The Pilbara - Part Two

The next morning the river had subsided a lot and we felt confident enough to tackle it. After some more mud, puddles, river crossings and corrugations we finally reached the turnoff for Millstream Chichester N.P. only to find a road closed sign. Luckily we hadn’t made it all the way there the night before, because who knows what we would have done! After some choice words and revaluation of where we wanted to go, including a sat phone call to the ranger to confirm the road was still closed, we decided to visit Python Pool in the Eastern side of the park, which was still accessible, however a further 100km down the road.

Some of the water crossings were quite large - these pelicans mistook this one for a lake! I should mention this is the outback and pelicans this far inland is weird!!!

The drive to Python Pool saw us winding around hills with great vantage points of the ranges and spectacular land formations. Python Pool itself was stunning, even if a little murky from the recent downpour. The upside of this was that the waterfall entering the pool was flowing, something a few locals who came along said doesn’t happen very often. Lucky us! We went for a quick, cold dip in the pool, sat by the pool reading our books till the ranges blocked the sun into the gorge. Michael went for a walk along an old cameleers trail through the hills in the evening for some more great vantage points and an encounter with some Sturt Desert Peas. What started off as a lazy afternoon turned into an overnight stay as we waited for the other road to open.  Hopefully it would be worth the wait!

Python Pool.

One of the views near Python Pool.

Reluctant to leave, but also eager to explore the rest of the park, we called the ranger first thing in the morning. Good news followed, we assessed our fuel supplies and decided we had just enough diesel to make it into the park then out to Karratha. We packed up, farewelled our pool and little fish within and made our way back out to the dirt road. Our next stop was not until the Fortescue River Crossing where a brand new four wheel drive met its end with water getting into the electrics. With no electrics to speak of we felt pretty safe, and with the water dropping greatly overnight we made it through without a problem. Within the N.P. the first attraction was Deep Reach Pool. This picnic area had some appeal, however with the river still high and flowing we did not feel like a dip at the time. We continued on to the old homestead which is now the visitor centre for the park, complete with information, maps and relics of a bygone era. We could have spent longer exploring the grounds and various bits of equipment, however a campsite was calling and our bellies wanted some lunch, so we were off to Crossing Pool, this time crossing the Fortescue River at the ford.

Hard to believe that we're driving on a road - check out this water crossing!

The camp hosts at Crossing Pool were very inviting and helpful and was a nice start to our overnight stay. The campsite overlooked the Fortescue River and was surrounded by shady gums, grass and some lovely white cockatoos. Our spot was right next to the ladder entering the deep, something we took advantage of the next day. The rest of the day saw us relaxing in the sun (about time we stopped driving and started relaxing), cooking and eating some scrumptious pancakes and watching the cockies play. The next morning we enjoyed the sun a little more, as we were meeting friends in the afternoon and didn’t have to rush. Problem with this however is that after a few days in the bush we can get ourselves into a state, so despite the cold we were in the river refreshing ourselves ready to hit the town. The drive into Karratha was fairly monotonous, not helped much by listening to ABC radio (the only station we could get, and only if we turn the inverter off). That afternoon saw us arrive in Karratha, where we were super excited to see the new LeisurePlex…not actually, we had just been listening about it for the last hour or so (huzzah ABC).

Our Campsite at Crossing Pool.

We drove up to the Burrup Peninsula where we went to the Offshore Gas Information Centre and learnt a bit about one of Australia’s major exports, natural gas. Michael was in his element, and since I also felt some interest you know the centre must have been pretty good. It was fascinating learning about the massive quantities of gas extracted, how it is produced and shipped across the world, and how life was on an offshore rig. With the manmade marvels finished, we stopped at Deep Gorge to check out some Aboriginal Petroglyphs (rock paintings but cooler) dating from 30,000 years ago right up to the 20^th century. Just down the road was Hearson Cove, a lovely little beach with little sign of human intervention. Apparently in the 70’s this area was a booming little construction town built to supply the offshore rigs being built at the time, and accommodating 100’s of workers. After construction all this was then not required, the buildings all removed and used elsewhere and thousands of dollars spent rehabilitating the area. Who says big industry doesn’t care about the environment.

We then popped our heads into Dampier long enough to take some happy snaps of Red Dog (one of very few things to do in Dampier, and luckily located on the main road on the way towards town) then made our way back to town to meet up with long-time family friend Kimberley, her husband Brian and his father Dennis. We settled in for the evening over pizza and a couple of beers and talked about the good old days and recent times. It was nice to sleep in a proper bed again that night and decided we would have to spend another couple of days here to explore and enjoy the company.

Mia and I with Red Dog...ps look at the state of our car!

The next day Brian took us around town, including to Roebourne Jail, Cossack Courthouse and Point Samson for an amazing lunch overlooking the ocean. Roebourne Jail and Cossack provided an amazing insight into the early settlement of the area and the hardships that life entailed. It gave us an appreciation of what we have today, ranging from cars on tarred roads right down to how to boil water (and how to collect said water). Whilst at lunch all three of us had an amazing revelation, beer was good, bourbon and coke was even better, and we needed to get some for the evening.

Its great having a photographer! this is the view of karratha from a very large hill and below is the Jail!

Soon after we were back at “home” enjoying some Canadian Club and wondering how we had not gotten onto this drop earlier. We spent the afternoon convincing Brian, and Kim when she came home from work, that life on the road is awesome, adventures are a must and possibly talked Brian into a roadtrip from the Central Coast back to Karratha to pick up his car (wouldn’t you?). Kim was also keen to hit the road with us, however with work commitments decided it was not feasible at the time, but if we went to Bali from Darwin we should let her know. Kim and Brian spent the afternoon convincing us that Karratha is a great place to live and work and that we should come back, or even just stay now, which had us once again thinking about our future. In no time at all our afternoon drinks turned into the evening and it was time to let our hair down congratulating Brian and Kim’s friends Tahleea and Josh for getting engaged. House party here we come. We spent the evening getting to know some of the locals, hearing some horror stories (they all worked for QANTAS), and also had a great NZ Hangi for tea.

There's all sorts of characters in Karratha! Gianne, a clown, Myself an Kim.

After a much needed sleep in and some lazing around the house it was time to explore as a group, as Kim had the day off. Our first stop was Dampier, where we found some great food for lunch, then it was time for a nap back at their place. That night Dennis took the whole gang out for dinner at the Bali Garden restaurant, where Michael and I both ate our first oyster Kilpatrick. Next up was steak, and they were great. Seriously, if you are ever in Karratha the Bali Garden is a must. Sadly, Maccas was closed, so we could not get our ‘Italian coffee’ (Dennis says that McDonalds have the best coffee in town!) after dinner, and had to settle with some block chocolate when we got back to the lounge room.

Awww - Kim and I!

Knowing everyone would be at work before we awoke (ahh the lifestyle), we said our farewells that evening, promising to catch up whenever our paths next cross. The next morning saw us slowly get ready to leave, wash the necessary parts of the car (lights) and replace the entire headlight units with new globes and reflectors – great move since the old ones were starting to peel and not lighting our way well at all. We stocked up and shipped out, knowing our next town was a few hundred kays down the road with very little civilisation in between.  More driving woohoo.

Lesson of the Week: Make time for old friends