Retirement in 2016 offered an opportunity to increase my two often competing passions of bush travelling/walking/hiking and motorcycling (track riding in particular). There was no way I was getting bored as long as I remained healthy and my finances supported my activities.
The two key West Australian ‘must see’ jewels of Karijini and Ningaloo beckoned early on… I threw an air mattress on the floor of Vittoria, added the Engel fridge, a lpg two burner camp stove, water containers, a second spare wheel, and foodstuffs then headed north to Meekatharra. This was going to be a bit of a whirlwind as a trackday in Malaysia was coming up in September.
Day 1 - 13/8/2017
Drove to Meekatharra to stay overnight in the caravan park in town. A bit of a longish sector at 770km.
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| Bare bones basic |
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| Crude but effective |
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| Typical Great Northern Highway behemoth |
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| Campground at Meekatharra |
Day 2 - 14/8/2017
Continued on to Newman to fill up. Crossed the Tropic of Capricorn today. First time via the ground. Then onward to Dales Camping area at the east end of Karijini NP. 625km travelled. Campground quite busy and I was lucky to nab a smaller site. Perfect for Vittoria.
I set up for the night and took a walk to the nearby lookout over Dales Gorge.
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| First time by road |
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| Two more behemoths |
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| An early smaller dump truck display at Newman |
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| Old school GPS |
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| Karijini Drive turn off from GNHwy |
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| My campsite for the next few days |
Day 3 - 15/8/2017
Arose early to descend into Dales gorge and take in the various points of interest. Fern Pool first then onward to Fortescue Falls and back up onto the rim to check out Circular Pool from above. Back to camp for breakfast after which I was hoping it was warm enough to take a swim in Fern Pool.
Wandered back down and took a dip off the pool decking. It was certainly fresh. Got out and continued on to Fortescue Falls and sat in the cascade for a short while. Rejoined the gorge trail to Circular pool and decided to brave the freezing cold water (it never sees sunshine). Oh boy oh boy that literally takes your breath away and I had to use all my swimming prowess to control my breathing. The small intra- rock strata waterfall on the other side felt decidedly warm in comparison. Didn’t stay in for long…swam back quickly to the other side and extracted myself from the ice bath.
Got back to camp and decided to head off to Wittenoom and back to add another 300km. The road had been purposely ripped up in an attempt to keep visitors away from the old Asbestos mining township, not that it worked in my case. Some old buildings were still standing and I believe there were still a few (4) inhabitants. No power or services of any kind.
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| Beautiful morning colours |
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| Fortescue Falls from the rim |
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| Fern Pool |
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| Looking along the top of Dales Gorge |
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| Circular Pool from the rim |
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| Fortescue Falls |
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| Along the floor of Dales Gorge |
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| Along the floor of Dales Gorge |
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| White faced heron |
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| Circular Pool. Exceedingly cold |
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| Asbestos sign Wittenoom |
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| Two remaining houses Wittenoom |
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| Wittenoom gorge is spectacular |
Day 4 - 16/8/2017
Up early and headed off to climb Mt Bruce (Punurrunha). Saw a dingo on the way. This is a great walk of 9km return with 450m gain in height to the second highest point in WA at 1235m asl (13m lower than Mt Meharry - Wirlbiwirlbi 60km to the south east). There is an interesting pinch point where a chain is provided adjacent to a sheer drop toward Marandoo mine site to the south.
Headed into Tom Price for a supply top up and fuel then back to Dales campground.
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| Dingo wandering along |
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| View from the beginning of the climb |
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| Up I go |
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| View back down the trail |
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| Step up |
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| The pinch point chain |
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| At the top |
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| Looking east |
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| Along the summit edge |
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| Wildflowers |
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| Info board |
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| Typical iron ore train at Tom Price ~3km long |
Day 5 - 17/8/2017
Early again to make my way along the 4WD track to the Kalamina trail head. A wonderfully leisurely walk along the gorge floor. Back into the van to get to Weano and Hancock gorges. An extremely interesting day due to an incident at Handrail Pool at the end of Weano Gorge. I was overtaken by emergency vehicles on my way to Weano carpark and did wonder…
Eventually got to Handrail Pool to find a ranger and recovery officers planning how to recover the injured party who had fallen while descending the handrail. Helicopters can’t rescue someone in the deep gorges as they cannot control their positioning therefore it’s a FOUR hour four person stretcher job! Wouldn’t want to be too crook. Only got there just before the area was closed off to focus on the recovery.
Traversed back out and into Hancock Gorge where the famous Spider Walk is situated. Lots of deep wading/swimming along this one.
Back to Dales after this. Two more gorges tomorrow. I wasn’t going to be able to fit Hamersley Gorge in for this trip as it is quite a distance away, on the western end of the park. To make matters more difficult, the ‘short cut’ 4WD track was closed so I would have had to go via Tom Price and turn north.
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| Info board Kalamina Gorge |
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| Heading down |
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| Floor of the gorge |
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| Turning the corner |
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| Eucalypts will grow anywhere |
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| Lovely colour contrast |
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| One of the shallow pools |
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| A wonderful vista |
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| The end of the gorge trail unless you feel like a lengthy swim |
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| Heading down into Weano Gorge |
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| Along the floor of Weano |
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| The red hues of the gorge wall |
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| Handrail Pool. The handrail is visible descending the rock face at the lower right |
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| Hancock Gorge |
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| Water course in Hancock Gorge |
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| Spider Walk |
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| Amphitheater |
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| Kermits Pool |
Day 6 - 18/8/2017
Drove along the bitumen to the Joffre Gorge area to take in Knox Gorge and Joffre Falls. Both are pretty spectacular with the climb down to Joffre Gorge not being for the unfit or faint hearted.
Back to Dales for the final time tonight. Tomorrow is the long drive to Exmouth for a change of scenery.
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| Info board Knox Gorge |
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| Looking along Knox Gorge from the lookout platform |
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| Back the other direction |
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| Trail to the descent ‘path’ |
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| The descent path |
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| Looking back up the path |
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| Waterhole near the base of the descent |
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| Heading along the gorge |
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| A pic for scale |
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| End of Knox Gorge looking toward a sheer drop into Red Gorge |
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| Looking the other direction |
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| Good swimming here |
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| Stark contrasts |
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| Vittoria parked at Joffre Gorge carpark. Getting strong red hues |
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| Info board |
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| Joffre Gorge |
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| Looking toward the upper falls |
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| The descent is on the opposite rock face. There is a person at lower centre right |
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| The creek feeding the falls |
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| Top of the descent |
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| Halfway down |
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| At the base of the descent. Good swimming here |
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| Joffre Falls |
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| Close up after a swim |
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| Climbers ascending the stratified rock face |
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| The viewing platform on the other side |
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| Back on the rim |
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| 4WD not really required |
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| Dales info board |
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| Yep |
Day 7 - 19/8/2017
Today was a 590km drive to the old Lighthouse Caravan Park near the top of North West Cape. I did scale Mt Nameless Jarndunmunha just outside Tom Price on the way.
Track leading to the trail up
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| A few rustic stairs on the way |
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| Going up |
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| Rocky trail |
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| View over Tom Price |
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| Good view around and about |
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| Mount Murray Nanutarra |
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| Lighthouse Caravan Park Exmouth |
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| Sunset |
Day 8 - 20/8/2017
Drove down to Yardie Creek Gorge for a wander then back to Mundu Mandu Gorge for more walking/hiking. BTW, the Yardie Creek experience cemented my hashtag moniker of #rockwallaby. Following that I dropped into Oyster Stacks on Ningaloo Reef to find the tide was out and too shallow to pull the snorkelling gear out. Tomorrow…
Back to the caravan park for another night.
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| Info board |
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| Looking toward the creek mouth |
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| Cliff face on the other side |
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| Two rock wallabies |
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| The extent of the creek estuary |
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| Upstream |
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| End of the trail |
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| Info board |
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| Heading upstream |
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| Oyster Stacks Ningaloo Reef |
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| Where Ningaloo meets the shore |
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| Pretty sunset at camp |
Day 9 - 21/8/2017
Returned to Oyster Stacks at high tide to have a wonderful snorkel among the coral bombies. Unbelievable amount of swimming critters as you step from the carpark path into the water. Superb. Found an octopus but no turtles.
Moved northward to Turquoise Bay and sat on the beach watching for turtle heads popping up for a breath. Lo and behold one showed its head so I swam out to join it. What a wonderful experience swimming with such a docile creature. It couldn’t care less that I was there (as long as I didn’t start eating the yummy sea grass).
Back to the caravan park again tonight.
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| Info board |
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| No one else yet |
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| Coral |
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| Hiding crab |
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| Turquoise Bay |
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| Sturt Desert Pea by the side of the road |
Day 10 - 22/8/2017
Up early to peruse the Vlamingh Head lighthouse precinct, then off for some more walking along the Badjirrajirra trail above Shothole Canyon. The trail down the ridge was closed so I returned to the van to drive along the canyon. It was a bit challenging but Vittoria took it in her stride. Heading toward home tomorrow.
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| Info board |
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| Overlooking Shothole Canyon |
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| Along the rim |
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| From the valley |
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| End of the road |
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| She made it |
Day 11 - 23/8/2017
Very early start as I headed home. The original plan was to stay overnight in Geraldton however the vibe was a bit off so I kept going. I got home at midnight after driving 1300km with one fuel stop. Not very clever in spite of me feeling pretty fresh. Sometimes Vittoria is TOO comfy to drive.
And so ends my first drive into the Pilbara to experience two bucket list National Parks over eleven days covering 4200km with some fantastic gorge and mountain hiking. This was truly the beginning of my future exploits and the pathway to the La Bestia functional specification and associated exploits. A combination of remote travel, National Parks, and hiking/trekking. Perfect.
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