10/10/22 Munni Munni Creek

 

    Another few days of chatting with friends , shopping and cleaning the ute and van , had us wanting to get out & about . It's staying hot up here as well , fortunately each day we get a sea breeze to cool things down a bit . So we headed out Warlu Road towards Millstream , but only went out about 20klms and turned off onto this road . It was bordered by Mulla Mulla , and lots of it .

    Throw in some white everlasting daisies as well .

   Followed a track down toward Munni Munni Creek , past more flowers .

    A little further down , we found the dry creek bed .

    More tiny flowers along the creek bed .

   And finally there was some water . It seems this section is really popular with locals , as there were tyre tracks everywhere . 

    An aerial view shows the tyre tracks and the surrounding flood plains 

    And here's the ute to give some perspective to the photo .

    It was 35 degrees , so we didn't stay out side long , the sand and rocks was starting to burn our feet . Back out to the first road we turned  off on and we headed off to the right to a spot called Radio Tower Lookout . There was a small mine next door , and the track up the hill was a mixture of bitumen in the steep sections , and gravel in the not so steep sections - 4WD was necessary ! Views from the top were pretty good , 360 degree views .

    The dark line is actually an iron ore train heading toward Dampier 

    Rocky ridges stretch into the distance , it's different landscape up here .

     This is looking to the north toward Dampier , the long line at the right is that iron ore train again .

    Here's a view of Warlu road with a few cars heading toward Dampier , the green is spinifex .

    And here's an empty train heading back toward Tom Price , that is the 3rd engine - there's another two to the right .

     And with that we headed back into town , and prepared for the next leg of our journey , toward Carnarvon . Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1DO5-dAaAdmgvnnrI4kI-sUT7mqeCuW8&usp=sharing

6/10/22 Dampier

 

  It's very windy up here at the moment , so we decided to just go for a drive to Dampier . There were a couple of ships being loaded with iron ore , the harbour was certainly getting the wind as well - plenty of white caps .

    A little bit of dust getting blown around as well .

    Another ship was being brought in - the tug boat probably helped keep it on line . 

    Iron ore dust was blowing from East Intercourse Island over to the salt piles on East Mid Intercourse island . 

    We took advantage of a shady river oak and parked under it so that we could wax the ute , we washed it yesterday and decided it needed a wax - we use a spray on wax that's really easy to use , and it's quick . It came up pretty good !!

     From Dampier , we went up to Hearsons Cove for a look . The tide was high and the wind was pumping , perfect for kite surfing . This guy was having a great time , he was using a foil - it's a shorter board with an aerofoil under it . As it gathers speed the board lifts out of the water and goes faster . They are getting very popular .

    Another guy joined him in the water , he too had a foil board , but had a hand held wing to propel him around .

     There were a few people at the beach - this car , us and another up the other end of the beach , then 3 cars for the cars out surfing .

    This is a cockroach plant , the orange parts are seed pods and they are highly visible when there are lots of plants about . 

    Here is Deep Gorge , this is a significant area for petroglyphs ( pictures scratched into rocks ) and there are more than 10,000 recorded in the Burrup Peninsular alone ! You can view them from platforms near where the cars are parked .

    Back to the van and we had a visit from one of the locals a Perentie .

  

      Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1zDOrvwtG9wD8JAXDVlzxOHsA-KkcAKE&usp=sharing

5/10/22 Whim Creek to Karratha

   Not in a rush , we took our time , finally getting onto the highway , we discovered lots of wildflowers along the way . There were fields of these small Mulla Mulla .

   In amongst all those flowers were Sturt desert Peas and lots of them - smaller than usual , but lots of them .

   Down the road a bit further we crossed the Sherlock River - one of the rare rivers over here that seems to have water in it most times .

   Time for some aerial shots , this area is predominately flat and used for grazing cattle - the horizon here is really wide .

    The red gravel & soil make for interesting colours . The tree line is a river / water course .

   Wildflowers lining the highway .

   You know when you are getting to the Karratha area , all the dark rock covered mountains .

    Then a ridge of white quartz that looks a bit pink - due to the red dust .

    Roebourne appeared and the first thing you see is the old gaol & wardens houses . 

    Further towards Karratha and another seam of quartz pokes out of the ground .

   We are stopping at Karratha for a few days to catch up with some friends & give our parcel enough time to get to Carnarvon where we will pick it up hopefully !!

4/10/22 Whim Creek

We left Port Hedland after waiting an extra day for a parcel to arrive - it didn't , so we'll redirect it and keep on heading down the highway .  We hadn't stopped at Whim Creek before , so another first - it's a pub , but it's been closed for several years now , but also allows caravans etc to camp overnight in the carpark - if you can call it that . There's also a 24hr diesel tank that road trains use . Plenty of wildflowers about at the moment .

    Here's the pub .

    And a mural on the fence beside the pub .

   There's also a memorial for 5 Lockyer brothers . They all went to war in WW2 , 2 never returned , but the other 3 did . They were all aboriginal and were born and worked in & around Whim Creek on stations.

    Plenty of seed pods on the trees - these are wattle seeds .

    Another different flower with very furry leaves .

    Another yellow flower that seemed to have a red heart .

   Then we have the Kapok bush - a little bit of history , saddles on camels were stuffed with this fluffy seed pod . Unfortunately , the saddles split and the seeds dropped out and took over - it's a noxious weed in WA and probably NT as well !!

    A few trucks came in during the afternoon to fill up , they were very good and drove very slowly around the gravel & dirt carpark , but with 100 odd tyres , they do kick up some dust - fortunately for us , we parked away from the turning area of the road trains - the other caravan that was parked were probably wishing they'd parked where we did .

    Here's an aerial view of the pub and surrounding buildings , there's also a mine just on the top right hand side of the photo .

    Here we are , far enough away from the trucks - it was a very peaceful night and a good nights sleep .

   Just another sunset for your perusal .

 

   Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=15BeVmfcpEkNRdtMKINSUH1iMDOsc37E&usp=sharing