Wednesday 15th May 2013 – Laverton to Sandstone

Breakfast (Buckwheat pancake with tinned peaches, yoghurt and maple syrup in the camp kitchen (the kitchen being an excellent setup).

After fuelling up and pumping up tyres (bitumen today) we called at the Information Centre – lots of interesting information and stuff.  Jill bought a couple of books.

On the road we called into Mt Malcolm lookout – quite a view out over the flat country.  Jill found some white ochre.

Mt Malcolm

At Leonora we bought a few groceries to keep us going until Meekatharra.  Jennie and Richard left us heading south to Kalgoorlie and then Perth.  We will meet up with them again in Newman on the 2^nd June.

Very good bitumen road to Sandstone.  Called into Peter Denny lookout where the countryside drops away to a plain below.  We were driving through very flat country and couldn’t work out why there would be a lookout there until we actually got to the car park.

Peter Denny Lookout

Sandstone was a very tidy, tiny town – would have been nice too spend more time there but we were on a mission to get to Mt Augustus tomorrow night and have time to do some shopping in Meekatharra (for fruit and veg)  tomorrow as well.

We camped by the roadside about 120km before Meekatharra on quite hard flat gravelly ground – a little different to the sand under foot that we were used to.  There we lots of quartz and shiny black rocks.  The night was cooler so a fire was appreciated.

Thursday 16th May 2013 – Sandstone to Mt Augustus

On the way into Meekatharra we called into Barlangi Rock.  An interesting bubble on the flat landscape apparently caused by a meteorite.

Barlangi Rock

We didn’t find the Coles we were expecting in Meekatharra – only a Coles express at the service station where we filled up with fuel.  Got a few things there and then went back into town to the Foodworks which had a good range of fruit and veg.

Found out at the shire office that the road to Mt Augustus was closed because of roadworks.  This required a bit of a change of plans but fortunately there was another road not too far out of our way.  Initially this road (gravel) was in very good condition as it led to a talc mine.  Our lunch beside the road was shared with a perentie who thought the countryside belonged to him.

I'm sure he would have been happy to share our lunch!

Came to a grader driver working on the road who had no idea why we were told the road was closed and couldn’t see any reason why we should not cross back onto the original road to complete our journey.  Passed the Burringurrah Aboriginal community which looked fairly large with some new buildings.  Burringurrah is the aboriginal name for Mt Augustus so not too far to go now.

Mt Augustus

Camped the night in the Mt Augustus Outback Resort (Resort with a bit of tongue in cheek).  It was very basic but there were great hot showers and grass to camp on.  Met a couple of National Parks Volunteers, Neil and Julie (called Hosts) who take care of the various trails, clean the toilets etc.  At happy hour (5pm – we took our nibbles and drinks to the camp kitchen) they gave us quite a bit of information – Mt Augustus being the largest rock in the world.  The rock turned a lovely orange colour on sunset not unlike Uluru.  The main difference between the  two rocks is that Mt Augustus is vegetated (particularly on the southern side so is not quite as imposing as Uluru.  But it is big!!!

Sunset from the camping area

Friday 17th May – Mt Augustus

Woke to see the sunrise upon the rock (from our camper!)  Did a load of washing and then set out to circumnavigate the rock – 45 km.

Stopped off at Cattle Pool – lots of water (so named as drovers would have stopped here with their cattle en route to Meekatharra).  Quite a few birds and beautiful gum trees – White Barked River Gums.

What bird is that?  - at Cattle Pool

Next point of call was The Pound (so called as it was a spot where cattle were kept overnight) where we climbed to a saddle looking to the flat country to the north.

At Flintstone and Mundee we were able to view some Aboriginal Engravings (petroglyphs) – unfortunately quite  faded.

After lunch in the carpark at Ooramboo and Edney’s lookout we set out to climb to the eastern part of the rock (about 3 hours return and nowhere near as high as the highest point – 6 hours return)  After more engravings near the carpark the climb was quite steady and not too difficult.  We stopped a couple of times along the path and for about half an hour at the peak, an unusual natural cairn shaped structure on the rock – a pimple we called it.

Edney's Lookout

Back to camp for a bit of a rest before setting off for Emu Hill about 4:30 to watch the sunset over the rock.  It wasn’t particularly speccy today but was fun viewing with our wine and nibbles.

Sunset on Mt Augustus

Back to camp for left over’s tonight and another hot shower before bed

Saturday 18th May – Mt Augustus to Kennedy Range National Park

Sunrise at Mt Augustus

Another glorious sunrise this morning before heading off to Kennedy Range National Park.  Good to see people with a sense of humour!!  Just before Cobra Station there was a speed camera sign.  A little further along there was a sign “eggs for sale” at the beginning of a driveway.  Just behind it was another sign, saying Danger – No entry.  Not sure how you would get the eggs.

Arrived at Temple Gorge (the Kennedy Range camp site) at lunch time to be met by the camp hosts Barrie and Mary who announced that he knew we were coming – he had been talking to Neil from Mt Augustus.  Opened up the camper to discover quite a bit of dust at the rear.  Discovered that one of the catches had broken.  Wired it up and hopefully have fixed it well enough to exclude further dust.  Some added gaffer on the gap should do the trick.  Fortunately the catch is on the back do which is opened so that you can access the draw under the bed when the camper is closed up.  We don’t need to open this when we have the camper open every day so should be ok.

After lunch we drove to Honeycomb Gorge carpark and walked to the gorge.  Where it opens out at the end into an amphitheatre there are these amazing honeycomb cliffs.  I’ve never seen anything like it before.  In the wet season there would be a waterfall and a pool at the base of the cliff.  None there today!!  We had fun clapping, banging rocks together etc and listening to the echo.

Honeycomb Gorge

Back at camp for nibbles and drinks and then dinner (beef curry) around the campfire.

Sunday 19th May – Kennedy Range National Park to Carnarvon

Sunrise at Kennedy Range

Another glorious sunrise, first with the sun on the clouds and then on the escarpment behind our camp.  Got away at 8:30 and drove to Drapers Gorge where we walked, scrambled, climbed up the gorge for some distance.  The rock formations were amazing with a huge variety of textures and colours – and lots of plant fossils.  Quite a few pools too with large tadpoles swimming around.

Drapers Gorge

From there it was on to Gascoyne Junction (the last of the gravel for a while).  Took on a little fuel (1.88 per litre) and pumped up our tires ready for the bitumen.  Quite an easy 170km drive into Carnarvon.  As we got nearer it was amazing to see vegetables and bananas growing along the road (on the flat).

We set up camp at the Coral Coast Caravan Park and at 2pm headed to town for lunch – we were looking forward to fish and chips.  It’s Sunday isn’t it and all the eateries close at 2.  Eventually found a market happening with some food left – burgers followed by Mango ice cream.  We then drove out to the old jetty, built in 1897 which stretches one mile out to sea.  Being lazy today we took the tramway a cute little train which was originally used to transport cargo out to ships.  The $7 each ($4 to walk) goes into a fund to preserve the structure (all done by a voluntary organisation). 

The Old Jetty at Carnarvon

Back to the caravan park to do some washing and showers before we all met at the Gascoyne Hotel (the Gassie as the train driver called it) for a very enjoyable meal of fresh seafood basket and honey prawns).  Then back to Phil and Kaye’s unit to book sites at Cape Range National Park (on the internet) before retiring – well after getting this blog up to date, responding to emails etc etc etc.