From Gladstone, we drove to Carnarvon, known for producing a lot of good fruit and veg, but we didn't have much luck finding any. In fact we found it to be a bit of a disappointment so decided to continue on toward Coral Bay as planned. This plan was scuppered when the road there was flooded. We saw the sign reading 'Traffic Hazard' as we approached and that can mean anything from pot holes, to gravel on the road and also evidently, flooding. We pulled to one side while we contemplated the flow of water across the road and watched as people stopped and then thought 'screw it' before driving/floating through the river. When one car was quite clearly pushed sideways by the torrent, we decided not to risk it - we've had enough car trouble for the time being thank you very much. So we doubled back towards the highway and aimed for Nunatarra, a lonely roadhouse on a long stretch of highway.
It turned into a long day, having woken up at sunrise we realised it would be after sunset by the time we got there, not only that but we were starting to run low on petrol, not great anywhere but especially not great in this part of the world. One of the great features of the car is that it can tell us how many km's we can do before the tank is empty. We realised that we would have enough to get us to the roadhouse for a refill, so we slowed down to ease petrol consumption and arrived with 60km left in the tank, a bit too close for comfort. Speaking of close calls, as we've mentioned before, we try not to drive after sunset because the risk of hitting wildlife is that much greater, and the kind of wildlife we're talking about can do a huge amount of damage. So it was all eyes out front and into the darkness as we drove onwards. We spotted a group of cows in the headlights and they were grazing on both sides of the road. We slowed right down to a near stop to ease past them when at the last second one cow spooked and ran across the road in front of us. Thankfully, we were going so slowly, we were able to stop and the cow made it across to where her friends were. All the while another cow in the group regarded us with utmost nonchalance as if to ask 'what is this shiny red thing and why are those humans looking at us?' A lot of the roads are unfenced and cows are left to wander huge amounts of land for grazing, often with good grass beside the road, compared to the scrub beyond it. Most of the cows we pass don't even look up so I wonder if it's more dangerous to slow down than it is to speed past them. All I know for sure is that you can't predict how the cow might behave.
Once at the roadhouse, we had some celebratory beers and fried food before planning or re-jigging our itinerary. We made a big compromise that is sometimes necessary on a big trip like ours. We decided not to go to Exmouth and the Ningaloo reef as it would take a long time and it's a big double back. We decided instead to head to Karijini National Park, and now we can say that we were very happy about that decision. Karijini is in the heart of the Pilbara, an area in the north of WA that is known for its dramatic landscape (as well as numerous iron ore mines). The drive through the Pilbara was spectacular, undulating hills and craggy rocky outcrops, cliffs and mountains all an iron rich, burnished red colour. We called in at Tom Price (yes, that's the name of a town, named after a mining prospector) to find out about the national park, especially how much of it we could access in our two wheel drive car. While there we also paid a visit to the WA mobile butcher! A massive truck that drives through rural WA every fortnight (around 4000km) providing good value, good quality meat for the area. Needless to say, we bought some steak and sausages for the barbie.
We arrived at the national park in time to camp and, importantly, eat the steak.
The next morning we set off on a hike through the national park where we climbed down a steep path into the gorge before following the bed of the gorge, all the while contemplating how different it would be in the wet season. We headed first to circular pool, a beautiful natural swimming hole at the base of the huge red cliffs. It was a cold swim, but very relaxing and refreshing. We were fortunate enough to have the pool to ourselves for a short while, but it wasn't long before a couple of tour groups came along so we marched off to get some distance. The geology of the area is fascinating, veins of blue asbestos lying in plain view along the footpath as well as ochre deposits and of course plenty of iron ore. After walking through much of Dales Gorge, we came to another swimming pool, Fortescue Falls and as the name suggests, there was a wonderful waterfall cascading into one end of the pool. It is a beautiful place and it's easy to see why it's so sacred to the local Aboriginal people. We had another quick swim before heading up to the car to resume our drive in the direction of Port Headland.
So we drove along the Great Northern Highway, an unforgiving section of road with road trains thundering past us in all directions. Port Headland, while an important shipping point for all that ore, is particularly expensive to stay, we're talking $50 a night, and for that reason we decided to skip it. We did have the pleasure of watching a huge mining train go by, over 2km long. We opted instead to stay a nearby rest area that's free to stop overnight, De Grey River. Cows roamed through to the river to get a drink and it was great listening to them wander through.
Next stop: Broome
