West Coast Roadtrip - 1.2

Posted by Ray

Posted on October 15, 2009

Getting back onto the North West Coastal HWY we travelled west and turned off on the Nanutarra Munjina Road towards Tom Price. Tom Price is the largest town outside Karijini and is used by tourists as a base to set off from. Exmouth to Karijini in one day was too hard of a journey, so we took our time and camped rough in the outback on the first night getting there. Getting into Tom Price early the next morning was good to pickup supplies and get advice about seeing the best of what Karijini had to offer. Karijini National Park is by far one of Western Australia’s most spectacular parks. It is the second biggest park in WA and run by the local Aboriginal inhabitants. Packed with falls, gorges and pools it was a must on the roadtrip.

Loaded up with supplies, maps and info we decided to see Hamersley Gorge that afternoon. In the very north west tip of the park it is a little of the way from everything else. Getting this gorge out of the way first was the best way to efficiently see everything in the park without wasting petrol. The Hamersley Gorge was pretty cool. We hung around and chilled there for awhile. The many different pools came as good relief from the heat that day. Being inland the temperature had rose allot from the coastal Exmouth.

Happy with the Hamersley Gorge we looped back on the same track towards Tom Price to fill up on Petrol, as there is no petrol stations inside the park. Late in the afternoon we headed inside Karijini to the Eco Retreat for the night. I remember the drive was painfully slow. The mere 50km took a good three hours to cover. The unsealed sand road was very bumpy and with light fading the visibility was poor. With the site of Kangaroo’s around I was forced to go at a snails pace. The Hilux was also making funny noises which didn’t help the matter. We pulled into the Eco Retreat late, paid the fairly high camping price and made camp for the night. At this stage most of our gear was a deep shade of red. That bloody sand gets everywhere!

The next morning we showered and packed up early. There was allot to see and do. First on the list was the Joffre Falls which were definitely worth a visit. A couple of photo’s there and a nice chat with an Aussie couple travelling by campervan around Australia we drove to Knox Gorge. There was a few walks we could do here, but we decided against it. Just being lazy and tight for time, we posed for more photo’s and got back in the Ute. Last that day was the Kalamina Falls, which were the highlight of the second day. We walked around the waterfall and surrounding area for a couple of hours and enjoyed every bit. The amazing rock formations scattered around the meandering gorges was a dramatic site. The photo’s don’t do it justice. We headed west onto the Visitors centre and paid for our night’s camping in the overflow at Dales Camp. Run by the local Aboriginals it was basic, but grand for the night.

Early next morning we travelled a short distance west to the Fern Pool. Above the gorge we looked down at the spectacular site of the waterfall and pool. We hiked down and took a swim in the freezing pool water. There was time for a few bombs, flips and the classic Peter Andre pose under the waterfall. We dried off and walked around to the Fortescue Falls. The hike took an hour but was well worth it even if our feet hurt from the not so hiking thongs we had on. There was big crowds around the falls and people sunbathed on the numerous natural rock steps. People swam around in the refreshing water and some even dived in off some low protruding flat rocks. Not to be outdone myself and Jona took it upon ourselves to raise the bar a little. I managed a 15ft jump, but Jona grabbed the gold with a massive 20ft rock jump. Fair play mate. A little dangerous, but great fun none the less. With all the major sites covered in Karijini we were back on the road. Passing the many controlled bush fires out of Karijini it was a cool site to see the deep grey smoke fill the glowing amber sunset sky. Contrast at it’s best.

After Karijini there was no notable things on the final stage of the roadtrip. We stopped overnight at a campsite in Indee just off the Great northern HWY. If we had stayed a few extra nights there we would have had the chance to witness the Indee 500 classic. The competition is basically country redneck Aussie’s riding around a track on motorbike a number of times to complete the 500km race. We made our apologies and promised to be back next year. Yeah right! The next morning we passed the mining town of Port Headland and pushed on north. We stopped for the last time and camped 150km south of Broome. It was an appropriated way to finish the trip and everyone enjoyed the campfire and cold stubbies.

The next morning we packed early for the last time and rolled into Broome. Taking nearly three weeks and clocking up just over 3,000km’s the roadtrip definitely lived up to expectations and more. You can’t really compare the East and West coasts as they are so very different in many ways. If you want commercial and expensive the East is for you. If you want the real outback camping Aussie experience the West coast fill tick all the boxes. It’s west coast for me baby!

Cheers to Jona, Simone, Emma who put up for me for the whole trip and really made the experience special. Also to Else and Eitja the cool Dutch girls. I met many people along the way and cant remember all their names. You know who you are, nice meeting you and we’ll hopefully meet again.

Also a quick shout out for Betsy, she never late us down and is currently over on the East coast for probably the 50th time. Keep on motoring girl!

West Coast Done And Dusted!

The Red Outback

Cooling Off At The Hamersley Gorge

Jona & Ray

The Joffre Falls

Cool Plant At The Joffre Falls

Standing On The Shoulders Of Termites

Outback Lizard

Kalamina Falls

Walking The Breath Taking Kalamina Gorge

Betsy Proving 2WD Ute's Can Conquer The Outback

Dale's Camp Ground

The Light Of Electricity

Looking Down At the Fern Pool

Peter Andre Time

Reflection

Jona & Simone On The Way To The Fortescue Falls

Fortescue Falls

"Come On Ray It's Only 15Ft"

Jona's Gold Medal 20Ft Jump

Ray And The Fortescue Falls

The Outback Road Train

Our Last Night Camping In The Outback

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