Tanami Track & the West Coast

A slow start to the day before hitting the gorges! The gorges in Karijini have been cut down through the red, iron ore rocks and are up to 100 metres deep.
Began with a walk down to Fortesque Falls and the Fern Pool which was quite spectacular before heading around to the Circular Pool lookout.
Standing 100 metres about the pool we could see a few people swimming but with the temperature only in the low 20s this didn’t look like the best option.
Went to the Visitor’s Centre which had some really interesting information about the Park and the incursion of the iron ore industry into the Park and also the indigenous inhabitants and their stories of the area.
At the Visitor’s Centre we were also informed of the weather warning for the area and that there was a forecast for between 40-70 mm of rain overnight which did set us thinking about our camp site.
We then headed out to Joffre Falls and Knox Gorge, which were both amazing, before heading around to Weano Gorge and Oxer Lookout.
As we headed past the Karijini Eco Retreat we found the road blocked as the gorges ahead had been closed due to the weather forecast and risk of flash flooding.
We went into the Eco Retreat for a coffee, $6 a pop, and were told that the rangers were currently closing the road to Joffre Falls and Knox Gorge which got us thinking about what might be coming.
Drove out to the Mount Bruce lookout where the wind was very strong and had lunch overlooking BHPs Marandoo Mine which is on an area excised from the National Park!! We had phone signal out here and began checking weather forecasts which were all looking pretty ugly.
On the drive back to Karijini, and after going through numerous flood ways, we made a late decision to pack up and head into Tom Price where we planned to head tomorrow anyway.
After a 20 minute pack up we headed off and arrived at Tom Price as light rain began to fall about 5.30pmLes mer

Fortunately we woke this morning to a clear sky but with a cool breeze.
Packed up in Carnarvon and had a coffee down the Main Street before heading south to the Shark Bay World Heritage area, staying the night at Hamelin Station
This station is now a Bush Heritage station which is seeing it be returned to its natural state. They have rebuilt some of the original buildings and added toilets and showers and made it a great base to explore the area.
After setting up we headed to the Hamelin Pools to see the stromatolites, the old telegraph station and the shell block quarry.
The stromatolites are the reason for the World Heritage rating as this is one of only two sites in the world where they are know to still exist. They are microbes that grow and trap limestone molecules and turn this into stone therefore appearing to ‘grow’. They are believed to be 3 million years old.
Adjacent to this is the old telegraph station which transmitted messages up the coast.
The quarry is made up of millions of small shells that have solidified also with limestone and have been cut out in large blocks to build houses, etc in Denham and the surrounding area.
The day was complete when we found that the fire had been lit inside the camp kitchen with many of the campers heading there after dinner to warm themselves and chat.Les mer