24/6/19 Around Karratha

  We've had a big rain event here - 19mm - yep all that rain in 24 hours - we had a day of nothing but reading & indoors . Seriously though , when it rained last week - 1.2 mm was recorded and reported on the state news on Win , 7 & 9 - that's just a heavy dew back over east  haha .

  With all the cloud cover came a little pot of gold , we were awake early as I decided to play golf and it was a 7:30 am start , this amazing sunrise greeted us - totally spectacular - I've only given you a couple of photos .

 The sky just started to light up , colours were amazing , we were mesmerised by it , purple , red , orange , yellow and every shade in between . I made it to golf 5mins late !!

   We went for a drive out to a gold fossicking area - just to have a look at the scenery - we don't have the equipment or license to fossick for gold - photos will have to be my gold .

 This is the road we came along , Karratha is in the distance .

  This is looking to the east , the drone gives us a great viewing height , I especially like the road disappearing into the distance .

  Found our first Sturt Desert Pea for the season , matching the colour of the soil .

  The road took us toward Harding Dam, but turned into a private road , so we had to turn off onto another track that wound it's way back toward Roebourne . Crossing over the Rio Tinto railway line we had another choice , a track that seemed to follow the rail line , so we took it - no signs telling us we couldn't ! After a few kilometres we had reached the road out to the dam , looking in the rear view mirror I saw a sign saying private road no public access - definitely no sign at the start though - no one even knew we were there . 

 The road had been recently graded , in fact the grader was working near the entrance to the dam so we chatted to him for a minute or two before going up to the dam lookout . The landscape out here is different - to describe the landscape best would be to say it looks like lot's of peaks & hills where someone has poured dark icing over the top and let it run down , going where it wanted .

 The spillway and ponds below looked great in such a dry landscape .

  The dam is well down in level and there's a distinct white ring around the edges .

 What a great view !!

The water has a very green colour to it - I suspect blue green algae - they definitely need a good dump of rain !!

  We are just passing time here , enjoying the pleasant days & nights . An overcast day lead to the most unlikely sunset - totally unexpected - we drove into town and up to some towers on the ridges on the south side of town just in time to see an awesome display of light . We stayed and watched it till it disappeared in the darkness .

  Another day , another drive , this time out to Port Lambert - Rio Tinto's loading facility - railway lines , conveyors , dust collectors , more conveyors and more iron ore than you can imagine . These 2 Osprey were just chilling in the trees with a train full of iron ore in the background .



 We had lunch out at a little beach we discovered last time we were here , had it all to ourselves - apart from some midgies . There are plenty of colourful shells on this beach , here's just a few of them .

Around to Point Sampson , we discovered the old derelict pier has been removed and this brand new steel replica ? is in place now . It's still a work in progress with landscaping work being done .



 This is Honeymoon Beach , it's a fascinating spot - the rocks near the beach are amazing !!



 The swirls and patterns in the rock imply the rock was under extreme pressure at some point in time - make up your own mind on this one .

 Plenty of Osprey around this area - this one is about 100m away from it's nesting pole - there was an angry one in the nest , screeching at us as we drove past - we think that's why this one was where it was - peace & quiet hahaha .

  Another day done , we headed for home .

 At Karratha , along the ridge lines on the southern side of town is the Yaburara Heritage Trail - a selection of walking tracks leading you through , up & down the hills and gullies . It is pronounced    " Yabara " and is an indigenous site used for a long time judging by the etchings in the rocks and shell middens located in different spots .
 We started our walk from the water towers above the Information Centre , it takes you up hill to one lookout then backtrack around the hill to the edge of a rocky outcrop - this is it .

 The rocks are a giant sized Rubic's Cube , and there are many etchings in the rocks on top of the ridge .

 The track lead us down the rocky slope into the gully below and then followed the dry water course . Certainly a rugged landscape of spinifex grass , the occasional Coolibah Trees and Bloodwoods , did I mention red rocks , yes there are a few !!

 From the dry creek bed we started to climb back up the hills again and then loop back around to the rocky ridge in the previous photo .
 Hakea's also grow in the most obscure places , not sure where they get any moisture from ???

 And there you have it , all caught up . Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1HhIo9AfVJuucs_W4uD316090LX9299i5&usp=sharing

15/6/19 North again

 Yes been a bit slack , here we go . Left Exmouth as we had some favourable winds for towing - you don't normally get too many Southerly winds here , mainly East to North Easterlies . There was a head wind for 80 klms but then it got better as we turned to the east back toward the highway . We were chasing the rain up the road , but thought we'd stop if it rained and sit it out . 

  The road out was interesting , one side of the road has been burnt and is now bare ground , the other side is full of spinifex grass - the spinifex does need to be burnt to replenish it , otherwise it dies off .

 This photo shows that burnt on the left & untouched on the right .

  The colours here always get us in , and with the spinifex gone you can see just how orange & red it is - it is such a diverse country we live in . The road to the highway goes through a lot of sand dune country , long red sand dunes stretching of in the distance , more flat country then another dune - kilometre after kilometre . We stopped beside the road for some lunch so I flew the drone over to one sand dune , spinifex and scrubby short trees dominate here . That's us over there .



 This is above the sand dune , you can see the dunes running into the distance and each darker strip is another dune etc etc .



 Now for a different view - straight down on top , showing the spinifex and the dead shrubbery and the colour of the sand .



 After lunch we got going again , before long we were back on the highway north  and had passed where we stopped for the night last year - it was still fine so we kept going .  
 The further north we got , the more overcast it became , and we started to get some light rain - now normally we'd have just stopped somewhere and called it a day , but we kept going and the rain stopped & started . We decided to go in toward Onslow about 7klms to a free camp there . As we arrived there was one truck & car stopped just off the bitumen - the mud was about 100mm deep !! We did a 3 point turn on the road and headed back to the highway again , not wanting to go off road at the moment - what looks firm and solid can be very wet and muddy and that's where we didn't want to be - stuck !!
Continuing on in light rain we finally pulled into Robe River Rest Area for the night .
 After a good sleep , it was back onto the hwy again and off to Karratha in sunny skies , the rain having disappeared thankfully .
 The batteries in the van have reached the end of their useful life and aren't lasting well , so we'll be here till a replacement arrives . In the meantime we'll get out & about and revisit some places with some different plans .
 Karratha seems to be missing the rain this year - the locals are calling it the Kabubble - a bubble over Karratha where the rain isn't allowed - apparently there's also something that Rio Tinto & Woodside are doing to the weather so it doesn't rain , that way they don't have any down time due to the rain Haha . At Exmouth we had 30mm , Karratha had 0.2mm . During the cyclone event earlier this year Port Hedland got a lot of rain & flooding , Karratha got the wind but next to no rain !!
  Here's a view of the concentrating ponds at Rio Tinto Dampier Salt .



 From there we headed out to Woodside's gas plant , the flame coming of the stack was at least 30m long and was spiralling into the air . It can be quite a sight at night from where we are staying , with the flame illuminating the sky .



 On our last 4wd adventure at Withnell Bay , we found another track to have a look at , so that was the plan for today to get to the western side of the peninsular . Winding our way slowly down the rocky track we found the track we were to try - it was tidal and fortunately it was approaching low tide and the water was only about 150mm deep . I walked across to check out the track before committing to it . On the other side of the water was a section of rocks , quite passable and well used , after that however was this section of very large rocks , with very little manoeuvring room . After walking further down the track I returned to the ute and decided we didn't need to break anything on the ute just to get somewhere we might later regret . With that we turned around and went back to the bay area and had some lunch . These are the offending rocks - they are considerably larger than they look here .

 Back to the black top we then headed back to Hearsons Cove and the tide was out .

 We parked at the top of the beach about 2m above the high tide mark , I took this photo from about 8-10m below .

  The beach here is interesting in that it doesn't have any sand , it consists of shells and coral fragments . A bit harsh on bare feet !!

  Back to town and the weather was nice enough to get the drone out . This is the eastern side of Karratha , not known for it's beaches , there's plenty of mangroves and sand / mud flats .

 Plenty more to come , here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1B1aun5qabqwdCuRtX5r98gHnRCB3fjO2&usp=sharing

6/6/19 Snorkelling the stacks

 The weather seems to have caught up with us this week , wind , wind and more wind ! Makes doing anything near or in the water a bit difficult , but - there's always a but - we did get a snorkel in at Oyster Stacks in Cape Range NP . It would have to be one of my favourite places to snorkel - the types and sheer number of fish is staggering .
  This is when I 1st got in , these yellow & black striped fish were busy searching for food .

 The water clarity was pretty good as well , and while the coral here isn't as colourful as in Queensland , there's plenty of it .

 Came across this colourful collection of fish busily feeding , not worrying about me at all .

 Not long after I swam into this large school of fish , there were hundreds , they swam all round me , everywhere I looked they were there .

 There was a few of these interesting ones as well .

 This one is amazing - it has an electric blue border .

 This is soft coral , and moves with the currents .

  With the wind , we ended up doing a lot of reading , but did go for a drive as well . We'd seen this track that headed in from the coast to the mountain range and carried on up the range and over the top. It also continued over towards Exmouth . After some slow driving over a lot of rocky stretches and making our way up part of the climb , we stopped to go for a walk to check the track to see if we'd take the ute any further . The rocks were pretty serious and we decided not to bother going further - didn't want to damage the ute . The views were great from the top , this is looking back down to the western side of the peninsular .

 This is back to the eastern side .

 This is beside the track , a rugged piece of landscape .

 While we were looking at the view we noticed another vehicle going down a different track below us  so we went down and found the track that led into another little gorge and some caves .

A rugged walk up the rocky , scrubby hill to the cave revealed a cave about 25m wide 3m high and about 10m deep . You could tell it's been lived in , the ceiling was blackened from fire smoke , and then there's all the etchings in the ceiling as well . As we walked , with each step you could see this fine dust explode from under our feet . 

 These cliffs and cave are limestone and are still growing stalactites and stalagmites , there was areas of flow stone and stalactites like this one dripping water down .



 The local bees are onto it as well , coming in for a drink from where the water is dripping .



 Another cave slightly higher up shows more features , but wasn't used for living as it was too low - still impressive though .

 The red sandy track that we drove back out on was surrounded by spinifex and small shrubs .

  Sand has corrugations as well !!

  Friday came and the rain also arrived , it was overcast when we left and the further we went south into the NP the wetter it became . Our neighbours at Yardie told us about a gorge walk that we hadn't heard about previously , so that'a where we went . A tour bus and a motorhome were parked in a large flat area , but the track continued on another 500m to the start of the track to Pilgonoman Gorge .
 As we arrived and parked the rain started , so we stopped and waited for a while . The 2 people from the motorhome walked in , then the tour group walked out , the rain drenching the front of them , not good news for them , the track back to the bus turned around so that the rain also hit them on the back as well , so they got drowned . The 2 motorhomes walked back out shortly after with rain jackets on , so weren't quite as wet as the others . The gorge looked quite promising , just had to wait until the rain eased off , so after about 20 mins we put our wind/rain jackets on and took the umbrella's and headed in to the gorge .

 Black Striped Rock wallabies inhabit this area - there are 6 of them in this photo .

 The rain continued , so did we , sheltering under a rock overhang for a few minutes . There were these small gum trees starting to burst into flower , an interesting contrast to the red & black cliffs of the gorge .

 Some of the small shrubbery also had these little white flowers just coming out .

 You can see by the stains on the rocks where the water seeps out and runs down the rocks .

 Another very small flower Lyn found - only 4 or 5 mm across .

 The colours are incredible , even amongst the rain - taking photo's gets a bit tricky when you're balancing an umbrella with one hand , and the camera with the other !!

  That's it for Cape Range & Exmouth , we're heading further north tomorrow .