20/7/19 Back to the bar

 After a great week at Meentheena , we headed back to Marble Bar expecting to get a powered site for a couple of nights - well weren't we surprised , they were booked pretty solid - we could get one night powered - there was an amateur gold detectors / prospectors  get together , so we took ana unpowered site and got a powered one for the next night .

  This is some of the scenery you drive through to get back to Marble Bar .

 After a good nights sleep , we packed up and moved 30 m to our powered site , the washing machine was put straight into service .
   We had to go back out to the jasper seam just out of town just for another look at this natural wonder . Picture a seam of rock about 30m wide , with ribbons of coloured rock that go off into a mountain either side of the Coongan River . The last couple of photos show the colours better as they are wet .

 This is looking back toward Chinamans Pool , the ridge in the left hand side of the photo is the jasper ridge .



 Such an amazing sight , has to be seen to be believed . Next we went out to Glen Herring Gorge , it's about 30klms south and took some 4wding to get to the end of the track .
 Not knowing what to expect here we wandered down the river bed to the gorge , the gum trees contrasting the red rock & light green spinifex .

 Small pools of water appeared , and had great reflections of the coloured rocks 

 Further down and around the corner and there was a much larger pool and more rock - more volcanic rock , seemingly like lava - a different colour and had lots of other rocks embedded in it .



 The cliffs and formations above us were amazing .

 And further down was the last major pool before we were out the other side of the gorge .



 After a great afternoon cruising the countryside , we headed back to camp , rescued the washing and sat down for a beer .
 Next day we fuelled up and headed out to Coongan Pool , it's on the road back to Marble Bar and is next to Dooleena Gorge . We managed to get a great spot right next to the Coongan River - we could watch the schools of fish from our dining table - how good was that !



 Next day we headed out to Coppin Gap , again not knowing what to expect , we found our way there through rolling hills and creek beds , ending up beside a huge ridge line with a gap in it - very similar to the gaps in the East & West MacDonnell Ranges near Alice Springs . We rock hopped and wound our way through the creek bed and emerged at this beautiful pool . It was about 5m deep and cool , and went for about 40m before some rocks blocked it off .


  Speaking of rocks , guess what we found here - more Jasper - this whole ridge was made of Jasper just like in Marble Bar - this chunk shows it clearly .
 Another little discovery on our travels - how good is this !!!

 A 2nd pool extended further to the other side of the gorge - a bit lower in water level , but equally as impressive .

 Birdlife was abundant here , with hundreds of painted finches all coming in for a drink . There were hawks , doves & spinifex pidgeons as well as various types of finch .

 This gorge wasn't a long as Glen Herring , but still as impressive .



  This is it from above , looking out to the north to the flat country .

 Back to the ute and some lunch consumed , we headed out to look at the other side of the ridge we'd just wandered through . This is the view of the ridge , the gorge is in the left hand side of the photo .

 Time was getting away , and there was another spot we wanted to go to ,Shay Gap , but it was 55klms away and it was already 3:15 pm , so we decided we'd leave that one for another visit .

 Another peaceful night's sleep and we wake to this view in the morning - I know , it's a bit tough but someone's got to do it .



     We reluctantly packed up before going for a walkup the river , and got chatting to a gentleman who used to work at the Comet Gold Mine in Marble Bar . He told us a few more places we should look at , a few roads to go down etc , would have been nice to have spoken to him a day ago , but wasn't to be - next time . And with that we headed back to Port Hedland to check on phones , emails and anything else we'd missed out on for the last week while we had no phone or internet .



   The salt farm beside the road in Port Hedland is an amazing sight in all the red & brown of the town . That's a D10 bulldozer up that salt pile - one of the biggest bulldozers they make - looks like a toy pushing the salt down to be loaded into trucks by an equally large front end loader .



 The loader puts 2 scoops of salt into each trailer - so 6 scoops and the triple road train is full ready to go the short distance to the port to be loaded into a ship .



 The weekend rolled around and it was time to catch up with Garry & Linda again , not sure how long it will be before we see them again . We enjoyed their company and had a beautiful meal together on Sunday afternoon , even had a fire going as the sun went down .
 Tomorrow we are off to one of our favourite free camps , but that will be in the next edition .
Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qvdPFjwNCVl5LxuS6YLHrze-yQs8R3W_&usp=sharing

20/7/19 Out to the retreat

  After a great weekend catch up with Garry & Linda , we headed off to Meentheena Vets Retreat , 78klms east of Marble Bar . No power , no water , no phone reception for us , no internet or tv - oh what a shame !!

 We fuelled up in Marble Bar - just to make sure we had enough fuel to do some driving around the retreat and there abouts , and returning to Marble Bar again . We arrived to the entrance just before lunch , and made our way in the 5klms of gravel track - cautiously ! The track was in good condition , dusty , but pretty smooth apart from the washouts and creek beds . We made it in okay , but there were some concerns about the exit back onto the road when we leave , but we found a spot to set up , then had some lunch . The drive in took about 20mins , we went quite slowly . 

 The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing , it wasn't too much longer till the fire pit was alight and everyone was seated around the bush telly , laughing and chatting .

 There are several 4wd tracks on the property and we chose one that took us a further 30klms into the rugged australian bush , far from everything and everyone . 

  This is the Nullagine River at Paperbarks Campsite - you can camp about 20m from the water . The paperbark trees form a green canopy over the water .

 There are 3 kayaks and a tube that can be used by any of the campers here .

 The track followed the river valley up into the hills , we were driving through spinifex grass & orange gravel , then we would come across some bull dust - brown dust that exploded as you drove over it , forming a brown fog of talcum powder .

 We stopped regularly for some photos and just to look at the magnificent outback we were driving through . The track degenerated somewhat , with washouts and eroded sections that we had to crawl through at low speed , in fact we we're in 2nd gear for most of the drive . It was taking plenty of concentration to put the wheels where you needed to get through as we climbed over rocks & gutters , so much so that we missed the track that was to take us to Baroona Hill . We continued on for another few kilometres and stopped under the shade of a lonely tree & had lunch before flying the drone around again .  The scenery from above was an eye opener , the green of the water ways & the reds & browns of the gravel , dirt & spinifex .



 On the far side of the riverbed some of the area had been burnt very recently , not sure whether it was a lightning strike or a random burn off ?



  After our lunch we headed back toward Baroona Hill , found the track and drove to the top of the hill up a very rocky track . The hill is where the land has been thrust upwards creating a sloping hill and an orange rocky cliff face . A gum tree was growing out of the cracks and had been there for some time - the dry riverbed is behind it .

 The rocks here were very different from other areas we've been to , the rock is layered in lots of very thin layers like shale and chips away very easily .



 The rock on the edge of the cliff was quite colourful , with red & orange patterns .



 This is one of the pool areas where water seems to sit surrounded by a large gravel bed . There is a Jabiru just taking off - it's a black necked stork and they stand about 1.5m tall !

  Then we spotted a kayak in the spinifex haha .

 The colours of the outback are truly stunning .

 On the way back to the van , we came across a bird we'd never seen before - it had a dirty cream neck , light brown body , black topped head and was about 1m tall - we found out later it's a Bustard - no I wasn't swearing .

 Back at the camp it was time to join up with everyone and sit around the bush telly with a cold beer and chat to our new neighbours .

 Next day we headed off to another creek bed that had a few waterholes and more great scenery .



 Another 4wd track took us toward a couple of spots , scenery again was great .



 An extremely rugged and varied landscape out here in the middle of nowhere .

 There are some Stromatilites fossils here , which are quite extraordinary apparently . Stomatolites are ancient ball of bacteria that seem to grow for a very long time - new have seen living versions at Hamelin Bay and Cervantes , but never fossilised ones . Apparently scientists come and check them out regularly - some from overseas as well !!

  Further up the track we arrived at Pelican pool , another part of the Nullagine River - no pelicans though .



 More gravel beds along wide stretches of the river , there were signs of the flooding earlier this year , debris was caught in the trees about 3m above the current level - that's a lot of water .



 This is a smaller waterway we had to drive across , just love the white of the gumtrees against the stones & gravel .

 After another drive back toward the van , we took another turnoff and discovered Rocky Pools . Yes another part of the Nullagine River , these paperbarks have an enormous root system - there's not much soil in there to hold onto , it's just a mass of roots.

 More views of the pools from above , this would be the longest section with water we've seen .



 More typical aussie outback colour .

 At the campsite was an old Blitz truck , gradually returning to where it came from - rusting away .

 Yes more sections of the river , this one slightly different , water on the left and gravel on the right - not totally sure if it's the river and a creek that flows into it or if it's an island with a branch of the river going around either side .



 We ventured out of the property and drove down to check out another campsite by the river - it was pretty dry though , with the river about 120m across - water was flowing down here between 2&3 metres deep after the cyclone earlier this year .

Well that was our week in the outback , here's a map link : - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pnWRih6ziD7nP80EzfXpi1DheSb2LzhN&usp=sharing