Millstream Chichester National Park

We left Wittenoom just after 8am, following a very sleepless night, and were now heading to Millstream Chichester National Park. 
 
The van was constantly buffeted by strong winds rushing down through the gorge. We could have driven along part of the road we took yesterday, but we chose a different route that passed Mulga Park and Mt. Florence stations. We travelled beside the Tom Price railway for 28 km before turning onto the Pannawonica road for 18 km to reach the entrance of the national park. This section of road and the 5 km into our campsite at Stargazers campground were quite ordinary, featuring corrugations and rocky patches.

We chose this campground because it was generator-free, but later in the day, we drove to the Miliyanha campground, which we found had a much nicer lookout and newer facilities.

 

For the life of us, we cannot understand why national parks would provide better facilities so that people could run their generators. As a result, our planned four-day stay was reduced to just two days.

 

It was also interesting to discover that the towns of Karratha, Roebourne, and Dampier receive their water supply from this national park. 

 

Deep Reach Pool is located along the Fortescue River, which runs through the park. It's extensive and also very deep, making it ideal for swimming, provided you have some form of flotation device, such as a noodle. I was surprised to find that fishing was permitted, and the area adjacent to the waterhole was surrounded by gas BBQS, shade, and toilets.

We visited the Millstream Homestead, built in 1920. 

The lease on the pastoral property was established in the 1800s; at one stage, over 20,000 sheep were grazed there. A walking trail departs from the homestead and winds through groves of date palms and large paperbark trees. The entire area is adorned with clear, flowing streams and wetlands filled with water lilies. 

Our camp host, Burnie, recommended we visit Python Pool. Our original plan was to stop there on our way out of the park tomorrow. However, it was 19 km off the main road with nowhere to park the van, so his advice was very helpful.
 
The total trip was 116 km. The drive was stunning, with the sun positioned just right and the hills covered in spinifex, and some speckled clouds added a picturesque touch to our photos.

Of course, the waterfall into the pool at the base of the cliffs was not flowing this late in the dry season. However, we could only imagine how wonderful it must be to see it like this.

On our way back, we were fortunate enough to see one of the ore trains returning to Tom Price.

Wittenoom Gorge

Our plan for this evening, after leaving Hamersley Gorge, was to camp at Wittenoom Gorge. We drove past the now-abandoned township and into the gorge, which was marked by asbestos warning signs. 

Asbestos found in the creek bed near our camp.

We were searching for a site with water views, but several of the options we considered would have been too difficult to manoeuvre the van into without risking damage. As it was starting to get late in the day, we drove back towards the old township, where we found access down into a creek bed that allowed me to turn around.

 

I was able to capture some lovely photos and videos with the drone as the sunset painted the cliffs that surrounded us.

Karijini National Park

Our campsite at the Mt Robinson rest area before entering Karijini National Park.

We arrived just after 8:00 a.m. and paid our park entry fee of $6.00, which is half price because we have an NSW Seniors Card. And we were confronted with this sign wherever we went...

Then we headed to the camp host to pay our camping fees of $14.00 per day for both of us.
 
We were allocated site 34 on the Bungarra Loop in the non-generator area at Dales Gorge campground, and we should have given more thought to staying on this site because the van on the following site had bunk beds. It could only mean ankle biters.

All the attractions in Karijini are very accessible. It's just a matter of driving to a car park with most gorge access points or lookouts, which are typically 50 to 300 metres away. All the trails are colour-coded, ranging from beginner to very adventurous.
 
Circular and Fern Pool were very close to our camp, so we wandered off to the car park and then down into Dales Gorge. As we were descending, I overheard a woman saying that there were a total of 286 steps to climb to return to the car park. Both pools were very enjoyable, with Fern Pool being the coldest.

We spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the shade of the van, trying to hide from the near gale-force winds that were whipping up red dust in all directions. Most of the trees here have been burnt and look like they will never recover, while only a handful surrounding us have started to grow leaves. Unfortunately, the conditions remained the same throughout our entire stay.
 
The couple from the van with the bunks returned with a small child in tow, and we were then forced to listen to cartoons played loudly for the rest of the afternoon. Around 6 pm, they started up a generator so they could use their microwave for cooking. Unfortunately, the camp hosts had retired for the evening, so I asked them to turn off the generator, but they refused and continued until they finished.
 
As we left the next morning to explore some of the other gorges, I stopped to complain about the couple using the generator. As we continued, we could hear on the UHF radio that a ranger was being called to visit them and advise that this area was designated as a generator-free zone. We remained generator-free for the rest of our evenings.
 
The Banjima Drive North Road begins at the Visitors Centre and extends for 43 km to the gorges in the north-west of the park. This road is very corrugated and rocky along its entire length, just like all the access roads to the other gorges. We stopped after 100 metres, where I reduced the 4wd tyres to 30 psi, before stopping shortly after and dropping them further to 26 psi to cope with the worsening road conditions.

We passed many vehicles that were driving along at a snail's pace, with what I can only assume were bitumen tyre pressures. In total, for the day, we covered 113 km. We decided to drive to the furthest gorge and then work our way back. At Weano Gorge, we walked down into the floor of the gorge and followed it for several hundred metres before reaching some quite deep seasonal pools and very large slippery boulders, so we decided not to go any further.

 

Unfortunately, we are no longer as agile as rock wallabies, so we are limited in what we can actually see.

 

At Oxer Lookout in the Weano area, you are treated to the most amazing views over the junction of Weano, Red, Hancock, and Joffre Gorges.

Joffre Gorge, in particular, was very spectacular. Unfortunately, the falls were not flowing, but they would cascade several hundred metres down into the gorge.

We watched a couple start to climb out, and we were both thankful it wasn't us; mind you, they were probably about forty years younger than we were.

Kalamina Falls was 6km along a very rough and rocky road. We walked down to take some photos, but the actual swimming hole looked stagnant and not very welcoming.

We drove into Tom Price on the bitumen road, where we refuelled and filled all our water tanks at a free water outlet opposite the swimming pool.
 
We were now on our way to Hamersley Gorge along what I can only describe as a very good dirt road, with just a few minor corrugations and quite a few bulldust holes. This gorge is one of the most spectacular in the park, featuring a diverse array of rock formations and a lovely swimming hole. 

Towards the Pilbara

It rained during the night at Giles Breakaway, but thankfully not enough to cause problems on the 53 km dirt track into Laverton. The roads were wet and slightly slippery in places, but we managed without mishap. We both refuelled our 4WDs and used the air compressor at the garage to quickly pump our tyres back to road pressures.

We were all heading towards Leonora, where Narelle and Gordon would turn south towards Kalgoorlie, and we would head north towards Leinster. We both changed our cassettes and topped up our drinking and non-potable tanks in Leonora before saying our goodbyes.

We stopped in the BHP-run town of Leinster, where Ros bought fruit from the local supermarket. We then headed west and camped at the Peter Denny Lookout. The cliffs at this breakaway reminded us of Giles Breakaway, but on a much smaller scale. A little later, after we arrived, we were joined by another van for the evening.

Our total distance today was 431 km, including 53 km of dirt roads. At 6:30, we saw lightning on the horizon, and half an hour later, it began to rain, continuing for most of the night. We estimate about 20 mm.

The rain cleared by morning, leaving a patchy blue sky, and all the plants and trees look rejuvenated after last night's rain.

We left just after 8:00 for the 33 km drive to the small town of Sandstone. It’s a very clean and tidy little town. 

We stopped for photos, and I asked about taking the 192 km Sandstone to Meekatharra road, which would save us a significant amount of time and distance compared to travelling on the bitumen through Mt Magnet. 

The advice was to stick to the bitumen after last night's rain.
We stopped in Mt Magnet to refuel before continuing north towards Cue.

The abandoned Masonic building:

Here we changed our cassette and refilled our water supply before stopping in the main street for some photos. It was a sombre sight to see row after row of shops closed, with only one pub still open, while the shire offices, post office, and police station underwent refurbishment.

As we passed the caravan park, nearly all the sites were full, so I could only assume they were working in the mines surrounding the town and refurbishing the old miners' cottages.

By this stage, we were now driving into a 40- to 50-km/h headwind, so by the time we reached Meekatharra, we decided to call it a day and paid $25 to camp at the local caravan park.

We left Meekatharra just after 8:00 am and headed further north. Thankfully, the strong headwind we experienced yesterday was now gone. 

We stopped at the Kumarina Roadhouse for lunch before continuing another 140 km to a spot in the scrub, just 14 km south of Newman. 

We were out of sight from the road, but unbeknownst to us, we were directly under the flight path to the airport, which we found very amusing.

A quick visit to the mining town of Newman, where, in exchange for a gold coin donation, we could use the dump point and restock our drinking and non-drinking water supplies. We shopped at the local Woolworths but then had to wait until midday to purchase alcohol.

 While waiting, we stopped at the Newman Hotel and both had a Corona. Ouch, $18 for two beers.

We also met fellow BT owner Graeme, who is a member of the Facebook page. He works in Newman and reckons he will be on the road full time in six years.