Karijini-Dales camping Ground to Barn Hill Station

Day24 Karijini - Dales Camping Ground to Stargazers camping area Millstream Chichester National Park.

Up at 6 to be greeted by a chilly 8 deg. On the road by 7:30 to Tom Price for shopping and topping up fuel and water. 

 Also did the induction for driving on the Rio Tinto road that follows their rail line, which consisted of watching a 20min video and filling out a form. Updated the blog (did you see the pics??), left about 12:30 after a pie from the local Brumbys bakery. The plan had been to head straight to Millstream Chichester National Park but we decided to detour via Hammersley Gorge after the camp host at Dales gave it a big wrap.

 Turned out to be a bit disappointing and after a quick photo or 2 it was back on the gravel to link up with the Rio Tinto road.
 The road we took was fine for the first part, mainly because it serviced the Solomon mine site but after that it deteriorated and was pretty rough in parts. The Rio Tinto Road was better but it had a really rough patch that had the speed limit reduced to 60. I offered to take over the driving, so we swapped and about 200 meters up the road it improved markedly. Just the luck of the draw. We left the Rio road at the Roebourne-Wittenoom Road and again we were back on the trough stuff. We joked that it must be looked after by the Ashburton Shire after driving on their roads earlier in the trip and as it turned out it actually was!! Pulled in to Stargazers camp site about 4:30 and selected a site near the camp hosts. Carol backed the Mitchell onto the site while I guided her and it was a breeze. The camp host was most impressed when he came to collect our fees. Told him that we'd done the towing course with Global Gypsies and he said he'd seen the demo at the camping show. Might be a new customer for Jeremy.

There are 2 camp-sites at Millstream-Chichester National Park, Stargazers where we stayed has about 14 sites of various sizes, generators aren't allowed and the toilets look very new. Not much shade though. The other site is called Miliyanha and has more sites and more shade. Generators are allowed so it is probably noisier too.

After setting up we drove up to the Cliff Lookout to watch the sunset and take some photos. We had forgotten to take anything out for dinner so it was Thai red beef curry again for dinner which was no hardship. 

362.2km travelled.

Day25 Stargazers camping area Millstream Chichester National Park to Pardoo Station.

Set the alarm for 7 but we were awake and up by 6:30. On the road by 8:30, would have been earlier but we had to let the back tires down on the Pajero to get the tow pin under the hitch. I couldn't get the jockey wheel down when we unhitched last night, so I'd changed the position of it to the lower one. I had to wind it up to its maximum to get it off the pin and it must have settled enough so that we couldn't get it high enough to hitch up. Oh well, lesson learned. I'll make sure I put a block of wood under the wheel if I have to do that again.

We called in to the Millstream homestead and had a look around. It's had an interesting history, with the family who owned it before the Government bought it bringing in some portable homes and opening the homestead as a tavern after the beef price crashed in the 1970s.

Back out to the Roebourne-Wittenoom road and it was much the same as yesterday, OK in parts but enough rough bits and wash outs to keep your speed down and be on the alert. The section where it crosses the Chichester Ranges is actually sealed and I checked the map to see if that was the end of the gravel but no such luck. Did see a few Sturt Desert Peas in flower. 

Down passed Python Pool and over a particularly bad flood-way and it wasn't long before a sign announced “Welcome to Karratha City” . The road surface had been OK for the last kilometre or so and improved out of sight from here to the seal at the North West Coastal Highway. A glance in the mirror when we passed the sign showed a “Welcome to Ashburton Shire” sign going the other way, so our thoughts of yesterday about the state of the road proved to be right!

After stopping to air up again it was on to the highway and a stop at Port Headland for fuel before getting to Pardoo Station turn off about 2. the sign at the gate said “Caravan Park No vacancy” but we'd been looking on Wiki Camps and one of the comments posted by someone said the sign had been the same when they arrived but when they rang there were sites available so we gave them a call. Yes, sites were available so pop on down said the Irish lash on the phone, so we did just that. $35/night for a powered site and just go and choose one but if you change your mind there’s no refund. We took the chance, booked in and eventually settled on site#1. Had a sprinkler going on it but Carol turned it off and moved it along a couple of sites and turned it back on.

Nice grassy sites “no red dust!” was Carol's comment, I suspect she might have been falling out of love with the red dust somehow. Our neighbour at the back was Ross and his wife, been here since May and staying until October when it starts getting a bit warm as he put it. They have been coming to the same site for 8 years, not quite a local though as there were plenty of couples who had been coming for 20 years!! He said he and his wife looked after the red toilet block, cleaned it every morning so they advised everyone they spoke to to use the next one along. Makes life a bit easier I guess. The showers were lovely and hot “take yer skin off” as Ross put it and it was so nice to be under running hot water after a week or so of sponge baths. There was a real community feel about the place. A few of the long termers do things around the place to help out which I guess gives them a reduced rate. One couple just up the way fed 5 or so calves that were in a pen across the road from the sites. There was a mass exodus of people, drink in hand to the communal fire pit at 5. We cooked dinner first, leftover Mongolian lamb then after doing the dishes in the camp kitchen, took a glass of wine up to sit around the fire. There were only 2 guys there by that stage but by the time we left about an hour or so later there were 10 or so having a chat. The size of the logs that some of them were putting on indicated it could be a long night! 

427.8km travelled

Day26 Pardoo Station to Barn Hill Station.

Up at 7 and did our breakfast in the camp kitchen. Pretty good facilities, we've had worse for more. On the road just after 8 checked the tires before we hitched up and they were a bit low so after we drove back to the main road we stopped and I aired up. We'd been told the night before that there were 45knot winds expected and it felt like it. What's worse was we were driving almost into them. Filled up at Sandfire roadhouse and the fuel app showed a fuel consumption of 18.2/100km against an average of 15. That improved a bit as the road turned more north but it was barely under 17 by the time we got to Barn Hill Station. Stopped for lunch about 70km from our destination in a 24hr stopping area. Similar to the one we stopped in at Nerren Nerren with drop toilets and several camp sites with small fire pits. 
 Nice set up at Barn Hill, the office and store where you check in is very rustic and we'd read all about the amenities with no roof. 

 Un-powered sites followed the cliff face around so we chose one back from the face even though there were a couple looking right at the water. The way the wind was blowing meant we would have been facing the wrong way. 

 The wind had died off a little so we went for a walk down to the beach. A few steps to negotiate that had seen better days but nothing too hard. Lots of unusual stones and rocks on the beach. 

 We headed back and decided to have a shower, they're solar so if you leave it too late you run the risk of a cold one. They were nice and warm, 2 hot showers in a row.........luxury!! We were debating whether we should spend more nights at Pardoo Station or here and opted for here. As nice as Pardoo Station was, I think we've made the right choice. Cooked Teriyaki beef for dinner, delicious.

401.5km travelled.

Lighthouse Caravan Park Exmouth to Karijini

Day 10 Lighthouse Caravan Park to Winderabandi Point Ningaloo Station.

Up early and on the road by 8 after toast and coffee for breakfast. Had some papers to print out and get signed by a JP for the sale of Wynnum. Picked up the part for the gas line and then headed back south to Ningaloo Station. The road in was every bit as bad as people said it was. Got to the homestead and beeped the horn as per the sign. Met Phil and he's as much of a character as people have said as well ! We were going to stay 4 nights but decided to stay 5 and Phil very kindly gave us site 29, “beach front” he said and he wasn't wrong!! 

We set up about 10 mtrs from the high water mark, a million dollar view for $10/night. The track from the homestead was just that.....a track, pretty bumpy in parts but oh so very worth it when we got there. We got set up facing the water and went for a stroll up the beach. All the camp sites are set apart from each other and a lot of them are right on the beach. Replaced the faulty gas line part and checked the stove..............all good. So nice to have our stove back, Rockingham butcher Angus beef sausages for dinner.

188.9km travelled.

Day 11 - Day14 Winderabandi Point Ningaloo Station.

Days spent relaxing, fishing and one paddle in the kayak. Most days were windy with the worst one being Sunday with the wind blowing straight at us from off the sea. Discovered the 160w solar panel wasn't working and eventually worked out it was a bad solder joint in the terminals strip on the panel. I had a similar problem with one of the 100w ones and it was just a matter of redoing the solder joint. Used the 2 100w panels to keep the battery in the Pajero topped up for the freezer and then 160w one to do the Mitchell. Most days they were full by lunchtime so good to know they are doing their job. We were brushing our teeth after breakfast Sunday morning and heard a bang, turn around to see the quick awning flipped over the camper. Not ideal...........one of the poles got bent and even though I managed to get it fairly straight it doesn't telescope inside far enough to put away in the pole carrier. Still works OK though and we just need to take it apart when we put it away. Caught a couple of small flat head from the beach, one with a hard plastic and one with a soft plastic. Not big enough to keep but caught both on the new rod so good to know it has good habits.

Day15 Winderabandi Point Ningaloo Station to Emu Creek Station

Up early and on the track back to the homestead by 7:45. Handed in the key and then the road back to the highway! Still bumpy but not too bad. In to Exmouth to top up the water, do shopping, use the dump point etc. It's such a busy place, caravans and campers everywhere and a bit of a queue for the water. Got everything done though and headed back down the highway. The plan was to camp somewhere on the road but we decided to pull into Emu Creek station which was about 25km or so after hitting the gravel. 

 The road wasn't too bad and I left the tyres a bit higher 30PSI for the front and the camper and 35PSI for the rear which seemed to work fine. Emu Creek station has camping along the river, there were quite a few there. It's not that cheap at $25/night and no showers but still quite good value. Left over mince chow mien for dinner. 

405.9km travelled.

Day16 Emu Creek Station to Mt Augustus

On the road by 8:30, gravel roads all the way today, lots of red dust billowing behind. A good test for the car and the camper for dust proofing. Stopped after an hour or so and topped up the firewood from dead stuff beside the road. I'd bought a battery reciprocating saw and a long wood blade before we left and it worked well. Pulled over for lunch at one of the crossings for the Lyon River, there was actually water in it and it was the only water crossing we had to do. It was a concrete bottom which meant it was pretty easy. Pulled in to the Mt Augustus camp site around 1:45. A nice grassy area to camp beside (NO WHEELS ON THE GRASS !) as well as a bush camping area. We chose to camp beside the grass, had to set up with the wind coming at us but over the next couple of days it changed direction a few times so wasn't too bad. The closest amenities were a bit basic but there is a new block near the powered sites and office. Very, very windy that night. We had steak for dinner and decided to cook it on the camp kitchen b b q rather than use our gas stove which does struggle a little in the wind. We thought we'd get away from the wind once we left the coast but the camper rocked around a fair bit during the night. There were a couple of guys on dirt bikes heading for Tom Price staying in small 1 man tents and I don't think they would have had much sleep. 

312 dusty km travelled. 

Day17 & 18 Mt Augustus

Did most of the walks around Mt Augustus over the 2 days. The only one we didn't do was the summit walk, which at 6 hrs was probably beyond our level of fitness. Walked to Edney's lookout the first morning. 

 It didn't look very high from the road (it's the small knob on the left in the picture above) but it was quite a hike and took us 2 hrs and 40mins return. Nice view from the top. 

 We also did a few shorter walks and next day did Goordgeela Lookout and Kotka Gorge. Both quite challenging and we were pretty weary by the time we got back to camp. 



 Much calmer days, cold night Thursday night with it not being too far off the predicted 2 deg and not quite so cold Friday night and calm enough to have a fire which was nice. Fuelled up, 90 lts including 15lts in the Jerry can, at $1.909 per litre. Dearest fuel so far. Rissoles for dinner Thursday night and leftover Mongolian Lamb Friday night. 84.3km travelled over the 2 days.

Day19 Mt Augustus to South of Tom Price

On the road by 8:30 after breakfast. Seems to be our default time. Gravel roads for the majority of the day, the first part to the Meekatharra/Ashburton Downs Road very rough in parts and lots of flood ways and dips which you had to be wary of. The first part of the Meekatharra/Ashburton Downs Road was great, nice and smooth and wide but once we hit the Ashburton Shire the road changed for the worse and we were back to lots of dips and flood ways. By the time we stopped for lunch we'd done 150km in 3 hours driving. The Ashburton Shire part of the road was made worse by the fact that there were very few warning signs so you had to be very vigilant. There was one very bad washout that someone had kindly put a 20lt drum besides to mark it so there was at least some warning, otherwise it would have certainly resulted in some damage I think. It was certainly a relief .to get back on to the bitumen after over 300kms. The plan was to stop somewhere beside the road before then but we decided to press on and eventually stopped at a truck stop about 35km from Tom Price. Another caravan pulled in not long after us as well. We'd found it on Wikicamps, as well as another stop a few km up the road but when we checked it out it was a nice spot but there was a sign saying camping prohibited because the area was prone to flash flooding. The truck stop was a good place for an over nighter with plenty of room away from where the trucks pulled in. The only down side is it's close to the rail line and there were a couple of very long ore trains in the night. Not a major worry though. Leftover Butter Chicken for dinner. 

Day20 Truck stop South of Tom Price to Karijini (Dales Overflow camp)

Up and on the road by …........... you guessed it 8:30 :) Tom Price looks like a nice town. Managed to get a park at the visitors centre which was busy as, lots of people looking like they were waiting to go on a tour and a queue almost out the door. Used the loos and then over the road to Coles for the shopping. Found the potable water tap and filled up the water tank, then parked by a nice park to do internet stuff and such. Started out sitting at a covered table but had to move into the car because of the cold wind that was blowing. Headed out to Karijini about 2:30, stopping at the Shell just out of town to fuel up, 64.9lt @ $1.589. First chance to use the Shell fuel card that Carol got from her work, so a cheap tankful. Great scenery on the way there, impressive hills and mountains including Mt Bruce which is the second highest in WA. Got to the pay station and our WA Parks pass meant we didn't have to pay the $13 entry. Got to the turn off to the Dales Gorge camp site to find a “Camp ground Full” sign so we had to go to the overflow area. Helpful Rangers there explaining what the situation was, apparently the camp ground has been filling up each day. Today it was full by 11 which was pretty early. The idea was to go to the camp reception in the morning and get allocated a site as people left for the day. The overflow area was quite full as well so we decided on an early night and an early start the next morning to make sure we got a site. Be a shame to come all this way and miss out on seeing it. Penang chicken cooked for dinner. 

146.5km travelled.

Day21 Karijini - Dales Overflow camp to Dales Camping Ground

Woke up early and decided to pack up and head to the camping area. Got to the gates about 6:45 and found no one else there. A bit surprising considering how many were at the overflow area. Read the paper for an hour or so and when the office opened we got given a site (49 in the Kangaroo area). 

 Set up, had breakfast and a chat to the people on the next site, then made lunch ready for our trek into Dales Gorge. Walked up to the day use area and on the way put our names down for star gazing which was happening tomorrow night. This was something we'd been planning to do when we got to Broome, so nice to be able to do it early.
The walk through the gorge was amazing, I don't think any pictures could do it justice. The rock formations are so different, in places it looked like the layers had been placed one on top of each other. Some big boulders laying around, that had obviously fallen from the top. Fern pool and Fortescue falls were great, with some people in swimming. Looked waaayyy too cold to us.

 Apparently Fern Pool is the warmest at 20degrees. Stopped half way along for lunch, there were lots of people down in the gorge, one couple had just passed us when the girl let out a yell. She'd been stung by a bee and was a bit worried because she'd never been stung before. Her partner got the sting out and we continued on. The end of the gorge was Circular pool, doesn't get much sunlight and is very cold apparently. The climb out of the gorge was interesting to say the least. Whereas the climb down into the gorge had been with stairs and handrails the climb out was up stairs cut into the rock and no real handrails, just other rocks to hang onto. Was a fair way up too and there were several stops before we reached the top. 

We spent nearly 4 hrs walking through the gorge and we were very tired by the time we got back to the camp site, great day though and nothing too hard.

Went for a talk by one of the camp hosts about the gorges in the western part of the park. Very informative and worth the effort. We'll go for a drive over there tomorrow. Steak and veggies for dinner. 

11.2km travelled.

Day22 Karijini - Dales Camping Ground to Weano Gorge

A good nights sleep and up fairly early. Got talking to the couple in the next camp site so we left a bit later than planned. We got told at the talk yesterday, that the gravel road across the park was pretty rough and only attempt it if you were experienced. We decided it couldn't be as bad as the road to Steep Point and decided to head that way instead of the long way around on the bitumen. It was pretty corrugated but not too bad really. We aired down to 28 front and 35 rear and we were able to travel at 60-80 kms for most of it. We passed a couple of 4wds that were travelling very slowly but we've found that makes things worse.

Drove to the lookouts when we got there as advised the afternoon before. One of them looked over the place where 5 gorges converge, which was pretty spectacular.

Carol didn't want to walk either Weano Gorge or Hancock gorge but agreed to go down and see what they were like. We went down Weano first, got to the bottom and walked to the first water crossing. There were people crossing and they were up to their waists so we decided not to do that one.

 Climbed out again and after leaving the pack in the car and Carol changing into her reef shoes, we climbed down into Hancock gorge. There were a couple of ladders to go down, then a walk along the gorge bottom to the first pool. It was a change of footwear for me, I'd left my boots on and carried my reef shoes but we had to walk through water up just over our knees so I had to change them. 

The water was numbingly cold, but we got through without any mishaps, then it was a clamber along the rocks trying not to slip into the stream running alongside which would have been very cold if the previous one was anything to go by. We had to wait for a party of 10 coming the other way, one of who slipped in and had an involuntary swim. We got through that one ok, then it was the spider walk through a very narrow part, using one wall to keep your feet on the other side, then a spider walk over a rock and finally down to Kermits Pool. There was an opening on the other side of the pool that had a spectacular view we had been told, but the rocks were too slippery to get a decent hand hold so we gave up trying to get to it.

We waited for another couple to come through before heading back, lo and behold it was the girl who had got the bee sting and her partner from yesterday. We asked how she was going and she said it was fine. Then just as we started back we heard a cry and turned to find she had slipped over on the slippery rocks. She said she was fine so we started on our way back. Not sure if it was us jinxing her but she was keen for us to go ! Carol had done really well up to that point and she lead the way out. Just as she was walking up towards the spider walk she slipped as well and came down on her side. I just happened to have to have the go pro on her and I hit the stop button about a second too early to see her fall, probably just as well ! She was OK and we continued on. On our way back out along the rock ledge we came across the family who had stopped in their caravan a couple of nights earlier in the same truck stop as us. We had a quick chat, we actually saw a few people that we'd seen yesterday in Dale’s Gorge. We got out without any further mishaps. Not a particularly long walk but quite challenging and a lot of fun. Carol did especially well considering how apprehensive she had been about doing either gorge. Had lunch at one of the picnic tables under the shade sails in the parking area, then drove back to Dale's, stopping at the Visitors centre which was very interesting and well worth a visit.

Had a wash and heated up leftover Penang Chicken for dinner before heading up to the Star watching night. Took about 3 hrs and was a great night, the highlight of which for me, was seeing Saturn and it's rings through the telescope, awesome! 

116.5km travelled

Day23 Karijini - Dales Camping Ground

Today is a recovery day. Up about 8, it was another cold night and we had to let the sun warm things up a bit. A cooked breakfast and then did the dishes which were piling up somewhat. I don't think there was anything left in our cutlery draw! Carol did some washing and gave me a hair cut. Also caught up on the blog so hopefully when we get to Tom Price tomorrow I can get some pictures on at long last !!