18/10/20 Back to the cape

 

 We left Cheela Plains and headed west , finding a free camp at House Creek . It turned out to be a great spot for the night in amongst some trees - and we had it all to ourselves - bonus !! The trees protected us from the wind which was great .

     After a great , quiet night , we head off again with a tail wind like yesterday - makes for easier towing . We stopped at another free camp at Barradale . It was busier , but not by much . The wind picked up early next day and we packed up in a dust storm and headed off again . Stopping along the road toward Bullara Station , we stayed at another rest area near the top of a hill overlooking the Exmouth Gulf - and watched the dust being blown around again !! Next morning we moved down the road to Bullara Station for a couple of nights so we could wash & cook & get ready for our week at Cape Range . The winds picked up each afternoon at Bullara and coated us in dust again - we're getting a bit sick of this wind !!

We left Bullara Station Stay and headed in to Exmouth to fill up with fuel , water and food , before heading out to Cape Range , where we won't have phone service .

      Back in service again after a week at Cape Range , what promised to be a great week was tempered by the wind that blew relentlessly . It was a breeze for a while in the mornings , but by lunch time it was 30-35kms/hr , blowing dust & sand around the place , as well as the wind swell on the water making swimming & snorkelling unpleasant .

     Apart from that we had nice sunny skies most days , and only a few with some cloud that burnt off early . This is the view from the viewing platform 30m behind our van - tough view hey , and we had to put up with that for a whole week haha .

     The reef is just there and it's such a great outlook from our camp .

     Sunset day 1 , some spray from the waves on the edge of the reef glowing in the sun .

     Friends had told us about a lot of turtles back up near Yardie Homestead , so we went for a look . The drone came out as we were about 500m away behind some sand dunes at a locked gate . The view was amazing as I spotted them in the water , so we headed in for a better look . Apparently it's mating season and we could see a few hundred turtles in the water just off the sand & waves , there were some resting on the sand as well . Resting - they were collapsed on the sand !!

     These weren't small turtles either - nearly 1m long !! All the dark spots in the photo are turtles !

    This one came out , looked toward me and then just dropped it's head on the sand - the only other movement it made was when the waves moved it around a little .

     We told another younger couple about them , and then caught up with them again several days later - they thanked us for telling them about the turtles and were quite gobsmacked by the experience - describing it as being in a National Geographic movie !!

     Another day done and here's another sunset looking from the side of the van .

     Next day we walked up to Bloodwood Creek then back down along the waters edge . It's an interesting area , with amazing geology . The limestone rock borders the water in lots of places - it shows that at some stage the ocean floor was a bit higher than currently - there's another 2 distinct layers of previous ocean floor levels in the ranges only a few kilometres to the east of here . 

     The lighter brown rock was a layer of sediment that must have built up quickly , trapping sea life under its weight - you can see some of the shells in this rock that were trapped under the sediment .

      Another rock , not too far away from the previous one , shows it picked up a lot of other different smaller rocks when it was formed - more sediment or volcanic action ????

     Here's an aerial view of the area looking north .

     And another showing our campground , looking south .

      The winds are relentless , making afternoon activities non existent - book reading turning into the preferred activity .

    Another sunset - they're all a little bit different .

     There's an area we haven't been to previously - south of Yardie Creek . Our first visit to Cape Range and the creek was tidal , this year it's been filled with sand and no longer flows out - but that enabled us to drive across and head south to the southern area of the park . Foliage beside the track only allows for a one lane track , with some overtaking areas here & there . It's a corrugated sandy track , leading to the first turn off to 1k campsite .

     This is the view of the coast at the campsite .

     More geology ,  this was a coral outcrop before it was totally covered in sediment & fossilised .  It is about 2m across .

     Next campground was Boat Harbour - a spectacular sandy beach with a limestone bar jutting out into the water . It was reasonably sheltered from the wind so far this morning ,  we climbed up the sand dunes for this photo .

     A couple of aerial shots follow .

     Deciding to check out further down the track instead of going for a swim & snorkel probably wasn't the best move , but we went anyway . The track left the park and started along a huge clay pan with tracks off into the dunes at different locations , this was one of them . 

     AS we took in the scenery in front of us , we noticed two dolphins zooming around underwater - must of been chasing fish , as they came up and rejoined together and swam slowly around . They were darker and longer than other dolphins we've seen before .

    Here's another sunset , more spectacular thanks to some thin cloud coming up from the south .

     Given our weather at the moment , we decided to go back to Pilgonoman Gorge for a look at the rock wallabies earlier in the morning before the wind picked up too much . Didn't take long to find them hopping around the rocks , there were others just having a rest as well .

      Colours in the gorge are pretty amazing .

     Closer to the ground was okay as well .

    This one enjoying the rock surrounded by small fig trees .

      We headed down to Osprey Bay for a swim & snorkel before the wind came up too much . I'd only gone about 10m and ran into this little fella .

     Quickly followed by this one about 5m away

     There were plenty of parrot fish cruising around - all different colours to the normally brightly coloured ones .

     

     Then there was this one .

     After about 20 mins the wind had picked up , so we got out and headed back for lunch . Another couple of sunsets .

     Our final night out and another nice sunset to finish off our week .

     Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1Q7Ba4oE4NDvc1W4QLxR_90Zvaf_sv3df&usp=sharing

3/10/20 Into the unknown

     With yesterday done & dusted ( puncture , fell over and the 3rd thing , lost a hose connector ) and hopefully all the bad luck used up , we headed out to Beasley River Gorge . This was a 22klm trip back toward Paraburdoo , then turn off and go into a locked gate and continue another 10 kms to get top the gorge . This was the valley we were headed into , the road in was in surprisingly good condition , nearly 3 lanes wide , slightly corrugated , but acceptable . Turns out Rio Tinto , BHP , Fortescue and another company all have mining tenements here as well - that explains the road !!

 

   Further into the valley we came across a small sign for a road off to the right , 2klms to The Wall , so off we went winding our way towards a ridgeline . Stopping 150m from the ridge , we walked along the dry creek bed and found our way to the end .

     Here is The Wall , and it just gets more amazing the closer you get .

    All the rock layers here are nearly vertical , completely different from Karijini , where they are horizontal .

     The Wall is a dry waterfall with a plunge pool below - this would be spectacular when it's flowing , but you probably wouldn't be able to get here then !!

     As you can see the walls to the left of the waterfall are all angled and thinly layered - what an incredible place !!

      Here's some aerial shots of the surrounding hills , valleys etc , outstanding .

     From there we headed out through the gorge section and headed to Peaimatha Soak . Not knowing what we were going to made it interesting . After winding through the gorge we came out into another flat river plain . We drove past a mesa and turned in to where the soak is . And here it is , the photo makes it look a bit better than it was , the water is a rather uninspiring green , but the birds love it . The soak is in an area of volcanic rocks formed about 2800 million years ago ! If you are interested google The Great Oxidisation Event .

     Pink Galahs seemed to take over the log to have a drink .

     If you zoom in on the middle of the photo you'll see about 30 Zebra Finches , they are so well camouflaged .

      Here's shot of that river plain we drove through .

     The red edge is the top of the mesa we drove past .

      Love the colours of it all !

    Back to Mussel Pool for some lunch and a short walk to Perentie Falls , this is Mussel Pool .

    Walking up the river bed , flood remnants are still hanging 5m above us , this cluster would be about 1 tonne of firewood !!

    Perentie Falls was only about 300m from the pool , you can see the tide mark around the rocks when the pool is full - clearly now it's empty , and you can see where the water trickled down prior to drying up .

     This area needs to be seen from above to appreciate just what's here . This is the northern end of the gorge .

     This is the southern section , just follow the green trees .

       This is a shot of the valley above Perentie Falls - you can see the creek bed winding up the valley floor , the creek bed does a 90 degree turn to the right before dropping over the falls which our just out of shot . 

    We then went for a swim in Mussel Pool and cooled down .

     Not to be outdone by the drone , we headed upwards to the Mussel Pool Lookout and also Perentie Falls - it was an interesting walk / discovery trail - very poorly marked and maintained - I think it's a kangaroo track - certainly more suited to them than us haha .

     This is the view of the valley behind Perentie Falls . The falls are directly in front and below us .

     Saw an interesting spider web on the way back down , it was actually a ball of web about 250mm round , not your normal flat one dimensional web !

     Time had disappeared again , so we headed for home . A couple of stops on the way out - this is Woongarra Pool .

     This is an area near where you go through the locked gate , again leaving us wondering what these gum trees grow in , and also where they get water from ????

     Back to the van and another sunset .

Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1mb5qxX0MOo7i0AMf-AMluXHNFpeJHTG0&usp=sharing