Day 42 (1 Jun) – Karijini National Park

Karijini is about 90km from Tom Price so Helen made some sandwiches for us for lunch as this was going to be an all day trip.  We went into the National Park by the Western Entrance and for the first 26km the road was sealed.  The turnoff to Oxer Lookout which covered Weano Gorge, Red Gorge and Hancock Gorge was 13km of one of the roughest roads we have been on.  Corrugations slowed you to 20km or less in some places and no more than 40km on the reasonable patches.  We were shaken – not stirred!!  What really riles me is people who travel on dirt roads well in excess of a safe speed spraying rocks over cars going the other way.  This happened a few times.  I’m sure they think it’s ok to do that.  We were doing the speed limit on these park roads but we were even overtaken on the dirt by 4WDs going faster than us.  More rocks.  The condition of the road is hard to see in this picture though.

After that horrific road, we were expecting something magical, but Oxer Lookout was a real let down.  If you walked down into the gorges, it may have been different but the view from the top was just craggy rocks.

Back along the 13km rough road and we turned into Karijini Eco Resort for a look and a coffee.  This place was built 13 years ago and has eco-tent camping and an unpowered campground.  Not really what I would call a Resort.

We decided to continue along the dirt road to the eastern end of the park, and on to the Visitors’ Centre and Dales Gorge.  We came across a turnoff to Kalamina Gorge which is 7km on a spur road.  This turned out to be a really nice gorge, and we walked down to the bottom of the Gorge for a closer look.

We continued along the road to the Visitors’ Centre.  This place just melds very nicely into the landscape.

We left the Visitors’ Centre and onto a sealed road.  Hooray!  We drove to Dales Gorge and Campground.  We first went to Fortescue Falls and Helen walked almost to the bottom to the pool.  I stayed up at the lookout.

At the other end of Dales Gorge is Circular Pool.  Bit hard to get down to this one but spectacular all the same.

It was a I hour drive back to Tom Price.  On the way we decided we’d go to the pub for dinner tonight.  We filled up the Cruiser ready for the leg along the Tom Price/Karratha road tomorrow.  This is a private road owned by Rio Tinto and we have our permit to travel it.  There is 78km of dirt and I’m hoping it’s in as good condition as I’m told it is.

Helen’s Highlights/Minnie’s musings

Karijini was really interesting and surprising. The landscape of the area is slightly flattish and undulating hills with mountains in the background. We thought the road was going for a lot longer when all of a sudden, the entrance to the Weano /Oxer Gorge area was in front of us.  They are like giant cracks in the landscape; so unlike places like Katherine Gorge, Geikie Gorge and the Bungle Bungles where you walk into them between high cliff faces, these just opened up down in front of us.  The road in definitely rearranged my internal organs. It was a really good day.

 Complaint of the Day

Michael - “Slow down you idiot!”

Helen – People who fart loudly without checking to see if anyone is around…………..no, not Michael ….this time.

Day 43 (2 Jun) – Tom Price to Point Samson

We packed up most of the caravan last night so all we had to do this morning was disconnect the hose and power cord.  I taped up the bathroom vent and the door vent before we left to dustproof the inside as much as possible.  We also have a roof pressure hatch which I’ll open as we get to the dirt.  We drove out about 7.00am.  I was a bit apprehensive of this Rio Tinto Rail Access road as it’s a working road with trucks road trains and work vehicles.  We stopped at the notice which says 4WD only and a permit required.  We were ok.  So I opened the pressure hatch and off we went.

The first part was good as it had just been graded.  A few days ago as we were coming to Tom Price it rained quite a lot here and this road was badly chopped up and flooded in places.  But after a few days it’s mostly dry and in good condition at the start.

We didn’t have to wait long to see our first train.  These trains are driverless and remotely controlled from Perth.  It’s mindboggling to see that.  The windows on some of the trains have reflective film so you know there is no one in there.  Some train stats:

1.      Each train has 3 engines

2.      It hauls 240 trucks

3.      Each truck carries 120 tonnes

If you work that out on a $152 per tonne (price at the moment), each truck carries $18,240 of ore.  So the whole train is worth $4,377,600.  And there is a continuous flow of these to the ports for export.

And our first truck

There are quite a few rail lines here crossing over each other or a spur line heading off to another loading point.

As we continued, the road started to get corrugated and a few potholes appeared.  Nothing too serious and we maintained a steady 60km/hr.  The speed limit is 80kph for vehicles and 60kph for trucks and trailers.  Got passed and overtaken by a few other vehicles but we slowed down so as not to get hit with any rocks.

More trains came along.  This is a busy line.

We got to the end of the dirt and pulled over to check how things were.  All good except for a drawer that had come loose and the toilet paper that had spun itself off the role.  Disaster!!  Helen had to rewrap the toilet roll.

We decided this was a good place to have breakfast.  More trains chuffed past.

We came to a couple of level crossings and at one had to wait for maybe 5 minutes while the 240 wagons passed.

The road improved markedly and was now 110kph speed limit.  The scenery was stunning with red hills and rocky outcrops.

We are now at Point Samson which is about 40km north of Karratha.  Nice spot right on the Indian Ocean and we have an ocean view site.

The outside of the caravan is covered in red dust as is the car.  It sticks to you like glue when you touch it.  We’re still in The Pilbara and will be here for a couple of days.

We had some afternoon time left after we set up so did a tour of the three areas around here – Point Samson, Point Lambert, Wickham and Cossack.  Only small places but diverse scenery.  The town itself used to be a major port for offloading goods for this region until the wharf got demolished a couple of times.  Now they have a new scenic jetty built over the old jetty.  You can see the iron ore loading facility at Point Lambert from here.

We went to the Point Samson Marina and (for those elderly folk) it reminded us of Cabot Cove from Murder She Wrote.

Point Lambert is the actual Rio Tinto Port facility but there is no access for the public, so on to Wickham.  There is a lookout above the town so up we went.  Great view.  And they even have an outdoor cinema.

Cossack is a bit further from Point Samson and it was settled by the Afghans and Asians in the late 1800s.  Now it’s just a museum town with great views from the lookout and some very nicely restored buildings. There was a lighthouse there built by prisoners with the iron structures for it coming from England. If only they knew at the time what was all around them. The lighthouse is now out on Jarman Island. There was also a Leprosarium over from the town behind the mangroves and when it closed the people were sent to Darwin to the East Arm Leper Colony. Helen actually went on a tour of it when she visited Darwin in 1970.

We’re here for two nights.  Tomorrow we do a tour of Karratha and Dampier.