After our amazing time on the Ningaloo coast it was time to journey inland to Karijini National Park to check out the gorges and waterfalls the area is known for, we were however in for a surprise with the weather!.
Travelling southeast from Exmouth we joined the highway and made it far as Nanutarra Roadhouse before pulling over for the night. Once setup we wandered back out to the old bridge crossing the Ashburton River to watch the sunset and to enjoy the great view.
The next day it was an interesting drive through some changing scenery before we came upon the mining town of Paraburdoo, the mine close to town is run by RioTinto , the nice cars and motorbikes running around town suggest the pay is quite good for the workers. After filling up with fuel and lunch we continued onto Dales Gorge Campground in Karijini, we must have arrived on the right day as we got a nice site allocated to us and settled in, shortly after the Wood’s family (www.travellinglong.blogspot.com) who we had met before went past as they were just up from us so it was good to have a catch up of what we had all being doing.
Now about the weather!, during the day driving the temperature was showing around 29’C which was very nice, the evening would be a different matter with it dropping to 3’C on one occasion, not what we were expecting.
However the days were good so with the two full days we had available we made the most of it on the first day visiting Dales Gorge which included Circular Pool, Fortescue Falls and Fern Pool, others were swimming in these cool waters but not this family opting to look on at the shivering bodies emerging from the icy water. The second day we took the heavily corrugated road through the park to Weano and Hancock Gorge which included some interesting walks through the gorge and with some clambering down waterfalls into Handrail Pool and closeby Kermit’s Pool, unfortunately at Kermit’s Pool the camera we had failed so you will need to google that one but it was very pretty and a great adventure for the kids both big and small. One thing to remember which is explained in detail at the local visitor centre is the aboriginal history of the area, the arrival of the white man very much changed their whole way of life in this region with many becoming workers for the stations cooking food, mustering sheep and mostly for little or no pay, some of the stories told were interesting to read along with information about the mining in the area both current and future.
We had packed up and were on our way out the campground when we called in on yet another travelling family in there bus Big Bertha, the trailer they tow is Little Bertha and the car within Baby Bertha (www.goughsonthego.blogspot.com) After the tour and a quick chat we were on our way to Tom Price, another mining town with all the services you require and due to RioTinto subsidies the pricing is similar to Perth. We had made the decision to take the the dirt road north towards Karratha which would allow a visit to Hamersley Gorge which rounded off our time in this area nicely, one can only wonder what this gorge would look like in the wet with torrents of water coming over the rocks.
We continued towards Karratha and stayed the night at Mount Florance station which was a pleasant relief to the dusty roads we had been driving, the property is still running cattle and the morning we left they were doing a muster so workers and helicopter could be heard leaving just before light for the hard days work ahead.
Our next stop was Millstream Chichester National Park, we entered the park and first stopped at Deep Reach Pool which was part of the Fortescue River, the area must get popular with locals as they have made provisions for swimming platforms on the river bank, Lili took the opportunity to test the water only to be left with a high tide mark on her fingers.
Continuing on you come to the Millstream Homestead which is now open as a visitor centre giving some history of times past when the station was occupied and stories from one of the children that grew up there, taking the short walk from the house you come to the most wonderfully clear waterhole, imagine looking into a fish tank, the water was that clear but unfortunately also out of bounds for swimming.
On leaving the park we only had a few more km’s of dirt before coming to the tarmac road which would take us into Karratha, which also meant back on the coast and warmer weather.
Did I mention how big the trains are out here, some are up to 5km in length!.
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