Where ever I may roam

Hello from Coral Bay!
I arrived here 2 hours ago and tried to get sorted for accommodation. The caravan parked wanted $30 and $32 a night for an unpowered site, where as the Backpackers wanted $28 for a dorm room, so I’m at the backpackers and looking forward to a $6.50 burger and a $2.00 beer tonight for dinner. I was feeling like a burger too and I should be able to meet a few people here as well. After arriving in Carnavon yesterday and checking out the accommodation ($25-$27 a night) I headed out to Point Quobba and camped out at the Blowholes. The wind was freezing but it was good to see the sea again after 2 weeks inland. When leaving this morning I saw the ‘No Camping, this includes Tents, Caravans, Swags and Vehicles’ sign…. Ooops.

The Blowholes, Carnarvon

After the morning coffee and verifying that I can cook inside the troopy with minimal issues (just need to open a window) I went out and looked at the HMAS Sydney cairn and the OTC Satellite Communication Station, being a sucker for anything comms related.

OTC Satellite Communications Centre, Carnarvon

I then headed to Coral Bay and I’ll be there until the 29th as I’m meeting the people from Were Never Lost tomorrow night, if things are going according to plan. I have no mobile reception here so it will be touch and go. I’m a bit disappointed as the 4×4 coastal road is closed to Exmouth and in order to get a campsite you need to queue from 6:00am. Damn peak season. With any luck it will be open by Tuesday and things should be good.
I keep on running into Richard and Lee, a couple who I met in Mt Augustus and are also driving around in a troopy. There should have arrived here last night or today and were planning on taking the coastal road as well. I need to remember that next week is school holidays and that all camp areas will be rather full. I should be in Broome by then tho. The number of families travelling is surprising to me, I have run into several of them and Meg and Matt have been on the road for over 3 months with their 3 boys, starting from Victoria. Would be much more interesting than school as far as I am concerned.
That’s enough from me for now, I need to go buy/beg/borrow/’acquire’ some internets and post this stuff once I sort the photos. I also haven’t had a chance to check my email (lack of wireless internet and tethering). I’ll also be putting up more photos once I have a chance to sit still and sort/edit/geotag them all (read Broome).

Today has been an excellent day, I arrived at the Kennedy Ranges about 8:30am, to see them bathed in the early morning sun. I camped about 20km south of the ranges in a drainage ditch off the side of the road. I got the camera working again and I am able to take photos again :D the LCD backlight needs to be adjusted so that I can see what I’m taking a photo off but its working well enough for now. I headed out to Temple and Drovers Gorge and did the Escarpment trail. I’m glad I took the adive of Meg and Matt, who I met in Tom Price and came out here as it was well and truly worth it. I have probably sacrificed going to Shark Bay/Monkey Mia to do it but I think it was worth it. I spent the evening chatting to Loren & Robyn (the campground hosts and in this case Loren is a guy) as well as Mark and Gail and another couple around the fire. I was thinking about camping out again but I am glad that I stayed the night, the campground hosts were very hospitable.

Temple Gorge, Kennedy Range Nation Park

Yesterday I climbed Mt Augustus, which gave an excellent panorama or the surrounding area and was a great hike. I took the valley trail on the way down, which was more difficult but was worth it. It’s a shame that my camera wasn’t working at that stage as there were some excellent photo opportunities. I then packed up and left for Gascoyne Junction after lunch, which I reached at 6:00pm. I decided to head further as I didn’t want to stay at the caravan park. From Mt Augustus I headed south to Landor station and then east. The roads were in excellent shape with minimum corrugations.
Over the last few days I have seen some great things. The troopy was surrounded by a herd of cows on the road as I was trying to get through them and I saw two guys mustering cattle with some buggies with roll cages and heaps of spare tyres heading off through the bush to get the cattle to head in the right direction.
Tomorrow I’m going to visit Honeycomb Gorge and Sunrise lookout before heading to Carnarvon. I’m in need of fuel, gas, water and food at this stage so resupplying will be good. The funds are running low, having spent the allocated funds by Tom Price and now I’m using funds that I wanted to keep for doing things with, such as SCUBA Diving on Ningaloo. I still have enough to get me to Broome. I should still be able to do those things, I’ll just have to be careful what I spend money on. I’m not too worried as I’m taking this leg of the trip as a learning experience, having planned where I was going and setting aside some money and then leaving. I didn’t take various things into account, such as accommodation ($22/night for an unpowered site in Newman, $19 in Tom Price) backtracking several times (phone interview on the 18th which I needed mobile reception for). The next leg will be better planned, I’ll do half the distance with twice the money.

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.

So lots of things have happened over the past several days, I have now been on this trip for a week and covered 2629km, well in excess of the planned 1546km. The car rolled over to 400000 on the odo and is otherwise running well and I’m even getting used to sleeping on the bed in the car that is only 490mm wide. Everything is slowly getting organised in the car although I am still have to move stuff around alot.

I spent several days in Newman, checking out the 4wd tracks including Three Pools, The Dam, Silent Gorge and Kulgan’s Rest. Three Pools was an effort to find, I missed the turnoff to it 3 times going up and down the track as there were no signage of any sort. Once I was there it was well worth the effort, it would be a great place to camp for the night.

Three Pools, Newman

Kulgan’s Rest is located within BHP land and requires a permit to visit, which was available from the visitors centre. Before I left Newman I headed out to Kulgan’s rest and once I arrived there I wished that I had gone sooner. It was a stunning location and the ideal places to camp for a night or two, as some people had already done. The perennial pool provided a nice contrast to the red rocks and the valley grounds.

Kulgan's Rest, Newman

Silent Gorge provided for some scenic bush walking, along the old highway 1. I missed visiting the petroglyphs at Wanna Munna as I couldn’t find the turn off for it. I later found out that the turnoff was marked by a witches hat on the side of the road, something to look out for next time I’m in the area.
On Wednesday (16 June) I headed into Karijini (finally) and spent several days exploring the gorges, staying out at Dales Campground (only $7 a night :D ). I set up the tent and enjoyed having a bit of room for a change. It was also a chance to get some of the red dust out of the car. Dale’s Gorge was the easiest of the trails and swimming in Circle Pool brought back memories. While it wasn’t as cold as I remember, there was a lot of movement until I got used to the water.

Circle Pool, Karijini National Park

Fern Pool, above Fortscue Falls was warmer and relaxing in the morning sun. I visited Weano Gorge, Handrail Pool and Kermit’s Pool today and they were well worth the visit, the swim was an excellent chance to get some of the dust off. It would be worth doing a tour of Weano Gorge as the further sections need to be abseiled into and look like they would be well worth experiencing.

Joffre's Gorge, Karijini

Unfortuantely I don’t have any photos of today as yesterday I forgot to take my camera out of my pocket before going wading and consequently drowned the G11. It’s now in a stack of bits drying out and I need to clean and polish the lenses before reassembly. Karijini was well worth the visit and I may even swing back in from Port Headland for another go in a few weeks.

I am currently camped in Tom Price for the night, hoping to be able to get a stack of things from the hardware store in the morning, including isopropyl alcohol and a timing belt. I will climb up Mt Nameless tomorrow morning and may go for a trip to Hammersley Gorge and Mt Bruce as well. From here I will head to Paraburdoo and then south to Mt Augustus and Shark Bay.

I left Mount Magnet this morning and after looking at The Granites (lots of rocks) I headed to Cue. There were various things to look at in Cue, including Day Dawn mine, which I was unable to find. I headed out to Walga Rock and looked at the rock paintings. That was a 100km trip on dirt roads, the troopy is now rather dusty. The ruins of Big Bell would have been good to visit, the pub there is rumoured to have had the longest bar in Australia.

A rock at the Granties, Mount Magnet

Meekatharra didn’t hold much, I was planning on going to Peace gorge and The Granites (another one), however I was unable to find the turnoff to it. Meeka appeared quite dead, however I was driving through it on a Sunday so that may have something to do with it.

Welcome to the North West of Western Australia

I am currently camped at the Southern Branch of the Gascoyne River, writing this by firelight. No one else is around (except for some Cows, Roos and the occasional Bat). This is what I have to look forward to in Karijini and beyond. The stars are amazing and I will endeavour to get some photos once the fire has died. I drove over 500km today and have seen a variety of wildlife beside (and sometimes on) the road, including Cows, Roos, Sheep and Goats. The trip from Meekatharra onwards is quite empty, containing lots of scenery and that’s it.

Mr Feral Goat says: 'Be Prepared'

The stars from the Gascoyne Southern Branch

I made the trip to Mount Magnet, stopping off at Payne’s Find and Mucea, as well as a few rest stops. Dalwallinu was good, in the morning I checked out the Old Well and Old School Sites along a walk trail. During the wildflower season (July – Sep) the trails would be colourful but it was still enjoyable.

The original water supply for the town

Payne’s Find Gold Battery was closed, only conducting tours during the wild flower season, or by appointment. I haven’t been having much luck today as Mt Gibson was also closed due to aerial bating. It looked like there would be a good hike up it and great views of the surrounding area from the summit.

Payne's Find Gold Battery

Mount Magnet has a few sights to see, including the Amphitheatre, The Caves as well as The Granites. I have already taken a trip down ‘Toursit Drv’. I was thinking about camping out there tonight but opted for the caravan park instead.

The Caves outside of Mount Magnet

Tomorrow I’ll visit The Granites before shooting for Meekatharra and beyond. I’m going to give the Dalgaranga Metorite Crater a miss and opt for an extra day in Karijini. I’m hoping that there will be mobile (GSM) coverage in Newman so that I can touch base and make a few calls before spending 4 days in the gorges.

So I finally make it, after a few delays and a false start. I’m currently sitting in the Dalwallinu Caravan Park, having left Perth around 1:00PM. While I was planning on leaving on the 9th I still hadn’t finished the frame and packed. Speaking of packing, so far I have forgotten to pack cooking oil (I have plenty of 15W40 and 75W90) and the stand to hold the gas stove (again). I am currently enjoying a celebratory beer, although a Johnny Walker Blue would have been a more fitting drink, while dinner is cooking.
I stopped off at New Norcia to have a cuppa, some fruit cake from my Grandmother and a look around. Most of the buildings there were built by the Monks using bricks made in New Norcia. I didn’t stay long enough to get a tour of the buildings or to check out the Museum. I would recommend a day trip from Perth to check it out as it is quite stunning and only 134km

The Handball Courts at New Norcia

The Old School at New Norcia

Today was only a short trip of 262km, tomorrow I’m planning on being in Mount Magnet after checking out Payne’s Find, The Gold Battery and a few other places along the way.

Home, as I'll know it for a while.

-UPDATE- 19:49
If I thought I was slightly nuts doing this trip around Australia, I met a guy in the campers kitchen who flew in from Germany 3 days ago with his bicycle and is cycling from Perth to Broome. He wanted to cycle the Canning Stock Route but wasn’t fit enough to do it. This isn’t the first time he has done something like this, having cycled around Australia for a year.