Tom Price, Exmouth, Coral Bay, Carnarvon 4 - 17 September

We drove from Karijini passing Mt Bruce on our way to Tom Price. We were very reluctant to leave this magnificent place as we had such a great time here.

The town of Tom Price was established by Hamersley Iron in the early 60’s and originally was a drinking town with a mining problem. Since being handed over to the state government this situation has now been turned around completely to a mining town with a drinking problem. The first thing we did at Tom Price was to have a long hot shower at the CP followed by a visit to the supermarket to replenish the supplies and restock the cellar. The couple that we met at Karijini, Andrew and Lexie, told us about a mechanic in town that was quick, efficient and cheap and as the Lux was due for a service Stephen went to see them and made a booking for the Saturday morning. I was a little nervous about the timing as we had also booked a mine tour that required us to be at the information centre at 8:45am.

Geoff Anderson advised us that “you must drive up Mt Nameless” so we decided to fill in the Friday afternoon by making use of the 4WD and headed off. It was a 10km windy, steep, bumpy drive but the view from the top was spectacular. You could see right over the town to the North and the mine to the East. It also gave us an insight into the vastness of the mine.

On Saturday morning Stephen was up early as the Lux needed to be at the mechanics at 7:00am so I had a long sleep in, then spent an hour or so making myself beautiful for the mine tour. We easily made it to the info centre for the start of the tour and then spent an interesting (yawn) couple of hours learning all about iron ore mining, Caterpillar trucks, overburden, repatriation of exhausted mining areas, tyre wear rates, diesel fuel consumption, carrying capacity of different size trucks, fatigue breaks (previously called smokos) etc. (all since forgotten).

That afternoon we drove to Hamersley Gorge and had a particularly refreshing swim in the pool. Whilst there we met a couple that were on holiday from Kalbarri and they gave us a couple of hints about things to see in that part of the country. We also added to our rock collection. Watched Geelong narrowly beat Footscray.

The following day was all about the Pies. Unfortunately we don’t want to talk about it so not much to say except there is always next week against Adelaide.

After leaving Tom Price we stopped at Parapardoo for petrol and while I was inside paying Stephen was approached by a young French girl who was after a ride to Exmouth. If you see the photos you will understand that she was firmly entrenched in the back seat of the car by the time I got out of the petrol station and back to the car. Stephen managed to clear it in record time!!! Her name was Aureole “but call me Lili”. She was actually very nice and proceeded to chat non stop for the next 60 minutes. She was 24 and studying architecture and was on a 10 week adventure around Australia, starting in Sydney – hitchhiking! She had joined the WWOOFers (Willing Workers On Organic Farms), the idea being that you stay a few days and work on the farm and in return you get free food and board. All well and good but 10 weeks!! She had covered as much distance in 6 weeks as we had in 5 months and had to be in Sydney by 30th September still wanting to see Adelaide and Melbourne?? There was going to be a lot of flying from Perth to get there I think.

We were heading for Yardie Homestead which is past Exmouth and closer to the northern part of the Ningaloo Reef (Cape Range NP). Lili had to be at Bullara Station about 70 kms south of Exmouth sometime on the following day. We invited her to stay the night with us at Yardie (in the tent for those of you that are thinking weird things), go snorkelling with us the following morning then we would drive her back to the station in the afternoon. She was very happy as she had heard lots about Ningaloo and was looking forward to snorkelling.

We had a very nice evening with our guest and were all up bright and early the next morning and off to Turquoise Bay to see Ningaloo Reef. Turquoise Bay was just that, the most beautiful blue water and snow white sand. We donned our snorkelling gear, plunged into the water and swam out to the coral. The water is certainly warmer here than on the west coast of Victoria. Unfortunately it was a bit windy which made it a little cool once you got out of the water. The coral and the fish were amazing and I even managed to follow a turtle which was swimming along the bottom. The best thing about the Ningaloo reef is it is all straight off the beach; you don’t have to go out in a boat to get to it. We walked along the beach then went back in for another swim before heading back for lunch to the caravan park. On the way to Bullara we stopped at the lighthouse where we saw a number of whales just off the coast, then Exmouth to have a look around. We dropped Lili off around 3.30pm then headed back to Yardie. On the way we took a quick detour to Charles Knife Gorge. A wonderful view across the water from the top and some stunning gorges plunging from the side of the road. Unfortunately the light was fading and we weren’t quite sure how much further the road went. We needed to get back to the camping ground before dark as we had never seen quite so much road kill as we had in the past two days and we had no intention of contributing to it.

Next morning we drove to the ‘Drift’ which is next to Turquoise Bay. Here you enter the water at the southern end of the beach and ‘drift’ down with the current over the coral towards an opening in the reef that sucks you out into the ocean where you die. The idea is to get out of the water and onto the beach at the optimum time avoiding the death by drowning bit. The fish were everywhere – big, small, colourful, not so colourful, schools, individual – they were fantastic. The coral was dense and we had a wonderful time. We did several ‘drifts’ and as I am writing this blog we obviously were very smart about choosing the right time to get out of the water.

In the afternoon we went back to complete the drive into Charles Knife Gorge and take some photos. We shouldn’t have bothered because what we had seen the previous day was all there was to see.

Our final day at Ningaloo we went to the Oyster Stacks. We had been told that the best snorkelling was to be had at this spot. Very nice but we enjoyed the Drift the most where there were more fish and the element of danger was very appealing!! Spent the rest of the day sitting in the sun soaking up the cancer rays.

Packed up and headed for Coral Bay. Only a short drive and we were there before lunch. Set up, had lunch then headed to the beach for a walk and a look see. Coral Bay is at the southern end of Ningaloo. One of the most appealing things about this spot is you can walk to the beach where the sand is once again snow white and the water turquoise blue with the coral visible from the water’s edge. I chatted with a couple from Box Hill and swapped travel stories while Stephen talked on the phone to Denis Grant for – a long time. I was very patient as both Collingwood and Footscray were in the finals and they had a lot to discuss. The wind had come up so we decided to save the swimming until the next day.

To make a long story short we spent 5 nights at Coral Bay swimming, snorkelling, walking along and laying on the beach. We also went out in a glass bottom boat to the edge of the reef and saw turtles and snorkelled in the deep water. We just loved it here. Unfortunately the wind got fairly strong each afternoon but the mornings were a dream. There were lots of families here and I think it is very popular with the Perth retirees. On our final night while we were tucked up nice and snug in our van we heard a strange unfamiliar sound. It was rain, not just a few drops but a bucket load of it came down around 1am. The last time we had any rain was on Anzac Day in Burra SA. It was also the day that Collingwood snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against Essendon. Quite memorable. At some stage during these 5 days Collingwood gave us false hope yet again by narrowly beating Adelaide.

We waved farewell to Coral Bay and moved onto Carnarvon crossing the Tropic of Capricorn – groan. The drive along the west coast is proving to be rather bland. We spent the afternoon driving around the town, the bay, and then the heritage area where we caught a little train along the 1 mile jetty. It was blowing a gale and was freezing cold. Did some shopping then a quiet night inside the caravan and out of the wind.

The following day we drove to the Blowholes, about 50 kms north of Carnarvon. I had a day at the wheel and Stephen had a day as the navigator. The Blowholes were fantastic, a little like Port Campbell in Vic but the cliffs were a lot smaller which made the crash of the waves quite spectacular. We returned along the Plantation Run where we purchased fresh fruit and vegies directly from the farms. We drove along the memorial avenue to the victims of the HMAS Sydney, found the memorial to Peter Mitchell’s Uncle Frank and took some photos for Aileen. Then it was home to wash the Blue Lux because it was covered in salt from our stay at Coral Bay and Stephen was anxious because you couldn’t see its natural lustre.

Latest News:

You will all be glad to know that beef prices are good with old cows at a high of $1.35 and a low of $1.26.

It was Preliminary Final week in Victoria but over here it is all about Ross Young who won the Sandover Medal and that Paul Haselby had come to an agreement with Fremantle. Who cares????

Yes, Sen. Det. Sgt. Chris O’Connor, we did see you on the 7.30 Report on Wednesday 16 September.

Stephen’s jaw has not quite recovered with the news that Senator Conroy dropped regarding Telstra.

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Karijini National Park 31 August – 3 September

It was a long trip to Karijini from Point Samson so we decided to stay the night at the Munjina (Auski) Roadhouse and go into Karijini early the following morning. An uneventful stay at Munjina although Stephen took the opportunity to wash the caravan. It had been looking very old and used and with some TLC it came up looking loved and new. What a shame we are about to haul it over red dirt: again!

We were up early and arrived at Karijini about 10am. People were lined up and as one lot of campers went out, one went in. Two of the three nights we were there the full sign was up early in the afternoon.

We were staying at Dales Campground which is at Dales Gorge. After setting up and having an early lunch we walked around the rim of the gorge and down to Fortescue Falls. It was really hot and you needed plenty of water and your hat to keep the sun off your head. An easy walk with a set of descending stairs into the gorge at the end. Little did we know that this would be the norm for the next few days.

We walked onto the Fern Pool, a lovely waterhole with lots of fish biting your toes. Met a nice couple from Phillip Island and chatted for a while. After our refreshing swim we headed back to the Fortescue Falls where Stephen took lots of photos while I swished my feet in the water. Lots of people at these two places.

We continued along the creek at the base to Circular Pool at the other end of the gorge. We were completely blown away by the geology of the walls of the gorge. This too was to become the norm over the next few days. Stephen went for a swim at Circular Pool but I chose not to as there were lots of mossies just waiting for me to get into that water and I wasn’t about to satisfy their need for my blood. The pool was really cold as it sees little sun during the course of the day.

Then came the ascent to the top of the gorge. Gasp!! The phrase ‘what goes down must come up’ was very apt in this situation. After breathlessly climbing our way to the top of the gorge we walked back to the van for a well earned drink and nibbles before dinner.

The Pilbara is very different from the Kimberley. The red earth is a much more maroon or rusty colour than the orange pindan of the north, sticky and kind of greasy however they are very similar in that the dust works its way into every nook and cranny. As we had no water for a shower it was a quick wash with the cloth and a new set of clothes to make one feel better. An early night as we had no electricity and no TV; God forbid we might talk to each other.

Up at sparrow’s fart with the birds making a racket as usual. We drove to the visitor’s centre around 9am and grabbed a map of Weano and Hancock Gorges. These gorges were about 45 kms from Dales along a dirt road. All of the walks at Karijini are rated from 1 – 6, one being very easy, six requiring ropes and experience abseiling. On arrival we were not sure how we (I) would go with some of the harder walks/climbs but we were about to find out.

The descent into Weano was very downie, very, very downie (a made up word to describe descending from a great height at a steep angle using steps that do not meet the building code. You know: downie!!). We eventually made it safely to the bottom with me wondering how the hell I was ever going to do the uppie bit at the end. We followed the path along the creek with lots of crawling along narrow ledges, up over very large rocks and then back down through a gap in the rocks we found. This saved us walking through the water and taking our boots off. With shaking limbs because I had never done scary stuff like this before (or should I say had refused to do stuff like this before) we continued on towards Handrail Pool, which is a 5!! Prior to going through the crack in the wall we dumped anything that was unnecessary – everything except the camera – then proceeded to do even scarier stuff. Once through the crack in the rock you had to hang onto the handrail (hence the name) then climb down a knotted rope ladder. How good am I!! The pool was very cold but as clear as you get. We walked around the back of the pool and decided to try our luck and see how much further we could get through the water. I managed to get a little further but Stephen bravely continued and disappeared from sight. Would he ever come back?? Of course he did or I would be home organising the funeral you silly old duffers. It was just as much fun getting out of the pool and back up the rope, back through the crack and then to discover that I had taken the right path while someone, who will remain nameless, took the wrong path and had to go back and start again. We safely retraced our steps and were back on the top of Weano Gorge by lunch time. We sat in the shade and ate our lunch to recharge the batteries.

We were so pumped up we decided to tackle Hancock Gorge. This walk starts as a 4 but quickly becomes a 5. The challenge was not for me this time but for Stephen. Why, because there is a steel ladder involved!! The steps down were again designed to accommodate a giant, not a short arse like myself. Then came the ladder which finally took us into the gorge. After some theatrics for the camera Stephen safely conquered the ladder and we continued on. I was not feeling as brave this time as there were a lot of very narrow ledges to be traversed so I took the sooky la la route, dumped the clothes and swam through the water, while Stephen took the high ground. Not sure that I was that smart as it resulted in me falling twice on my bum because of slippery rocks. I ended up crawling on my hands and knees through the water while Stephen remained high and dry. We made it as far as the Spider Walk but decided we had done enough for this day and began to retrace our steps. Up the ladder yet again then we managed to not follow the track via the steps to the top. Don’t quite know what happened but the path we took was much better, not as long and nowhere near as steep. Sometimes you are just lucky!!

The afternoon was quickly slipping away but we had time to go to Oxer and Junction Pool lookouts, then called into Joffre and Knox Gorge lookouts on the way home. The last two had us gasping, particularly Knox. It was about 100 metres down to the pool and looked fabulous. Oh no, we will have to stay another day and come back. Will the legs hold up???? We arrived back at the camp exhausted and it doesn’t matter how much swimming in beautiful clear pools you do, you still feel grotty. We boiled the kettle and had a wash and an early dinner. We met 4 young men from Lilydale who were taking a gap year travelling around Australia. Unfortunately one of them was wearing a Richmond jumper so we had to do the obligatory teasing and offering our sympathies to him for barracking for such a loser team. Off to bed, we were buggered!!

Up early yet again, those damn birds. We had decided to ‘do’ Knox Gorge first then assess how we felt before going to Joffre Gorge, however we did take lots of photos of Joffre and were not too disappointed when we discovered about 3 bus loads of young people swimming in the falls below.

The descent into Knox was a scree slope which is slippery shale and you really had to watch where you put your feet. My legs were really tired from the previous day and the giant steps once again were not helping. The walk along the creek bed was not too bad and we had brought our water shoes which helped a lot with the slippery rocks. There was one bit of narrow ledge stuff but not too bad. We passed the pool we had seen the previous afternoon and ventured on much further. We finally arrived at a small pool where the water ran through a very narrow crack in the wall leading to a waterfall and Red Gorge Pool (Red Gorge is a 6). This is not accessible unless you can abseil. Stephen managed to climb through the rock via a fallen tree branch to the top of the waterfall and got some great photos. The rocks in this gap look like waves but the photos will explain this better than I can. We spent some time here then retraced our steps and swam in the pool we had previously passed. The water was very cold but we were hot and it was really refreshing. Boots back on and the climb to the top. Back to the caravan and a bucket bath yet again.

We both agreed that we had had more fun at Karijini than at any other of the National Parks we have visited. The gorges provide a refreshing retreat from the arid plains above. In the north of the park, small creeks, hidden in the rolling hillsides suddenly plunge down 100 metre chasms. Hopefully Stephen’s photos will give you some idea of the magnificent geology of Karijini.

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Broome – Eighty Mile Beach – Port Hedland – Karratha – Point Samson 11 – 30 August

We finally made it back to Broome, and I never thought I would say this, but it was good to be home (in the van!!!) after 3 weeks in the tent. Had lots of stories for Ali and Dave.

It was Tuesday and we headed straight for the bank on our return as we had been having a problem with our credit card for the past week – it wouldn’t work. We soon discovered the bank had cancelled it, some story about our number being in the public domain which is not good, however it would have been nice if they had informed us before they had cancelled it as we were now left with no credit facilities at all. We had intended to leave Broome on our return from the GRR but now needed to stay until new cards arrived by Thursday/Friday. When they hadn’t arrived by Friday we were then told Tuesday. Poor Ali and Dave, we were so embarrassed to be still at their place after they had been so kind to take us in, in the first place.

However I must say we enjoyed our extra week in Broome. We met up with Bill Wilding and took him up to Cape Leveque, a mere 200 kms north, for the day. If you were at home and decided to travel 400 kms on a day trip people would think you were crazy but when you see how vast the land is up here, it is nothing. We had a great day swimming and lying in the sun. Stephen and Bill bored me silly in the car talking about electronics and telecommunications, although I must admit I finally learnt about what Stephen does at work after all these years. We stopped at the Beagle Bay bakery for morning tea, then the church and spoke with the local hermit Irish priest who lives in the community. Then it was onto Lombardina where we also visited the very unique church. I was interested to read in the St Kevin’s Newsletter this week that they now have a connection with the primary school there and have some of the local kids coming down to Melbourne later in the year. Unbeknown to us, the Head of Glendalough, Peter Finnigan, and some of the boys from SKC were at the Lombardina primary school on the day we were there. All in all, a great day. Bill very kindly cooked dinner for us the following evening and it was shared with Shane and Barclay who live in the Brothers' house in Broome – what a hardship that must be!!

We took time to visit the Willie Creek Pearl Farm which was very interesting. We caught up with Richard and Sandra at Cable Beach one evening for a drink and nibbles and heard Richard’s tale of woe about going on a fishing charter and losing his wallet and keys overboard. We tried to not laugh but that just didn’t happen. Other than that we spent quite a lot of time at the beach swimming and enjoying the weather.

Finally on Tuesday we got our new cards and bid Ali and Dave a fond farewell on Wednesday morning. We would like to thank them for their hospitality and the use of their ‘horse paddock’.

The 300 kms to Eighty Mile Beach could only be described as very boring and it appears as though most of the trip down the coast will be the same. Unfortunately the road is about 10 – 20 kms away from the sea most of the time so you never see the water.

We had to spend one night on an unpowered site. A quick walk on the beach with the tide so far out we couldn’t reach the water, dinner and early to bed as we had no TV and I could hardly expect Stephen to speak to me after all these months away. The next morning we moved to a powered site then spent the next 4 days sitting on the beach reading, fishing and walking along the sand. With 80 miles of it you don’t run out of sand to walk on. We also gathered lots of shells for Maggie and Frankie. Stephen had a great time trying out his new fishing rod and he provided dinner on 2 nights with some lovely fresh from the sea; threadfin salmon. The evenings were quite weird with sea fog rolling in and wetting everything inside and out of the caravan. We just had to put up with wet things as it was far to warm to close the windows and door. On the last night we rolled up the awning, took up the mat and stored the table and chairs away before they got wet, so naturally, the wind was blowing and there was no fog – Murphy’s Law. All of this, of course, made for an early get away the next morning. Eighty Mile Beach was very nice but there is no swimming and I certainly understand why because we watched the fishermen reel in little and big sharks on a regular basis. Even if you could swim there you wouldn’t be able to, as it is wall to wall fisherpersons and you would end up with a hook in a place I can’t mention. I was amazed at the number of women fishing, all ages and all sizes.

The drive to Port Hedland was as boring as the drive from Broome but just as we reached the town things started to get interesting. It was a miracle!!! Stephen’s head began to swivel far more than it had since his accident last year. There were cranes, trucks, trains, boats, salt flats and mound after mound of black and brown iron ore. At one stage his eyes were popping out of his head so I offered to drive the rest of the way in so that he could take it all in, and also because I feared for my safety. This seemed to snap him out of it as that would never do. One doesn’t allow one’s wife to drive the van into the caravan park, it’s not very macho. We were so lucky to have the help of the gardener/maintenance man to assist with the backing in of the van. After 20 minutes of trying to follow his directions and nearly wrecking the car and van I was very tempted to tell him to naf off as we have previously had no trouble at all with this task. We finally settled in and found our NVONBFs (now very old new best friends) Janet and Rob. The last time we saw them was at Windjana Gorge on the Gibb River Road, and only very briefly, so we had lots of catching up to do. We invited them to dinner and had a wonderful night chatting and telling stories of what we had been up to.

Janet and Rob left the next morning for ??? somewhere - they’ve gone now so who cares (of course I say this with love and affection), but we will catch up with them at Karijini or Exmouth in a week or so. Stephen and I spent the morning watching a ship dock and fill up with iron ore at the port. I once had a similar experience watching grass grow. The afternoon was spent catching up on emails and phone calls.

We woke at 6.00am (yes that’s correct we are two hours behind y’all) to ring Fynn for his birthday. After talking to him and hearing how many figurines he had got for his birthday we went outside to find the van covered in dew. The fog was back. From now on we will have to take this into consideration as we move further south. After drying everything off, we moved onto Karratha. We sang happy birthday and watched Fynn cut his cake on Skype later in the day. I am starting to desperately miss the kids.

You are nobody in Karratha if you don’t wear blue denim overalls with a yellow safety shirt and steel capped boots or drive a Toyota 4x4. We felt very out of place with our shorts, tee shirts and thongs but fitted into the Toyota category quite well. We were here to go on the port loading facility tour but had a day to fill in before this so decided on a drive to Millstream - Chichester NP. We were pleasantly surprised by this little trip as the scenery was fantastic with rolling hills and majestic mountains with iron ore trains weaving in and out much to Stephen’s delight. He even got a blast of the train’s horn from one of the driver’s as he was scrambling to take a photo of this enormous train with 230 carriages and pulled along by 3 locomotives. Also the wildflowers are beginning to come out and make the roadside much more interesting.

We visited the homestead which is now an information centre then walked to the nearby river which had been badly damaged in the last wet. We had lunch by Crossing Pool and Stephen even managed to fit in a kip after lunch before we returned to Karratha.

The next morning we spent doing the tour of the port which frankly was a bit ho hum (Stephen’s words not mine). We decided to move to Point Samson where the caravan park was right on the beach and we could swim and then get eaten by the sand flies. The pub was next door and a little café called Moby’s which sold great fish and chips. We also took the opportunity to visit Wickham – boring – and Cossack which was the original port in the area in the late 1800s. It is now a heritage centre and was quite interesting. The beach here was quite spectacular and we watched a guy kite surfing.

We are now off to Karijini for more red dust and hopefully lots of wonderful walks and gorges to keep us busy.

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