Pardoo Station / Karijini National Park

June 30

PARDOO STATION

After leaving Barn Hill, we travelled to another station – Pardoo Station. The road in to this one was a well-graded sandy road with very few corrugations.

Pardoo campground has plenty of water, so is beautifully-grassed and has several sets of 'donga-type' ablution blocks made up of 12 separate ensuite bathrooms with shower/toilet/basin. Very neat and clean and plenty for everyone. There is a pool, a camp kitchen, a cafe, a restaurant and an outdoor communal campfire. What a contrast to Barn Hill!

We stayed two nights and spent the day in between driving all over the station and down to the numerous fishing spots. We went down as the tide was approaching and watched it come in towards us over about half a kilometre, rising more than four metres, until there was enough water to fish in. We didn't catch anything, but had a very enjoyable time walking the amazing beach, which had masses of shells and pieces of coral littering the shore. It is obvious that there is a very healthy coral reef offshore which has been recently battered by a storm.

Unfortunately, we had to leave Pardoo, which was a pity, as they were mustering on the day we left and we would have liked to be there to see it.

The station is up for sale for a cool $23 million, if you're interested.

Red bluff beach, Pardoo Station.
We watched the tide come in right to our feet.

Wed July 2

KARIJINI NATIONAL PARK

Into the Pilbara! Iron ore country.

It is awesome to see the hills topped and banded with hard, dark red rock and areas of black where bits have broken away and the surface not yet rusted. The rocks are in plates, blocks, rectangular chunks. It is so inspiring to see an area so old – 3.5 billion years old! So old, there are no fossils of any living thing. It makes our lives seem so insignificant.

Into the Pilbara - iron everywhere you look.

Hands off, Gina!

After a long day's drive, stopping on the way at Port Hedland for fuel and supplies (and Ian trying to sort out the Telstra headache on the mobile phone in the carpark!), we arrived at Karijini only to find that the park was full and we had to stay in the 'overflow' until morning. As it turned out, it was fortunate because it gave us a chance to fill up the water barrels and to be at the head of the line next morning at the park entrance. The deal here is to get in line and wait until someone leaves, then go and pay, and a park volunteer then allocates you to a camping spot. The volunteers do a wonderful job here – all were most pleasant, helpful and welcoming. We managed to get the perfect spot for us, with our annex facing north and the solar panels catching the sun all day. This was a tryout for us and our power and water usage. We booked for four nights, and for the first two we were very conservative with our power usage. When we found that we had battery power in abundance, we booked for another four nights and were even able to watch an episode of Downton Abbey every night. That makes nine nights using only solar power. We set up our 'ensuite' tent for our loo and camping shower and were very cosy and self-sufficient. Nights were chilly, but days warm and cloudless.

This was also a chance to try out our cooking techniques with the DreamPot and the Weber. We made fruit cakes, scones, bread (Yes – perfect!), pizza and a roast dinner. Gourmet meals in the Pilbara. How lucky are we??

Red dirt everywhere - and iron filings.

You wouldn't want to ride your motorbike
flat out towards THAT!!!

View from hill above our campsite.
The line above the trees is the gorge.

This is a magic place. There is very little indication of any gorges anywhere when you drive in through flat country with the occasional rocky outcrop. Then you head off to one of the walks and suddenly you are peering over the edge of a huge rift in the landscape. 

Entry to the bottom is by rocky steps and some serious clambering, but you are rewarded with spectacular rock faces, swimming holes, waterfalls – all beautiful; all different. 

Fortescue Falls pool - Dales Gorge

Fern Pool - Dales Gorge

Our favourite was Kalamina Gorge, where we walked along the floor of the chasm for nearly two hours, just revelling in the beauty of nature. We didn't swim – the water was freezing!

Circular pool. The swimmers had to rock climb down
the perpendicular slope on the left to get there.
Needless to say - we just looked from above!

After our nine nights, we had run out of water, gas, bread and milk (and I am NOT drinking UHT!!!) so we headed off to Tom Price to stock up and washed the dust from absolutely everything.

We spent four nights in Tom Price, where we met up with Peter and Pam, who we keep meeting at nearly every place we go, and we had our meals together every night. (We particularly enjoyed going to the Rio Tinto workers 'mess' for dinner. $25 each for a sumptuous buffet. It was more like a 4-star restaurant!)

We went with Peter and Pam for a 4WD trek up Mt Nameless (actually has had an aboriginal name for millenia – Jarndrunmunha) 1128m high. Spectacular views from the top in all directions, including a view of the Tom Price iron mine, busy loading one of the 3 km long trains.

Our new friends - Peter and Pam Stewart

Tom Price mine

We still haven't run out of things to talk about, so will be meeting up with Peter and Pam again at Exmouth when we have all wandered around avoiding the school holidays. No vacancies there until Monday.