Day 52-55 Karijini National Park

It’s about a six-hour drive from 80 Mile Beach to Karijini, but I have to stop in Port Hedland, so we leave early and plan to make it to the park by 5:00. We end up spending about three hours in Hedland and make it to the park about 5:30. On the advice of others we plan to stay at the most basic caravan park. There is no power, drop toilets and water is a 10K drive up the road. At night it is completely and utterly dark. There are no lights around and it is moonless. The cloud-like Milky Way stretches across the sky and the stars are as numerous as I have ever scene. We have been using an app on my Ipad to locate and identify various stars and constellations and this is the perfect location. 

Karijini has only been a National Park on its own since 1999, previously it was know as the Hamersley Ranges. The local aboriginal community now operate the Park and have a resort in one area. The park itself is completely unassuming. As we approach on the road, there is no indication of what lies ahead. The ground is the now familiar bright, rusty red and the hills are more numerous but it all appears somewhat plain. It’s only as we actually approach one of the numerous gorges that the majesty of the area is revealed. Here, in the middle of the desert, several rivers converge and have carved multiple gorges throughout the area. Most of the gorges now have trails along their edges and most have trails down to the bottom and along their bases. We are nearing the end of the dry season and while the water still flows, the torrents of the wet season have subsided to small streams or even trickles. The walks are graded from easy to impossible without specialised climbing equipment. We begin the first day with an easy walk around Dales Gorge and are rewarded with beautiful views and a pleasant swim in a lush pool surrounded by ferns and trees reminiscent of the wettest areas of the Northern Territory. It is a stark contrast to the desert located only a few hundred metres away. Today’s walk was an easy one but tomorrow we’ll tackle the harder walks and it will prove to be one of the most exciting of the trip.

Day 50-51 Broome and 80 Mile Beach

We’re pretty quick with packing up and getting on the road these days and we’re on our way by 9:00. We’ll drive about 5 hours today and spend the night on the beach. The scenery is mostly dry coastal sand and scrub and the kids are put through the schooling paces. You might think that having a break from school would mean they were keen to get back to it. Well, you would be wrong. The break only serves to make them not want to do school even more. It’s a struggle but finally completed about two hours after starting. The scenery changes to a drier and more desert like environment and we catch glimpses of the beach. We arrive at 80 Mile Beach about 2:00 and are quickly set up. The caravan park is a mecca for grey nomads, fishermen and shell collectors. Jake is busting to get to fishing. Unfortunately, we have arrived just after high tide. This area shares the enormous tidal changes that we saw in Broome. The edge of the water moves over a kilometre from high tide to low. Jake is undeterred that he is the lone person fishing on the beach and he repeatedly casts into the retreating surf. Occasionally, he ventures into the water and we are reminded by a passing walker that the sharks are feeding just on the edge of the surf. It’s not uncommon to see them completely out of the water in pursuit of the fish. After about 3 hours fishing, we manage to convince Jake that it is a lost cause. The promise of plenty of fishing adventures further along the coast provides some comfort. Tomorrow we will continue our trip south to Port Hedland and then turn inland for a few days at Karajini National Park.

Day 48-49 Cape Broome (again)

It’s been a long delay in blogging. What can I say, I’m on holiday....

We have one day left in Broome before starting the long trip down the West Coast. We start the day with a trip to what are purported to be dinosaur footprints in the rocks on the coast. We have to go at low-tide so it means an early wake up and drive to the rocky coast. When we arrive we realise there are no signs indicating how to find said prints. All we can see is a mass of tourists walking around staring at various indentations in the rocks and allowing their imagination to picture a dinosaur. Very entertaining. The rest of the day we spend shopping, cleaning and getting ready to leave in the morning. Sarah promised the kids a camel ride along the beach at sunset so we make our way down at the appointed time. I’m struggling to see why camel rides on the beach have become a Broome institution. There are at least three companies with about 20 camels lined up, attached by ropes. They sit waiting the riders and then they struggle to their feet and walk about 500 metres down the beach before turning and returning to the starting point. I’m the designated photographer but the kids seem to have a good time. We watch another glorious sunset and get ready to head south. Tomorrow 80 Mile Beach.