Sunday 30th September: Auski Road House – Marble Bar 247 km Kath lead
Leaving Auski we headed north along the Great
Northern Highway for 100km before turning east and toward Marble Bar. Along the
way we stopped at Glen Herring Gorge, quite a small gorge tucked away on a
narrow, rough track. Meet a kiwi couple who are living and working in Newman
with their 2 kids, (1 is actually an Aussie) who we meet up with again latter
on at another scenic spot then yet again at camp. The temperature is now
consistently between 30 – 35 degrees. We came to Comet Gold Mine which has now
closed with only a souvenir shop/museum still remaining. Apparently only 10% of
the gold could be recovered from the rock but with new technologies they are
now able to extract 80-90% so chances are they will reprocess all the tailings
and may even reopen the mine. Reaching Marble Bar, which is officially recorded
as being the hottest town in Australia we visited Marble Bar Pool &
Chinamans Pool - a couple of water pools along the river (now mostly dry) where
we had a very late lunch. We called in at a solar power station with over 2,000
solar panels and at a quintessential pub for a quick drink. Parked outside was
a 4x4 with 2 old Suzuki’s in tow that are used for rounding up cattle. They
were certainly battle worn and a little scarred. Then it was off to the camp
ground where the mid-afternoon temperature was 35 degrees.
Saturday 29th September: Tom Price – Munjina (Auski) Road House 209 km - Warwick lead
Damn cockatoos! They may be pretty but they
make a lot of noise very early in the day. After a leisurely breakfast we
called in at Tom Price Information Centre where Russell & I, as the day’s
drivers, had to sit through a 20 minute road safety video before we were issued
permits to drive on Rio Tinto’s (mining company) roads. Leaving Tom Price we
drove along a very wide, metaled road running straight for kilometre after
kilometre parallel to twin railway tracks. We passed 2 trains, the 1st
being at least 2km long with 240 wagons.
The navigator managed to get us to our destination of Mt Sheila. The
road from the base to the top was 2km of sealed road, extremely narrow and so
steep that we had to crawl up in 2nd low. Driving towards it looked
pretty impressive but nothing to what it was like once we got to the top. I
climbed on top of our vehicle to get above the scrub line and took a 360 degree
video for Kath. We could make out the
hill at Tom Price which we had driven up the night before 40 km to the south
east and the smoke from a fire in the Millstream National Park 100km to the north
west. The video and photos cannot do the scene justice nor can I adequately
describe the majestic panoramic views. We stayed up there long enough to have a
coffee before continuing on Hemersley Gorge on the Western side of the Karijini
National Park. A little oasis in the middle of nowhere. Russell & Kath had
a swim in the rock pools while I clambered over rocks taking photos of rock
formations, waterfalls, ponds, flora and fauna (lizard). We drove back up the
road a short distance to get a breeze where we stopped for lunch in the shade
with a temperature of 42 degrees. Continuing on we called in at a Wittenoom.
There is no signage saying what this place is, the authorities having removed
it all and no longer acknowledge that the place even exits. It was an
underground asbestos mine which was shut down over night. There are still a few
people living there but from the appearance of street signs, sealed roads and
curbing it would appear that most of the houses were removed. Continuing on we came across a road train with
its rear trailer on its back serving as a poignant reminder of what can go
wrong out here very, very quickly. We re-joined the Great Northern Highway at
Auski Roadhouse only 35 km north of where we left it to enter Karijini National
Park 2 days before. We have now travelled over 2,000km. We had barely set up
camp when we were alerted to a snake in the vicinity. A Coppertail; about ½
meter long, skinny, light green in colour with around the last 1/3 being copper
coloured. It was my first encounter with a live snake in the wild. I think we
were more perturbed by the snake being around camp than the snake was being
around humans.
Friday 28th September: Karijini National Park – Tom Price 137km – Russell lead
From camp we walked to Joffre Gorge then
drove to a lookout where we viewed the convergence of four gorges – truly
spectacular. Leaving the park we drove to the foot of Mt Bruce and walked a
short distance that gave us views over an open cast mining operation within the
park. In the distance we saw a train coming into the mine which must have been
2km long being pulled by 3 locomotives.
We made it into Tom Price and found a track that had been recommended to
Russell & Kath taking us behind the town and up a rather gnarly 4x4 track,
even necessitating low range, to a lookout above the town. It is the highest
4x4 track in Western Australia. With impressive views of 3 large mining
operations and the town we stayed up there for lunch. We did a bit of shopping
and while refuelling ran into a Kiwi bloke, who was both an All Black and
Chiefs supporter (according to the slogans adorning his vehicle) who worked
there in the mines. We decided on an early stop and found a nice camp ground
and settled in for the afternoon even having a swim in the camp pool.
Thursday 27th September: Newman – Karijini National Park 307km – Wendy lead
Wednesday 26th September: Meekathera – Newman 432km – Kath lead
On leaving Meekathera we drove to a lookout
over the town and surrounding plains before continuing on. The terrain was much
the same as the previous day being arid shrubland, fairly desolate and dry and
still rising in altitude with the only hills to be seen far, far off in the
distance. Only stopping off along the way for morning tea, lunch and fuel we
finally arrived at Newman and the first hills we had come to in over 2 days of
travelling. Opening the doors we were greeted with a blast of hot air. Quite a
strong wind with the temperature at 30 degrees - we had crossed over into the
Tropic of Capricorn. Newman is a bustling mining town home to the world’s
largest open cut mine. We called in to the information centre before continuing
on to a lookout over the town, supermarket, fuel and camp.
Tuesday 25th September: Moora – Meekathara 610km – Warwick lead
A big day lay ahead. We again awoke fairly
early to a light rain falling which stayed with us until around lunch time.
Leaving Moora we travelled on good roads that were constantly climbing. The
land around being flat to undulating with hills a rarity in the distance. The
land mostly covered by scrub with a few wild flowers still showing. The
official description is arid shrubland. Most traffic on the road being oversized
vehicles carrying mining equipment, portable housing and road trains– maximum length
53.5m and suicidal emus with cars a rarity. Stopping at Paynes Find for fuel
was an experience. One lone old guy there thankfully no banjo in sight. But
they’re so modern that we couldn’t use cash, only credit cards BUT they could
only be Australian credit cards! In the end the old boy used his credit card
and we paid him in cash only taking on enough to get us to Mt Magnet where we
were able to refuel and even filled a jerry can each but only after the service
station had reopened after being closed while they updated their computer
system. Yep, welcome to the outback! Continuing on through Cue to Meekathara to
set up camp for the night.
Monday 24th September: Perth – Moora 170km - Russell lead
We breakfasted at the Coffee Club over the
road from the hotel before checking out and getting a taxi to Cheppa Campervans
out in the suburbs. It was finally our turn to be served and when it came time
to check out the campers, we found a few little issues that needed to be
addressed, like a number plate that was about to fall off, a gas bottle missing
as was the handle for the stabiliser leg. To top it off R&K’s vehicle
needed 2 new tyres so as not to be outdone I told them that our tyres had even
less tread so we needed 4 new ones. Of course all this led to inevitable delays
and we finally got to a supermarket to get provisions at lunch time. Despite
the problems with the vehicles they are very well laid out with plenty of
storage room, spacious interior for its size, and a large comfortable bed. It
even comes with 3 cookers – internal meths, external gas and portable gas
cylinder. By the time lunch was over with and provisions made we hit the road
at around 2:30 in the afternoon! Day one and we were behind schedule already.
But that said we are on holiday. Heading north along the Great Northern Highway
through farmland and small townships we stopped at a nice little camping ground
in Moora. On the way we passed through one interesting spot near Bindoon – a
rather large and imposing Monastery complex although we did not stop for a good
look as time was against us. This Monastery was built using 8-16 year old boy’s
labour. The boys were part of the child resettlements from England to Australia
that occurred from the late 1800’s up to 1970. The children were taken from
poor English families and in some cases the parents were told the child had
died or were adopted out in England. On the other hand, the child was told
their mother or parents had died. Up to 150,000 children were affected. An
incredible story well worth a read – “Empty Cradles” by Margaret Humphreys or
watch the film “Oranges and Sunshine”.
We have adopted the same pattern as our last
trip. Each vehicle takes turn about to lead and each person drives 2 days on 2
days off. This gives a 4 day cycle – lead driver, following driver, navigator
(lead passenger), rest (following passenger).
Sunday 23rd September: Perth
With our early night and our body clocks still on NZ time
we woke around 4:00 and by 5:00 were well and truly awake. We finally meet up
for breakfast at 7:00, wandering the streets until we found a place that was
open. The day dawned bright and beautiful, rather crisp but not a cloud in the
sky. Set on the banks of the wide and
meandering Swan River, Perth is a lovely city that has a fine blend of old
historic buildings fitting in neatly in with the ultra-modern. We wandered
around the CBD taking in the sights before heading to the river intending for a
walk along its banks. We got as far as the wharf and joined the tourists on a
red double decker bus for a tour of the city. It was a great way of seeing the
city highlights. Back at the wharf, we had lunch and continued our tour of the
city on foot. We found the Australian Mint, but were unable to get any free
samples. One thing we have noticed is the number of churches and cathedrals
over here. Still trying to establish if that is because they are such a bad
bunch in need of redemption or whether they’re just a pious lot. That as it may
be, the buildings are never the less quite grand. Dinner was over the road from
the hotel at an Irish bar named Fenian’s after which we strolled along the
river before heading back to Russell & Kath’s room for a nightcap. We
managed to stay up a little later to try and get our body clocks in sync with
the local time and before turning in we were treated to a spectacular fire work
display over the Swan River from the advantage of our hotel window.
Saturday 22nd September: Whangarei - Perth
We woke early, too early but that’s always the way with last
minute jobs thought of during the night. Giving the cats a dose of frontline at
5:00am is getting a little OTT (over the top) though. Breakfast over and done
with, bags in the car and off to pick up Russell & Kath by 8:00. We had a good trip through to Aero Park by
the airport where we left the car and were transferred to the airport. We
managed to book in straight away then into duty free before a typically crappy
airport lunch. We left the ground on time at 2:35 and settled into an
uneventful 7+ hour flight arriving at Perth at 5:50 Western Australian time – 4
hours behind NZ. We caught a taxi to the Pan Pacific Hotel in the CBD. Our room
were on the 21st floor with commanding views over the Swan River.
Russell & Kath’s on the same floor with views over the south of the city.
By this stage we were fairly knackered so hit the pillows.
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