Wednesday 17th July 2013 – Keep River National Park to Zebra Rock Mine

Up early and on the trail by 6:30am after a hot lemon juice and a banana.  If today is as hot as it was yesterday then we don’t want to be walking in the middle of the day.  The first part of the walk to Jarnem lookout was through fairly open country and it’s already quite warm.  The hills are made of the same type of 300 million year old conglomerate sandstone as Purnululu (Bungle Bungles) so are quite spectacular.  From the lookout you get a 360 degree view over the Keep River Valley (no water in the river that could be seen) and back to the hills.  The track then continued on to Nigli Gap where there was a lot more vegetation and shade among the beehive formations.  At the gap there is some quite faded indigenous art – several shapes including an emu.  Nearby we could see some rock wallabies up on the cliff face.  We presume black footed rock wallabies as they are found in the area.  Lots of birds to see also, red collared lorikeets and black cockatoos, quails, friar birds and others.

The Jernem Walk

We arrived back at camp soon after 9am for a breakfast of coffee and toast.  After packing up we drove back to the information centre for a quick look at Cockatoo Lagoon.  Not a lot of water at this time of year but quite a bit of birdlife including Royal Spoonbills, magpie geese and whistling ducks.

From there it was on the road to the Zebra Rock Mine on Duncan Road.  About another 5km east along the Victoria Highway then 5km south on Duncan Road and 5km into the mine.  This is quite a new venture set up by Kim and Ruth Duncan and is apparently the only place in the world where ‘true’ Zebra Rock is mined (what is called Zebra Rock in Coober Pedy being quite different – a sandstone).  The owners are doing it all on a shoestring and it’s all very low key and a bit rustic.  $10 each to camp, scones and cream for a donation etc.  At 3 o’clock Ruth gave a talk on Zebra Rock and showed us how it is polished.  Jill held baby Opal while that was happening.  We purchased a few pieces of rock (thought that was easier than fossicking in the creek where ‘millions’ had been before us) and a pendant for Jill.  Jill also lined up a haircut from Ruth’s English backpacker offsider, Hannah – and a very good haircut it was too.

Zebra Rock

In this day and age, when many of the ‘places to go’ are being taken over by the ‘big boys’, it’s great to see a venture like this getting off the ground.  It’s a lovely spot that everyone should put on their itinerary.  Although we didn’t participate we heard from other travellers that their sunset cruise out into Lake Argyle and its wetlands was also excellent.