Leaving our campsite we hit the highway north to Auski Roadhouse , it's a lovely drive through Munjina East Gorge .
Turning off and heading west , we find ourselves on the northern edge of the Hammersley Ranges , which made for great views of the ranges to our left and vast open plains to our right - we didn't look right very often !!
Wildflowers were out , but not in the profusion as they were 3 years ago . After about 28 klms the road turned to red gravel - just past the local community - coincidence ? I think not haha .
Following the road , Wittenoom was the next place of interest , but we kept driving , Hammersley Gorge was the 1st stop today , and these flowers greeted us at the entrance . It was about 80 klms from Auski to here , about 50klms of gravel , with only one section badly corrugated , understandable as Solomon Mine is out here and also Fortescue Rd back to Karratha - road trains do use these roads as well - we passed one . The iron ore is trained out of here .
Getting into the gorge was some of the worst road for today , then it went to bitumen for the drive down the hill to the gorge itself . We were amazed at the folding rock before us - what sort of pressures were being exerted on this way back when ???
There's a toilet block and picnic shelter , a lookout or 2 and a walking track down to the bottom pool , above the falls is another beautiful large pool that the NP doesn't want people going into . Apparently they've had to rescue a few too many people who've slipped and fallen - those rocks aren't very soft !
The walk down took us past some more twisted and wavy rocks - colours were also amazing .
Finally down the bottom to where another 15 to 20 people were lying about on the rocks or swimming . The temperature was 34 degrees , so our next step was to get wet , easier said than done , entering the water was a risk in itself as the rocks below water line were a little slippery !
Water temperature was refreshing , but served it's purpose cooling us off nicely . We chatted to a girl who was working at Port Hedland and was down for a few days with some friends .
You can swim through the gorge and keep going for a little way before turning & coming back - what a beautiful place !!
The NParks or Pilbara Councils provide free wifi at strategic spots around the Pilbara , great if it's working . We tried but no luck , so it was back to Wittenoom on the return trip . Views of the range now on our right .
Approaching Wittenoom are signs warning you of the danger of Asbestos , if you didn't know , this is where they used to mine one of the most dangerous type of Blue Asbestos . The town is now a ghost town , but still has 3 inhabitants as well as many empty houses & buildings , cement slabs , roads & gutters , tar roads - it must have been a booming little town in it's heyday ! The roads are potholed and badly cracked , can't see them getting better any time soon though , this is the track in towards the mine .
there are several creek crossings to do , some still have concrete causeways that you can drive on , others it's best to use the creekbed . There were many wildflowers out , here a re some of them .
The road seemed to keep drawing us in further and further , we hadn't reached the mine site yet , but there were beautiful scenes all around us .
We passed 2 other vehicles on our way in and there was a car & caravan in beside the creek - think they would have had a very quiet night in there by themselves .
Upon getting close to the mine site we stopped and turned around , heading for home , not before a photo of Doc Holidays Cafe & garage .
Well what a day that was , Hammersley Gorge certainly didn't disappoint , neither did Wittenoom , both worthy of a visit , back to Auski Roadhouse for some fuel - not as expensive as the Nullabor , but not too far off . Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1I0r2E6wYLDvKe7JsL1aCv0uZtRDk7k-e&usp=sharing
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