MANDORAH TO HOUSE CREEK

MANDORAH TO HOUSE CREEK CAMP

Left Mandorah on Friday and went to Palmerston to pick up our mail from the kids and Charlie had sent us a letter. Also on the way I bought a piece a laminex to go on top of the new fridge.

We are staying at Terry & Ann Grenfell’s house; we put the van in their yard. Terry has a drop saw so I have cut and fitted the mouldings for our new fridge. Hopefully I will install them tomorrow and the job will be finished. We went out to the Airport hotel for dinner as they have half price meals on Friday night. When we arrived home I watched Australia beat England in the 20/20 match in South Africa.

Saturday I’ve installed all the fridge mouldings and they have turned out OK. Terry gave me a lesson on Aluminium welding today, it is very interesting I blew some holes but in general got the idea. We also fixed some engine mounts on their bus/motor home and cleaned the roof of his shed ready for painting. While we were doing our jobs, the two girls were in Ann’s sewing room occupying themselves making cushion covers for our van and a new patchwork quilt. The girls went to some markets on Friday night and bought heaps of old cassettes and they have been copying them today. We all had a good day.

Sunday Terry and I went fishing at 11.00am and arrived home at 6.00pm with another empty esky. We went up Hudson Creek, which runs into Darwin Harbour. The tide was running out and we were locked in until the tide started to rise.

I helped Terry paint his shed roof on Monday and I fitted two shelves into the back left hand corner of the caravan.

Tuesday morning Diane, Terry & I went fishing at 6.00am. We had an hours drive to get to Hardy’s Lagoon and fished until 5.00pm. I caught my first Barra it was 65cm long and then Diane caught one 76cm long and it weighed 5.8kg. I then caught one
74cm long and then Terry caught one 70cm long. A good day was had by all.
We went to bed early after such a long day all tired but happy.

IAN’S FIRST BARRA OUR DAYS CATCH

Helped Terry paint the walls of the shed on Wednesday morning and then after lunch we went to the Museum & Art Gallery. The Museum was very well done, a lot of Cyclone Tracy memorabilia, Aboriginal Artefacts and Sweetheart the Crocodile. Sweetheart used to attack boats so they tried to capture it and move it to a crocodile farm but it drowned in the process. After the Museum we went to BCF to buy some paddles and flares that you are supposed to have in your boat.

We called out to see Sally and Ben at Durack and the house that they have rented. It is a nice house that is fairly new. They are still getting it set up. The house is in a lovely estate and is close to Palmerston shopping centre.









SALLY AND BEN’S HOUSE

On the way home we went grocery shopping and then spent the night talking to Ann and Terry. It’s Thursday 20/9/2007 and we leave Darwin today, we are going to stay at Berry Springs to have a look through the Wild Life Park and then to have a swim at Berry Springs waterhole. The Water was nice and warm at the springs and they have the Park surrounding the waterhole nice.

The Wildlife Park is very good but you need more time than we allowed. We went after lunch and ran out of time to see all the things before 3.00pm, when they had the Birds of Prey display. They flew 4 birds, the Pacific Baza, the Black-Breasted Buzzard a Barking Owl and the Wedged Tail Eagle.

Today Friday, we are going to “Woolianna” Caravan Park on the Daly River. We arrived at Woolianna at 12.00pm, after having a look at Daly River Crossing and stopping at Adelaide River for some boat fuel. Adelaide River has a War Cemetery from the Second World War. Daly River Crossing is very pretty and would close in the Wet season.

DALY RIVER CROSSING

Woolianna is a Mango farm on the banks of the Daly River and at this point in time it is the closest camping area to the mouth of the Daly, which is still 40km away. We set up camp and unloaded the boat ready for fishing tomorrow. By all accounts the fishing here is very slow, not many Barra have been caught lately. Helped two other campers set up their satellite dishes during the afternoon. Sid and Sandy arrived around midday they came from Mandorah where Sid had been playing with Mako sharks, getting bitten off even on 4’ wire traces.

While we were at Woolianna we fished every day with little success. We tried trolling and only caught one Barra about 40cm and a cat fish. We used Cherubim prawns and I hooked a Barra that got away and Sid caught a Barra casting lures it was 48cm.
We only fished between Woolianna and Browns creek that is only about three kilometres of the river. It was about 40km to the river entrance at Anson Bay where I think the bigger fish are at the present as it is the beginning of the breeding season and they breed at the mouth of the rivers. The river near the entrance is closed from 1/10/2007 until some time in January. We also found it hard to catch the Cherubim prawns for bait also.

One night Sid and I went out at 10.00pm to check the bait traps and saw 16 sets of red eyes hiding under logs and on the banks of the river, one was actually up on top of a steep bank that would have been 20m high (frightening to think they can climb that high).









WOOLIANNA SCENE’S

We stayed at Woolianna until Tuesday morning when we left and went to Douglas Daly Tourist Park. The park at Douglas Daly is a nice park and has its own water attractions, these being the rapids, thermal pool, the arches and water hole. We had a swim at the pool in the afternoon and a look at each of the above attractions.

DOUGLAS DALY SCENE’S

Left Douglas Daly on Thursday morning and went back to Katherine where we stayed at Red Gum Caravan Park. Had to restock the grocery cupboard, refuel the car and went to see Noel to get the muffler welded. Called in to get our mail at the post office and were told that the parcel from Cheryl Pawley had not arrived. Even the mail from Rachel that was sent two weeks ago only arrived two days ago. It looks like we will have to stay here for another couple of days.

I went out to see Noel on Friday morning (Noel is the man who put the new wheels under the van) to have him weld up the shield on the exhaust again as it had broken off again. Checked the Post Office again and our mail arrived today, so we decided to leave straight away. We were on the road by 10.10am.

The country is different as we head west, with a lot of escarpments in the ranges. We stopped at Victoria River roadhouse for lunch and overnight at Timber Creek. After setting up camp we went for a drive 11km west of town to the Big Horse creek camping ground and boat ramp. The Victoria River is a big river and they fish about 80km down river. We fished for the next two days whilst we were waiting for our food supplies to run out as you can’t take any Groceries over the border.

No luck trolling lures and I think you have to have live bait at this time of the year as the Barra aren’t on the move due to the water temperature that is only 27 degrees. I spoke to one of the locals who said the water temperature gets up to 38 degrees and then the Barra are everywhere. I think I will have to buy a cast net in Kununurra. I had a few practise casts with Sid’s cast net and I think I could handle one with a bit of practise. We will leave Timber Creek on Tuesday morning and will cross the border into Western Australia. I packed up the boat on Sunday afternoon.

Monday we washed the car and caravan in the morning and completed a few maintenance jobs on the caravan. We rang Melissa and sorted out our internet problem, we could not send e-mails and it was because we updated to Microsoft small business 2003 and we had to change the outward mail from tsn.cc to bigpond.com.
Went for a drive up to the lookout in the afternoon and also gave some leftover fruit and veg’s to one of the locals who live in the caravan park.

VICTORIA RIVER

Left Timber Creek at 7.30am and we got to the border at 8.25am a total of 200 odd km. No we didn’t drive fast we had to put our clocks back one & a half hours. By the time we drove the extra few km’s into Kununurra we had to wait for the shops to open so that we could go and get some groceries as you are not allowed to take them across the border.

We stayed at the Hidden Valley Caravan Park (a nice spot) and after setting up I went to the tyre service to get a new tyre and to rotate the others. The weather is hot here but it isn’t as humid as Darwin, so it is more bearable.

Wednesday morning we went to have a look at the information centre and to Retravision to buy a new Video camera before we go for our plane flight this afternoon. We flew over the agricultural area and then over the Argyle Dam, the dam is huge and is held back by a small earthen wall. After the dam we flew over Lissadell Station and Texas Downs. Lissadell station homestead was built by the Durracks and Texas Downs is now owned by the same people who own Lissadell Station.

We flew over the Osmond Range, Bow River Diamond Mine, The Bungle Bungle Ranges and Argyle Diamond Mine. Argyle Diamond mine produces Industrial Diamonds for drill bits extra and also has some Gem Quality stones. They also have the rare pink diamond that is worth up to $1 million dollars per carat. The flight was 2 hours in duration.

OUR PLANE FLIGHT OUR THE BUNGLES

Thursday morning I got up early to copy the video that I took yesterday onto our computer but found that something is not compatible, so I took it back to Retravision and spent all morning trying to get it to work. We rang JVC twice and in the end they gave us a new camera.

Since coming back to camp I have tried the new camera and got to download a video but there is a conflict somewhere as it is now crashing if I go to my computer and try to go to “C” drive. I will have to work on it a bit more.

Friday we played around with the computer a bit more, without any further success. As it was a fairly hot today, we did a lot of reading in the air conditioned caravan, Greg rang and said that they had put Jett in hospital with pneumonia; hopefully he won’t be there long. Went out to dinner at the Club House Hotel, it was a very nice meal.

Saturday we both read for a good part of the day and then went for a drive and did a bit of shopping. I have finished reading a book in the last two days, so nothing much else was done for the day.

KUNUNURRA SCENE’S

Sunday 7/10/2007, BATHURST RACES well I had to get up and walk around every now and again to relieve the backside. One of the best race finishes I’ve seen for a long time. We actually went for a walk at 7.30am through the Mirima National Park (or Hidden Valley). It was nice walking at that time it wasn’t too hot and it was overcast. Took some good photos.

Monday what a day, we were awake at 5.30am so we decided to go for a drive and 320 km’s later we had a great day. First we went to Emma Gorge that is about an hour’s drive away and a 40 minute walk up the Gorge to the Waterhole at the end of the Gorge. What a great spot a lovely waterhole with the water temperature cool at first because we were hot from the walk but when we, yes we got in the water it was beautiful. We swam over to where the waterfall was and floated under the drops of water cascading down. We spent about an hour at the waterfall and then walked back to the car park where we had a shower and then continued on. Diane because of her diet was buggered at the end of the walk and needed something to eat.

EMMA GORGE

Grotto gorge is on the way to Wyndham and we called in to have a look and it has 300 steps to the bottom of then gorge so we decided to take some photos instead as neither of us where up to 300 steps. We kept going until we arrived at Wyndham. Wyndham is in two parts Wyndham and Wyndham Port, at Wyndham there is a park with aboriginal statues in it that a very well done. We met Mark Weaver who is an aboriginal and he showed us a Boab seed pod that he had beautifully carved with Kangaroos and Magpie Geese it was very well done with a lot of carving in it so we decided to buy it for $40.00. We had lunch in the park and then drove up to the five rivers lookout that looks over Wyndham and surrounds.
WYNDHAM

After lunch we were on our way back home when we decided to go and have a look at the Boab prison tree that is 25 km’s off the main road. We also visited some aboriginal paintings and a dam that supplies the water to Wyndham on the way back to the main road.

When we arrived back in Kununurra we went to the Post Office to pick up the CD that Melissa has kindly put together for us. It was great to see all the families and Grand Kids again. What a day!

We are finding it hard to adjust to the Western Australian time zone, I woke up at 4.30am and crawled out of bed at 5.00am so we decided to get ready and get on the road. I read my new book for about an hour then started packing up as Diane made breakfast. We were ready by 7.30am but had to do some groceries as we thought they would cost more at Halls Creek. I also had to pick up a DVD from Retravision from our JVC video camera that was replaced. Retravision didn’t open until 8.30am.

We left Kununurra at 9.00am and headed for Hall’s Creek 358 km’s away. Arrived at Halls Creek at 2.00pm, it was hot setting up the van and 38 degrees inside the van with the Air conditioning on. Diane washed up with the water straight out of the Caravans water tank; it was hot. At 5.00pm we went for a drive to the China Wall that is 6km out of town and then onto Old Halls Creek to take a few photos of the old town.


HALLS CREEK SCENE’S

Left Hall Creek the next day and went to Fitzroy Crossing where we stayed for two nights at the Fitzroy Crossing Lodge, our pick of the Caravan Parks so far. On the first afternoon we went on the Geikie Gorge River Cruise that cruised up and down the Gorge for an hour showing us some spectacular rock walls and scenery. Saw some fresh water croc’s (old hat now, seen bigger and better).

GEIKIE GORGE

The second day we decided to have a rest day as we had covered about a 1000 km’s in the last three days. I varnished the carved Boab seed pod that we purchased from an aboriginal at Wyndham; it has two kangaroo’s and two magpie geese on it with a lot of trees as well. I then started to sand the Zebra rock that we purchased in Kununurra with wet and dry emery paper, it will look great when I have finished it and lacquered it. The rock stands tall and has two holes drilled in the side of it to make it into a wine rack.

I also read for a good part of the day, finishing my eighth book for the trip (not bad for someone that doesn’t read books). The books that I have read are;
1. Hell West and Crooked by Tom Cole.
2. Last Paradise by Tom Cole.
3. We of the Never Never by Jeannie Gunn.
4. The Power of One by Bryce Courtney.
5. Killer Catchers by an Owens and C Ellis.
6. The Last Roundup by Terry and Kath Baldwin.
7. Eagle in the Sky by Wilbur Smith.
8. The Sisterhood by Michael Palmer.

Left Fitzroy Crossing on Friday, stopping along the way to ring Melissa to see if their house was sold at Auction on the 11/10/2007. We stayed at the West Kimberley Lodge Caravan Park in Derby. A nice little park with new amenities that is great. Rachel rang to say that she is having trouble with registering our car so we had to go and get a new pink slip. The first one in NT was $75.00 and the one in WA was $83.00. Hope they are satisfied now.

We were going to go on the Tunnel Creek tour but it only runs on Sunday and Tuesdays. The temperature here on our first day rose to 42 degrees and at 4 o’clock it was still 41 degrees. Derby is a town that surprised me it is bigger than I thought it would be and is long and thin as it is on a peninsular and at the end of the peninsular is the Jetty where they load ships with supplies for islands and other Mineral exports. The tides here are the biggest in Australia, yesterday the high tide was over 10m and the low tide was 2m, they can have up to 11m changes in the tide.
DERBY SCENE’S

It’s now 4.30am Sunday morning and Melissa rang not realising what the time was here, she was trying to send us a video call, it is Riley’s second birthday today. We had a chat to both Riley and George. Today we are going to Telegraph Pool that is on the Fitzroy River and within Yeeda Station. We have to get permission first from the Station owners and it will depend on how good the road is. We rang Yeeda station but there was no answer so we decided to go straight to Broome instead.

Broome is about 220 km from Derby and is situated on a peninsula similar to Derby. On one side you have Cable Beach and on the other side you have Roebuck Bay. At the end of the peninsula is the Port facility with a huge Jetty and a restaurant overlooking Roebuck Bay. Broome is spread out and has the airport in the middle of town and shopping centres scattered all over the place, also in the middle of town is the industrial areas. Housing here is very expensive a normal 3 bedroom house is up to $600,000 and rents are very high.

BROOME AND CABLE BEACH VIEWS

On Sunday afternoon after setting up in the Vacation Village Caravan Park we went for a drive out to the Port facility and then around town to have a look and to get our bearings. We stopped at Cable beach where they were having a kite flying and market come picnic day; it was late in the afternoon so we stayed until sunset taking a few photos of the sun setting over the sea. Not a good sunset, as there weren’t any clouds to colour the sky.

Monday in the morning we had to check out the gift shops and do some grocery shopping. We also booked a bus and boat tour of Willie Creek Pearls to depart at 8.00 am on Tuesday morning. In the afternoon we stayed around camp and I varnished the Boab seed pod again and a wooden stand that I purchased to hold the seed pod. I then decided to sand the rest of the Zebra rock, it now needs a finer wet and dry used on it and then it will be ready for varnishing.

What a great day we had on Tuesday we were picked up at the Caravan Park at 8.00 am and were taken out to Willie Creek Pearl Farm that is 38 km out of town in a northerly direction. The bus driver “Jock” gave us a commentary of the history of Broome and the Pearl shell industry and then the cultured Pearl industry as it is today. When we arrived at the farm we were met by “Shona” who explained and showed us an oyster and how they seed the oysters with a nucleus that develops into a pearl over the next two years. The nucleus is made from a shell that comes from the Mississippi River. We then had morning tea and after they took us out on the boat and showed us the oysters in the water and how they have to clean them regularly.

WILLIE CREEK PEARLS

You can get a six month contract with them earning $1000.00 after tax and they supply accommodation on the ship and food as well. You work for two weeks and then have a week off.
Diane purchased a lovely pair of pearl ear rings and a bracelet from the showroom. They dropped us back at the caravan park at midday. After lunch we went for a drive out to the Port facility and had a look around, watching some Aboriginals catching fish, it is a picturesque spot.

“Jock” told us in the morning to go and have a look at the view from the Golf club he said it was the highest place it town and that the view was great, he wasn’t wrong. We had a couple of drinks and as we were the only ones there we had a long chat to the Barmaid, she has been in Broome for 3 years and loves it. We watched the sunset and then went home. A really enjoyable day.

On Wednesday we had a relaxing day a bit of shopping and a visit to the post office to see if our mail had arrived. Still no mail.

On Thursday morning we were picked up from the Caravan Park at 7.45 am and were taken out to the 42’ boat that took us out to the reef that is 18.6 miles off the coast, it took over an hour to get there. We bottom fished to start with and it was surprising how many fish were caught, some undersize but a lot of good fish were caught.

CHARTER BOAT FISHING

We then trolled lures for a couple of hours and we all caught a fish I caught a Mac Tuna and Diane caught a Spanish Mackerel. We bottom bashed for another hour and then headed home. We ended up with four fish. As we were tired we went to the Golf Club for dinner.

Friday morning after fuelling the car we went into see the man who was fixing our reversing camera and it was 11.00am before we left to go to Cape Leveque. It is 201km to the Cape and only 76km of it is tar sealed, the rest is sandy dirt road with a fair few corrugations in the road. On the way up we stopped at Beagle Bay where there is an old church that was built in 1917, the church alter and a lot of the other internal fittings were inlaid with pearl shell.
Middle Lagoon was our next stop, it is an aboriginal community and they have cabins, Beach shelters and a camping ground. The area overlooks a beautiful lagoon and you

MIDDLE LAGOON
could certainly spend a fair bit of time there. We had lunch there before heading off to Kooljaman at Cape Leveque where we stayed in a mini safari tent for the night. In the afternoon we went for a walk along the beach on the western side of the Cape with the sun shining on the cliff face, the colours and shapes are just incredible. When we arrived at the point we received a phone call from Melissa to say that Hannah was in hospital. Along the beach there was a man who has recently retired doing a drawing in coloured pencils of the scenery (he was doing a good job too). He said that when he gets home he will do an oil painting of the area.

We cooked our dinner in the camp kitchen where we met a young couple from Germany his sister and a boy from France. We also met Amy who arrived on the same day and she had arrived on the mail car from Broome, Amy was in the tent next to ours.

On Saturday morning after a terrible nights sleep on the mattress that allowed you to sink right through to the floor we had breakfast and then went down to the beach on the eastern side of the Cape and went snorkelling. The whole area is just beautiful.

CAPE LEVEQUE

We left Cape Leveque and went to One arm point that is another 13km further up along the another Cape. It is another beautiful place as far as the scenery goes; there are a lot of small rocky islands in the area. It is also another Aboriginal community.

On the way home we called into the Bird observatory for a look but it was the wrong time of the day, I think you would want to be there early in the morning or later in the day. The young couple that we met called into the caravan park and we gave them a feed of fish that we promised them. I went to the Speedway for the night, it was a good night and I met an Aboriginal family who said when we come back to look them up and he will take us fishing where they go. The husband worked at the Water board and his name was Asus or something like that. They were at the speedway to support his son in law who was racing a ford falcon. His name was Lyle and he worked at the Argyle Diamond mine.

Sunday will be a lay day as Diane has to have her Blood test tomorrow so we are going to stay here for another day.

Monday Diane had her blood test at the Hospital and then we left Broome heading to Port Smith that is 23km off the main highway and is dirt road. At Port Smith the Caravan Park and the Bird Sanctuary are the only two places there. It is in the middle of an Aboriginal area and only about 400m from the beach.

We fished Tuesday and Thursday and only caught a queen fish and a bream. It is a lovely spot and has some good fishing just out through the heads if you have a boat big enough. One day we went to the cliffs it is a great spot and at one end you can get down onto the beach where we went for a swim. The only thing wrong with the place is the flies they are horrific and at this time of the year it is very hot like 42 degrees.

The wind has been blowing from the east each day and that has been bringing the flies out of the country. When the heat goes out of the day this afternoon (Thursday) I will pack the boat ready to leave tomorrow.

PORT SMITH

After finishing loading the boat on Friday morning we packed up and left Port Smith on our way to Eighty Mile Beach. We stopped at Sandfire roadhouse on the way, the roadhouse was burnt down at Easter time and will be rebuilt next year. Arrived at Eighty Mile Beach Caravan Park at about 12.00pm, and find a lovely grassed park at the back of the beach. It was low tide after we had set up and we went for a walk on the beach and it was about a kilometre to get to the waters edge, the sand is fairly muddy so that when the tide comes in the water has a muddy brown colouring.

It was a full Moon tonight so we went for a walk on the beach as the tide was coming in, it was about half tide and there was a turtle laboriously coming up the beach to the edge of the sand dunes to lay its eggs. When it got to where it was going it started to dig a hole with its flippers and then laid her eggs before returning to the water. It was good to see. There were also fisherman on the beach but we only saw a catfish being caught.

We met up with the German backpackers again their names are Marcus his sister Mona and Marcus’ girlfriend Anna and Florent who is from France. On Saturday morning we went fishing on the beach and caught 4 Bluenose Salmon. We will stay here for the rest of the day and head to Port Hedland or Karijini National Park.







EIGHTY MILE BEACH

Arrived at Port Hedland around lunchtime and stopped in the street outside a bank to get some money from the Hole in the Wall and just as we were about to leave Marcus and crew pulled up in front of us, Marcus was worried about an oil leak that had developed from the back of the motor on their Landcruiser. After taking a look at it we decided that the leak was coming from the rear main seal and that it would be a big job to fix it. We went to Repco and brought some Wynn’s auto leak that softens seals hoping that by using that the leak would take up.

After some discussion we all decided to push on to Port Samson another 191km away. Arrived at Port Samson at 5.05pm and set up in the Caravan Park on the headland next to the Tavern. We will see how much oil leaks overnight from the Landcruiser. We had our Dinner with the Kids and also a couple from America who are travelling around the World only staying in Australia for 6 weeks, it was a good night.

What a day Monday has been, the day started off as usual after breakfast we went for a drive around the district, first we went to Wickham and went out to the beach that is near the Jetty where all the ships come in to load the Iron Ore from the mines. On the way back into town we had to wait for a train that was heading back out to the mines for another load, it had 236 carriages one of the biggest we have seen.

WICKHAM

After Wickham we drove out to Cossack which is a Historic Town and has a lookout on the top of a hill that overlooks the coastline and river entrance. It was overcast and fairly windy and looked like rain so we headed back to camp as Marcus and crew hadn’t put the flies over there tents.

COSSACK

After lunch the boys decided to go fishing we left at about 3.00pm and went out to the river to try our luck, we had only been there for about 10 minutes when a young fellow came up to us and asked if we could help them, their hilux was bogged on the sand flats. We thought that the tide was coming in and I was reluctant to take my car onto the sand. Trying to get onto the sand we sunk straight down and I had to get Marcus to pull me out with his Landcruiser.

We thought that with the extra hands that we might have been able to push their car out of the bog so we walked over to access the situation. It was hopeless the car was sitting on the mud and the wheels were just spinning. I decided to see if I could find a track to bring my car in on. We were able to get into the area and I kept my car on a firm section of the track and hooked up the back of there car that was at 90degrees to the track using my tow rope and my snatch strap. Luckily it came out without to much trouble but I had drifted off the track and when I was ready to go I found myself bogged again and we then used their car to pull me out. Without any further trouble we got out and went to the fishermen’s wharf were we borrowed a hose to wash both vehicles down. While we were washing the cars Marcus and Florent fished from the wharf and we didn’t get home until 7.30pm for dinner. The two men whose car was bogged came down to our camp and had some dinner with us and after a few beers I went to bed at 12.45am.

On Tuesday morning we decided to go to Karratha and Dampier for a drive as it was shorter to do that and return to Port Samson than it was to go to the Karijini National Park from Port Heland and return. Karratha is a fairly big town that services the Mines in the area and has a good shopping centre. It is hard to see the Ocean from Karratha as you have to drive up onto a sand dune to see it.

DAMPIER

Dampier is only about 21km further along the coast but is on high ground and you can get 180 degree views from the lookout. The waterfront has been developed nicely with parks and gardens as well as a sailing club and plenty of boat ramps along the foreshore. There is a big port facility there and we saw a train with 236 carriages that carried Iron Ore to the Port for loading onto ships. They have some of the longest trains in Australia in this region. We preferred Dampier to Karratha although most of the books are the other way around.

After arriving back at Port Samson we went fishing down on the rocks but as the tide was out there were a lot of exposed rocks around so we went to the Fisherman’s Jetty but caught nothing.

We will miss the road from Dampier to Nanutarra as we are going to go back towards Port Hedland and turn right on the road to Newman. At Auski we fuelled our vehicles and then went to Karijini National Park and camped at Dales Gorge camping area for two nights. On the first day we visited Dales Gorge with the Fortescue River Falls, Circular Pool and the Fern Pool. We all had a swim below the Waterfall and Marcus, Mona and Florent had a swim at the Fern Pool. It was a lovely area and I think the best that we saw.

DALES GORGE AREA

We then visited the Kalamina Falls, Joffre Falls, Knox Falls and Oxers Lookout. The Oxers Lookout was certainly spectacular the formation of the rocks in the whole National Park is wondrous with the extortions and twists in the rocks, is something to be seen.



OXERS LOOKOUT
The next morning we packed up early and drove to Tom Price and left our Caravan at the Shell Garage before going to the Hamersley Gorge that is in the North Western corner of the Gorge and about 76km from Tom Price over dirt roads. The Gorge had a Waterfall and a long thin waterhole where we swam. It was the second best spot in the National Park.

HAMERSLEY GORGE

We went back to Tom Price and had a quick look around the town (not much of interest) and then hooked up the caravan and headed west. We stopped at a roadside stop called House Creek that is only 64km from Nannutarra. We had travelled over 400km in the day as well as seeing and swimming in the Gorge.

HOUSE CREEK CAMP