I’m getting the hang of this camping thing, having spent several nights free camping outside of Hamersley Gorge and Ashburton Downs. The fear/trepidation about it is wearing off and I am enjoying it. I spent several days around Tom Price, exploring and waiting for Monday so that I could get a Timing Belt and Isopropyl Alcohol. While in Tom Price I climbed Mt Nameless and met a group of young SES volunteers hiking down it, in the words of one of the SES guides, the walk was unrelentingly upwards but provided an excellent view of the Tom Price township, the caravan park and surrounding landscape. Mt Nameless is the highest vehicle accessible point in WA. This morning I climbed Mt Bruce, 8km away from Karijini and the second highest peak in WA. A 10.5km return trail was not easy and I should have taken the second bottle of water. The trail was deceptive, just as soon as I thought I had reached the summit, more rock raised up in front of me and made me keep on going. I’m glad I started the hike around 9am as the sun got quite hot on the way down. The view from the summit was stunning and I’m disappointed that I hadn’t fixed the camera before going up it. What surprised me was that in an old ammo box at the summit they had a visitors book and a pen. I dutifully signed it, the ranger hikes up every now and again to replace it.

Today was spent relaxing, with some work done on the camera and troopy. I didn’t realise how much red dust an air filter could hold. It was nice to stay put and not have to move. Tomorrow I’ll hike up Mt Augustus to the summit, leaving early and taking both bottles of water and sandwiches. After the hike I’ll split for Gascoyne Junction and I’ll probably end up camping off the road somewhere.