
We are now resident in the Gascoyne Junction Caravan Park, once more funded by the Royalties for the Regions program and we cannot see how Port Adelaide is doing because it is not being broadcast to WA. Bummer.
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John Sullivan
non-member comment
Marvellous Pen Pictures
Thank you Chris and Graham for the marvellous pen pictures of the Pilbara, and the real photos too. Despite having lived in West Oz for the majority of my life I've never yet -- on 4 wheels -- been any more north than a few kilometres past the sign on the Meeka to Newman road which informs, "You've just passed the 26th parallel North of latitude."