Burringurrah (Mt Augustus) - some say it's Australia's biggest rock

Burringurrah (Mt Augustus) 8 – 10 April 2013

While the trailer was getting repaired we made the 500 km trek out to Burringurrah.  It was an absolute hoot!

We stayed at Cobra Bangemall Inn/Station with Jim (the owner) and Rob (the ex-dogger).  These two blokes made our trip out here really memorable. We followed them in their 4WD that had no doors and roo blood on the floor, to their own private lookout.  At one stage, Jim drove with his head out the door as his windscreen was so dirty he couldn’t see out of it while driving into the western sun.

The view was amazing.  We looked over Burringurrah and it’s neighbouring hills, the Barlee ranges and the so-called centipede ranges (not sure what they’re really called) that disappeared into the distance heading off towards the Pilbara and the southern end of the Kennedy Ranges. The sunset was spectacular, the snags were edible, and the company was fun.  That night they taught the kids how to divine for water and we enjoyed another beer with them in the backyard while it was still a balmy 30 degrees or so (the kids all scored a free icecream from Jim who was a real gentleman).

But what about Burringurrah?  Touted as Australia’s biggest rock, it was well worth the 500km return drive. The drive was fun and the mountain was very impressive. It is not a rock, like Uluru, but a monocline – a bit of the earth’s crusts jutting out from the surface.  We climbed to Edney’s lookout and the view was impressive and the silence and solitude something really special. It was hot so the kids stayed in the car for the remainder of the sight-seeing that day which consisted of Aboriginal rock art, water holes and a natural cattle pound.  It was so beautiful and our photos just don’t do it justice.

On the way back to Carnarvon we drove at least 300 km and it was when we reached the Kennedy Ranges National Park we struck our first car for the day.  The Kennedy Ranges were equally as impressive and we could see them off in the distance for some time (as the NP entrance is in the southern end of it and we approached them from the north).  It’s a 150km escarpment with a sheer edge along it’s length – again our photos don’t do it justice.

We stopped at one of the gorges for lunch but the heat was radiating off the rocks so we decided not to attempt the walk into it.  Next time.

Gnaraloo Station - our first taste of the Ningaloo Reef

Gnaraloo - The supposed 'real thing'

5 April to 7 April 2013

The morning of Dad’s 63^rd birthday we walked up the hill to the Quobba lighthouse to get reception to sing happy birthday.  It was a windy spot but a beautiful view. We could even see the nearby blowholes doing their stuff.  (They were very impressive blowholes).

We were disappointed with Gnaraloo Station. It’s expensive to camp there ($60/night for our family) and yet they couldn’t fix a light bulb in the toilet block where they had warm showers and there was no sink to the laundry tub.   Minor things I now, but when you’re paying that much money you want things pretty schmick. 

Our camp was right on the edge of a ridge overlooking the 3 mile lagoon and we did enjoy watching 3 sharks attacking a big school of bait fish.  Hugo and Simon on their first snorkel swam with a turtle!  And the reef up at Gnaraloo Bay was pretty nice but the current was swift so by the time I got  a chance to go out (after Simon had gone out with Hugo and then Isobel) it just wasn’t safe. 

It was while we were camped here that we realized the polyblock that is part of our treg hitch had split and we needed to drive carefully all the way back to Carnarvon (about 180km much of it on corrugations and sand). We made it back safely and even managed to tow the trailer into the repair workshop before it split off altogether!  Thank goodness for our RACQ Ultimate membership which paid for our emergency accommodation while it was getting fixed (and would’ve picked up the cost of towing the trailer to the workshop if we hadn’t wanted to give it a shot).

The view from our tent at 3 Mile Lagoon.

Gnaraloo Bay

I can't imagine why WA is trying to get rid of these kinds of shacks that once graced much of their coastline. Point Quobba.

Quobba blowholes roaring.

Where we should've camped: Red Bluff at Quobba Station. This is where one of the lifeboats of German sailors reached the coast after destroyed the HMAS Sydney.

No further west than this

Steep Point
3 April 2013 

The nurse at Denham said to me we couldn't miss heading to Steep Point if we were on a trip around Australia. I had been looking into it and just thought it sounded like an impossible day trip...but luckily our Easter neighbours told us about Tamala Station...and we're so glad we got there.

Besides being the most westerly point on Australia's mainland it's a part of the Zuytdorp cliffs that start north of Kalbarri and continue along the western coastline of Dirk Hartog Island (just across South Passage from Steep Point).

We've been learning a lot about all the ship wrecks along this stretch of coastline so Simon and I were particularly keen to see the Zuytdorp Cliffs (named after one of the Dutch ships wrecked on the cliffs in 1712).  I love cliffs but I think these one really need to be seen from the air to get the best perspective.

We'd read an article about Steep Point in 'Action and Adventure' and I was left with the impression it was a great but terrifying place to fish and that it wasn't really very hospitable or family-friendly.  So we were stunned with the beauty of the place.  We'll be keeping on the beaches here one day - and I'd love to come back in 2016 to head over to Dirk Hartog Island to be a part of the 400th anniversary of Dirk's landing.  Dirk Hartog Island looks VERY impressive.

In a word, we loved it.  And we're looking forward to coming back and camping here one day!

* Photos with the bonnet in them were taken by the GoPro camera Simon has set up on our windscreen. A bit naff I know, but it's the only way we can show what the track into Steep Point was like. Couldn't believe the number of 4WDs pulling boats!

Country around the border between Tamala and Carrarang Stations. Beautiful. 

Dirk Hartog Island in the distance. (check out the cliffs there). You can camp on that beach in the foreground.

Part of the drive in to Steep Point

The beach on the Inside Passage (I think that's what's it's called, just the other side of Steep Point)

That the 4WD of some fisherman - couldn't see them anywhere!

Zuytdorp Cliffs

The kids stayed in the car while Simon and I trekked to see the cliffs.

They got out to read a memorial cairn to a prawn trawler that went down here in the 60s. Amazing story.

Looking south towards Kalbarri.

Looking north with Dirk Hartog Island in the background.

Our boys!

So beautiful we just had to go swimming at our lunch spot.

Home to Tamala in time to go fishing. Isobel caught a shovel-nosed ray which we released.

Sunset on our own little beach at Tamala.

Next morning at Tamala - it was so still there was not a ripple in sight.

The Long-tom Simon caught at Tamala. It was a fiesty one to catch!

A beach in the middle of nowhere

Tamala Station  

2 April 2013

We’re camping on a station on our own beach. The water is so still and clear that I can see stars sparkling in its reflection. There’s not a sound, not even of lapping water (other than the click clack of the keyboard as I type). 

Tamala Station is nicely positioned for us between Denham and the most westerly point of Australia’s mainland.  We think it will take us 3 hours from our campsite to reach Steep Point tomorrow – although it’s only about 130 km from here.  We (Simon and I) are both really excited as we’ll get to see the Zuytdorp cliffs, the southern edge of Dirk Hartog Island and if we have time, some blow-holes. The kids really couldn’t care less.

Simon and I doubt this will happen again – that our campsite is on our own beach.  Maybe we’ll be the only ones camped at a beachside campsite along the way, as has happened at Walkers Rocks on the Eyre Peninsula in SA, but to have every campsite as your own beach as you do here at Tamala is very rare and a very special privilege we’re enjoying.

Out in the dark somewhere, Simon is catching bream for our dinner tomorrow night.  It’s so dark that from his fishing spot down the beach a little way from the tent, you can’t see the white car or the tent. 

Off in the distance looking east we can see a glow that we assume is the tiny town of Denham  - so small that the chicken takeaway shop only sells hot chickens on Thursday and Friday and where we struggled to buy fresh bread it was in such hot demand.  So small that emus stop the traffic on the main street and sea snakes are regular visitors near the town’s jetty (not that I saw any). But because we’re out in the middle of nowhere, that tiny town glows in the dark night sky. 

Meanwhile on the other side of the continent my darling, sweet brother will fall asleep on the night of his birthday, and might briefly think about us visiting Steep Point tomorrow (known for its awesome game fishing). Simon’s sister and her family might be having a restless sleep in Brisbane as in the morning they jet off to the US for their epic  6 month camping trip of the east coast. 

And here we are, at the southern tip of the Henri Freycinet Harbour, in the World Heritage listed Shark Bay Marine Park, a long way from anywhere… and liking it.

Sweet dreams. 

Note: Isobel, Hugo and I ran out onto Shell Beach today and Isobel had a quick dip.  The water was so clear and beautiful it was a shame not to be able to stay longer.  What a spot!  Isobel loved it.

In the background you might be able to see a fence going into the water - it's the Project Eden fence

Shells, shells and more shells - 10 m deep and a few km long. 

Grid to get through the Project Eden fence (see earlier post about Project Eden)

She's so hip.

Before we arrived at Tamala we re-stocked at Denham and phoned Tony for his birthday.  This is what we saw!