11 May - 15 May 2013
The drive from Karijini to Woodstock on
the Great Northern Highway was spectacular.
The East Munjina Gorge was entirely different to the other gorges we’d
seen at Karijini as it was wide and there was a road coming up the middle of
it! (the Rio Tinto Gorge also had a road coming up it on the western edge of
the NP but trucks had to radio ahead before entering it as the road/gorge is so
narrow). We were sad to farewell the
beautiful Hamersley Range. WE could
clearly see when we left the range as we were driving along another
plateau/plain.
Much to our surprise not too much along
the road the Chichester Ranges came into view again and they were equally
awesome here on the eastern edge of them. From Woodstock (halfway up the
highway to Port Hedland) we took a dirt road to head east to Marble Bar.
Surprises were the name of the game. It was a spectacular drive through rocky
hills, amazing looking little ranges and we found a beautiful campsite in the
middle of it all at Glen Herring Gorge. We
had views all around us, a little campfire and it was just so beautiful and
serene – the perfect way to greet the morning on Mother’s Day.
The morning we left it took us an hour
to reach the town of Marble Bar and in that short time we drove through a
beautiful valley with the old Comet gold mine sitting at the end of it – making
it look as though we’d just stepped 100 years back in time. We then followed a sign to a “Flying Fox
Lookout” thinking it would take us to a flying fox colony – but it took us to a
flying fox across the river that must be used when it floods. So funny!
We also saw the first dingo of the trip.
The town of Marble Bar gets its name
from a nearby waterhole where a bar of jasper was mistakenly thought to be
marble. It was really beautiful and we sat alongside the river on green grass
and had a cup of coffee, kids had a chai, and we ate some chocolate in
celebration of Mother’s Day. We’d also
found the jasper deposit where you are allowed to take some of this amazing
coloured rock. What a great start to the
day! And all in under an hour.
We met a secret WWII airbase history
buff who had just come back from camping at Old Corunna Downs where he had
scavenged some relics from the base that the Japanese never discovered. He gave
an old rusty propeller to Hugo that he said would’ve come off a rocket. He told us there were two other bases never
discovered; Yanrey across the Exmouth Gulf from Exmouth and I think the other
was Truscott up in the Kimberley a peninsula over from Pago/Kalamburu which was
built after that one was bombed. We are
discovering so much WWII history in WA.
The drive to Carrawine Gorge seemed to
take forever – maybe we’re just not used to travelling on sealed roads! It was one of the best campsites we’ve stayed
at on our trip – better even than Crossing Pool as any nearby campers were
either out of site or a fair distance away.
We had a little grassy site on the edge of the Oakover River with the
impressive cliff across from us (so the Gorge is less a gorge and more a river
with a cliff on one side).
We met a lovely family camped next door
and the next day we headed out to Running Waters a spring-fed crystal-clear
swimming hole that is about 32 degrees all the time. We missed the turn off so
we drove down more of Skull Springs Road which we’d not done on the way in as
the station owner had advised us against it – but it was graded the day before
the Melbourne family came in! But it
meant we saw another dingo (and we’d heard a group of dingos howling the night
before so it must be good dingo country).
There was a couple of jumping ropes
into the swimming hole so the kids had a great time and the blokes had a great
time as it was quite a 4WD track for the last 200 metres in. We were both glad
we’d done it with someone else as we would’ve all walked the last section
(which I wouldn’t have liked as it was good snake country again).
We took a different track back home via
Upper Carrawine Gorge and as it was my favourite time of the day (late
afternoon when the sun is golden) it was a special time to travel through a
valley fall of mesas and escarpments. It was the kind of country we are used to
seeing from American westerns but not something we associate with Australia.
The Pilbara is a really special place.
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