1/10/20 Paraburdoo & onwards into the past

   Leaving TomPrice , we head to Paraburdoo - definitely quieter than Tom Price and a bit cheaper as well . Time for a bit of a clean of the van & ute after all the red dust . They have a full laundry for the FIFO workers to use - and those who stay in the park of course ! so we washed the car seat covers , come to think of it , we did the same last year haha . 

    Heading out to shop & a bit of sight seeing as well , we headed up a gravel rd looking for other tracks we could investigate . Finding one we thought would take us back across some country to Nanutarra Rd was a plus till we found the gate and private property sign . Turns out it was Rocklea Station - this property covers all the valley and just about everything you can see from Tom Price all the way out past Paraburdoo - owned by Rio Tinto - millions of acres . Come back in a hundred years or so and it will probably be the Hamersley plains - previously known as Hamersley Ranges haha . 

  This is what they do to the mountains , gradually reducing them to train loads of iron ore , and we can't complain , because we are buying all these things made of steel - this is where it starts it's life .

    Found another track that took us to the water reservoir for some different views toward Paraburdoo , the bare patches middle of photo is the golf course .

 

Another view of the eastern side of Paraburdoo .

     Leaving Paraburdoo after spending a considerably higher price for groceries and fuel - they charge higher because their main customers are miners and there's no where else to go !

     Heading out to Nanutarra Rd , we didn't have to go too far , our next destination was Cheela Plains Station Stay about 95klms from Paraburdoo .  It's only 1klm off the road , has a cafe & restaurant (limited meals) at a cost . We pulled up and got a site for 4 days and set up beside the cafe for today . They have a resident Bungarra - his name is Fatso - well deserved !! He's about 1.2m long head to tip of tail , and loves the cool grass - temperature was hitting 37 degrees !

     Not a lot done today , sat back and read our books while enjoying some aircon .

     The benefits of staying 2 or more days , you get to got for a drive to a couple of places on the property . So after a good nights sleep and relocating to our site for the next 3 nights , we headed out to Cheela Springs . It's a 20klm drive along Nanutarra Rd and then go into the property and drive another 12klms to the springs . As you can see from the next photo , we are out of the ranges , this is looking south onto a vast flat plain that goes what seems like forever .

    Stopping on the track to take a few photos , I got back in only to be told the tyre pressure monitor was telling us we had a fast leaking tyre - Bugger - I pulled up and checked it out , it was certainly going down quickly . Looks like when I stopped , I stopped right on top of a sharp rock that penetrated the tyre . This is the first puncture in 6 years whilst driving off road , we've picked up a couple of screws previously , but this gravel track is unforgiving - the only give was in the tyre . 

     I was a bit surprised how quickly we got it changed and back underway , the rough sharp gravel giving way to much finer rocks and bull dust - just like talcum powder - it just explodes as you drive through it , fortunately there was some wind that blew it away from us . Arrived at the spring and pulled up , this area was used when they used to muster cattle in this part of the station - it's now only 50,000 acres instead of the million acres it used to be - they would bring in an old kitchen shed on wheels and they would stay here & muster the cattle . There was water & shelter , they had an old shower shed as well . This is an old stock water trough where they could tie the horses , seem better days though .

      So has the old Southern Cross windmill , seems the windmill part fell off the top of the tower .

     And the old Ford Vanguard wagon , it's been here for an eternity in the harshest of weather conditions , just look at the condition of the bumper bar , the grill , door handles and window trims - still nice and shiny , looking like they'd just come out of the showroom - can't get that anymore .

     The rocks have also changed out here , we have got away from the red banded iron formation and there's this orange banded shale type rock with layers of white quartz running through it .

     After some lunch and a shortened walk around due to the 36 degrees , we got some aerial pics of the spring and surrounds . The spring gushes 250,000 litres per hour out of the ground - that's a lot of water !!

The Cheela Creek flows into the Hardy River and then onwards into the Ashburton River - like most rivers in the north of WA , they tend to flow underground , you only see them flowing above in flood times . As you can see , the trees love it , lot's of gum trees and date palms , and millions of birds make this home . There was constant bird noise all the time we were here , that was above the wind noise as well .

     The grayer/green trees are date palms .

     Made our way back out , stopping of at an old windmill it too has seen better days , the tank attached via pipe was bone dry . It seems to be a big flat river plain that we've been driving over as you can see here.

 

    And that was our day or two , and here's another sunset .

    Here's a map link , I have left it in satellite mode to show the colours :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=17NP83lQ1NWa5ZV96HFtfO19-YO_muI06&usp=sharing

30/9/20 TOM PRICE

     Out of Karijini and in to Tom Price for 3 nights . We managed to get 3  nights at the caravan park - that was a stretch for them , they told us they were booked out ! We caught up with Vicki & Bomba again , and agreed to head up Mt Nameless for sunset , turned out we weren't the only ones up there for sunset . Leaving around 4 pm and knowing what the track was like , we had plenty of time to crawl up the rough , rocky track to the top . This is one of the best view points in the Hamersley Ranges that you can drive up in a 4wd .

  The valley on the right has Nameless Valley Drive running through it - it takes you out to Nanutarra Rd .

     This is Tom Price township .

     And here we all are lined up on top of Mt Nameless .

     Sunset didn't let us down .

     This is the view of Tom Price mine , the main processing plant is behind the tower .

     Next day we headed out Nameless Valley Dr to go out to Hamersley Gorge . Seems we are a magnet for high/ wide loads at the moment . These trucks are towing brand new tip trucks - 8m wide and a similar height , don't have the wheels or the tipper tray on them . They had to use this road due to some low bridges they couldn't fit under on the main rd .

     Further out , views of the ranges were excellent .

    We went along this gravel rd till we got to the turnoff to Hamersley Gorge . Road trains also use this road frequently to pickup and deliver goods etc to Solomon Mine .

     The visual impact of Hamersley Gorge is hard to forget - the contorted layers of rock twist & turn .

             A steep track leads you down to the bottom of the gorge to the main pools , it's about 300 - 400mm lower than when we were here last , the water as cool as we remembered . Still some stunning views . We swam through this gorge to see what was at the other end . Getting around the corner in the photo , there was a rock shelf there that allowed us to get out of the water and warm up like a lizard on a rock soaking up the sun's warmth - we were seriously cooled down and not really looking forward to have to swim back .

     This was a serious roll in the rock .

     Again today there were a lot of people here , fortunately they seemed to come & go - part of their mission to see & do everything in their allotted time on holidays .

     Well that's it , here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1ruP5eTicrCCnDjxIwTJN0cIe3c8cUgIK&usp=sharing

25/9/20 Back in the gorges

 

     Back to Karijini to some familiar ground and also some new ground . We arrived early and set up , had some lunch and went to see Vicki & Bomba - not there , so we went around to Circular Pool Lookout . The walk to the pool has been closed due to a rockfall recently , so the best you can do now is look down on it from above . A few backpackers decided to walk up there and go for a swim - they were told to leave the park by the rangers that caught them there .  

       The walls of the gorge are a beautiful mix of colours ,and it was a great time tone there with the sun shining on the wall .

     Circular Pool is gradually being taken over by aquatic plants .

     We caught up with Vicki & Bomba , their enthusiasm for Karijini was giving us both a great feeling - it's been really great to see & hear different people talking about what they've seen & done and how much they are enjoying it , as we've done on all our previous visits .

      One gorge that we hadn't done before was Knox Gorge - it was a bit late in the afternoon the first time we came here , it's also a Grade 5 walk - the hardest rating for walks in the park . 

       So that was our destination for tomorrow .

    Breakfast done , we loaded up with water , lunch & swimmers , before navigating across 18klms of thick , loose , corrugated gravel road  - it hasn't changed , every time we're here , this road is the same - you'd think with all the visitors here that they may think about putting down some bitumen . We arrived at the turnoff and drove the 6klms to the lookout , and went for a look . The lookout was closed off , but you could look from the sides down into the gorge .

     This is to the side of the lookout .

      Setting off on the 2klm return walk was easy to start with , then we reached the top of the descent and realised why it's a grade 5 walk . The track down is just marginally better than a goat track - here's a photo looking back up from about quarter of the way down .

      It got worse before it got better , with bigger steps and steep declines , but we made it down and checked out the creek running through the bottom of the gorge .

      This little fellow decided to drop by for a look and stayed for a photo .

     Rock hopping was called for to get to the corner below the lookout , a bit of spiderman was also called for making our way around the corner to get this view back up towards the lookout . This pool is also excellent for a cool down before climbing back up .

     I turned around to continue our hike and saw something moving in the water at the next pool of water , if you look closely you can see it's a brown snake - about 4 feet long ,,  it was going through and around the algae and rocks for anything it could eat . The big catch to this was , the rock shelf just above it is the walkway down the gorge - so we stopped and watched it for a while , just in case it wanted to come out of the water and say hello . It didn't so we continued down the gorge .

     About 300m further on we arrived at the end of the gorge and the roped off section that you don't go past . The gorge walls closed in and there's only a narrow gap for the water to go through . You can see where it meets up with Red Gorge , and is also close to Weano & Hancock Gorges , before flowing into Wittenoom Gorge .

       And that's where we had lunch , enjoying the sun reflecting into the gorge from the outside walls , changing colour regularly .

      This is looking back to where we'd walked from .

     Heading back out wee came across this one just sitting on the rock - must have been enjoying the warmth of the rock - it didn't move even though we were only 1m from it .

     Back to the spiderman section beside the main pool , we got talking to a young couple who asked us how old we were , we told them and they then said they would like to be able to do this at our age - sort of a back handed compliment - maybe we are starting to feel a little bit older now hahaha . They also took a photo for us .

     After a cooling swim - it was fresh !! we headed back up to the carpark . Here's another view of the track upwards .

         We got to the top of the climb and we were both happy and amazed that we'd made it back up and our heart rate wasn't up much and we weren't doing a lot of heavy breathing either - got to be happy with that !! 

     Headed back to camp and relaxed with a nice cold beer .

    Next day we had to move sites for the next 3 nights - our first 2 nights were an extra that we booked only last week . Terry & Robyn , friends from Perth who we met 5 years ago were due in that afternoon with some of their extended family , so we had a bit of catch up with them after they arrived .

    We decided to go for a look down Dales Gorge from Fortescue Falls end - we walked about 3/4  of the way and stopped at one of the best sections where there are small waterfalls and shallow pools . Lyn sat in one of the small pools to cool off while I had some fun with photos .

     This one is a band of rock about 300mm thick in the gorge wall , I liked the way it was sculpted , it was nice and smooth .

     Out & about around the rock pools & waterfalls was great - here's some of the resulting photos .

      There seemed to be lot's of white butterflies around , I was lucky enough to get this one - check out the heart shapes on the wing edges .

     Back to one of the most photographed waterfalls in WA , and there was a reasonable amount of water coming down the stepped gorge . Fortescue Falls .

     We swam in the pool below the falls to cool off after the walk , then had some lunch before heading back to camp .

    Next day we headed to Fern Pool , the weather was a bit overcast which helped with the photos - I could play with the shutter speed to get the effect of the flowing water - here's the results .

     After a swim , there was more water coming over the falls than last year , so it had changed a bit - we got it to ourselves for about 5mins , which was great for the photo's .

     Back to Fortesque Falls , and it was still a bit overcast , so I could keep going with the photos .

     Some Spinifex Pigeons came down for a drink before flying up to this rock - they blend in so well with the surrounding scenery .

     Given the cloud was hanging around , sunset was looking interesting - and didn't disappoint !!

     And the sunset was fitting for our last night in Karijini , we enjoyed drinks with Robyn & Terry ,  having a good evening . 

     I did mention it before , but we got more of a kick out of seeing all these people who hadn't been here before , seeing it and enjoying it for the first time . The thing we weren't excited about was the amount of people that were here - it seemed more crowded than we'd had it before - but that's what Covid has done - everyone from Perth is out travelling around WA and discovering all that WA has to offer , instead of going to Bali .

    We packed and headed off next morning in to Tom Price , here's map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1rGHxpwm0lk2iOSxZGra0q2fPFflc_pKh&usp=sharing