19. – 22. October

Karijini and Millstream Chichester National Park

We left Port Hedland and were stuck in traffic! The road was closed due to wide loads being transported/ relocated to a mine site 300km inland. The mine site received some new structures which were transported by road. All this stuff looked like a mansion on wheels so huge and wide. The  trucks couldn’t move much faster than 30kph. One structures had to be towed by two trucks. Several times it looked it might hit some street signs but they are all still standing.

Karijini NP offers several walks and gorges with ice cold fresh water for a swim. We drove to the Fortescue Falls and decided to walk on the cliff to the Circular Pool and returning via the Dales gorge.  We enjoyed some nice views and the climb into the gorge was quite steep. Then we walked over a nearly dried-out creek and thought there can’t be any water left in the pool. But there was – people were still jumping off the rocks but we decided to wait for our swim a little bit longer. We walked back through the gorge and had to criss-cross  the creek. But this was another creek (fed by the Fortescue Falls) so there was still water in. We even saw several dragon flies (different sizes and colours). Finally we reached the Falls and had a swim as well as in the Fern Pool close by.

Then we visited the Kalamina Falls, the Joffre Falls and the Knox Gorge before driving to the Weano area. At this place 5 gorges join and you could see them all at the same time. The walks are rated from class 2 to class 6 which means abseiling is included and they  are only allowed with an experienced guide. We just walked into the Weano gorge and had a quick dip before the track became to narrow and difficult.

After spending the night at the “Rest in Peace” parking area (not a cemetery just a remembering place) we drove to the Hamersley Gorge and swam in the main pool and the so-called spa pool. It was possible to explore the gorge further but we kept going. Before reaching Karratha we stopped at  the Millstream Chichester NP and did the Snappy Gum  drive. A loop through the National Park. We swam in the Fortescue River which was actually quite wide and really deep in that place. I think they have big plans for the National Park as a lot of roadwork was happening. We also stopped at the Python Pool but that was not so nice as the pool didn’t have much water in anymore. There was even a blue-algae warning.

Karratha’s main industry is salt-export via Dampier, Iron-ore export via Cape Lambert and Gas production. The iron-ore and salt export facilities are on private land and not accessible for visitors. But the North West Shelf Visitor Information provides good information about the gas production and the export. The gas is absorbed on 4 platforms around 300km off shore and then transported to the land for further processing.

Have fun,

Good bye Tom and Anja

16. - 18 October

Ruhrpott at the Sea

Next stop was Port Hedland as the 60,000km service was due. We camped 80km east and heard trains during the night. The railway bridge was just 500m away from our camp spot. During the day we saw further trains and several mine sites. Do you remember me talking about the long trains in Leigh Creek? Forget about them! They are much longer up here. Several trains boost 6 engines (3 in front and 3 in the middle). Apparently BHP (a mining company) attempted a world record for the longest and heaviest railing. The train was 7.353km long, weighted around 99,732.2t (which is a net mass of 89,262t of iron ore). 8 locomotives and 682 ore cars were used. 

Port Hedland is one of the biggest iron-ore exporting ports which operates 24/7. They can handle up to 4 vessels at a time which was a real benefit for us. It made the time fly while we waited for the return of our car. We watched the whole wharf processing (arrival, loading and departure of the vessel – not necessarily in this order). We read that it takes around 30h to fill the 300t  cargo vessels. When we arrived at the lookout we already noticed one vessel with the tug-boats attached but it didn’t move. We asked us why and some minutes later the answer moved along. There was another vessel ready for departure and it left first. After this vessel  passed it was all action and that vessel was out on the sea 20 minutes later. But we didn’t have to wait long for the next action as the tug-boats guided two new vessels into the harbour. During the 4h waiting time we saw two iron-ore vessels departing, two new arriving while another was loaded and a smaller vessel (carrying solar-salt) arriving and leaving. So the salt loading happens much quicker than the iron-ore.

So long and good bye,

Cheers, Tom and Anja

4. – 15. October

Broome and Dampier Peninsula

We arrived with a smile in Broome – you could see the ocean again and it  looked really inviting and had a nice blue colour. We drove to Cable Beach and jumped into the ocean using our boggie-board. Cable Beach is around 22km long and got its name from the phone cable connecting Broome with Java. During the day it’s possible to drive on the beach but it’s closed from October during the night. The turtles are coming to lay their eggs – the nesting season has started. But we didn’t  see any on the beach just swimming close to the jetty.

There are some more activities in Broome but not possible to exercise at  all times. There are the dinosaur footprints, the airplane wrecks and the staircase to the moon which are only accessible/ visible at low tide (less than 1.5m). Unfortunately we didn’t see any – couldn’t time it right. But anyway we watched the cast of the dinosaur footprints and the sunset from there. We even saw some whales in the distance! Broome is also famous for pearls but we didn’t go on a tour. But we had a look at the church which is decorated with lots of pearls and the shells.

North of Broome lies the Dampier Peninsula where you can camp and find  good snorkelling places. Our first stop was at Middle Lagoon probably halfway up. We got the site “Lino’s Camp” just 50m from the ocean (at least at high tide). We went swimming and got used to snorkelling again – luckily the water was calm although there was not much to see….

  We drove to Cape Leveque as well and pitched our tent directly on top of the cliff. We could have watched the sunset from the tent but opted to go down to the beach to have the reflection of the stones included. We went swimming the other day on the eastern side of Cape Leveque. There is even a little reef so we went snorkelling. And this time we were able to see some fishes as well as a reef shark which triggered a quick escape to the beach…

At our next stop we went swimming as well. There was a little secluded bay. We were amazed how quickly the tide is coming in… After our swim we relaxed at the beach and within 30min half of the beach was under water. There was a reef as well but we didn’t dare to go snorkelling there. The current was really strong we could see it from the ground. We even discovered a little horizontal waterfall (we didn’t fly to the big one…). At low tide we walked along the reef and saw some green and blue corals as well as some mussels.

Broome’s northern beaches are a good spot as well especially as there is free camping and just 10m to the beach ;-) we had to go there. We went swimming, boggie-boarding, read a lot, saw some crabs and watched the eagles flying above our head. Of course we watched the sunset and the night sky for stargazing.

Now it’s time to head into the water again!

Bye, bye

Tom and Anja