Cape Range National Park and Ningaloo Reef - 7 nights

11th - 17th June 2014

We had 7 great days in the National Park.  Due to the crazy booking system we spent the first 3 nights at Kurrajong campsite in the south of the park, followed by 4 nights at Mesa campsite in the north.

Kurrajong was immediately behind the sand dunes opening onto a beautiful stretch of beach.  The camp sites in this area are very widely spaced so there is a great sense of privacy.  As the park is very arid there are no trees so it was windswept, especially the first night.  Although the rain had cleared by the time we entered the park the winds kept up for several more days.  The awning over the slide out on the van was flapping alarmingly at 3:00 in the morning the first night so we came up with an anti-flap fix for the subsequent nights.

Anti flap device improvised from brooms and rope

Whilst at Kurrajong we enjoyed some wonderful sunsets over the lagoon and as it was a full moon on the 13th we had a lovely moonlit night, so bright there was a moon shadow.  Next morning I got up at 5:00 and walked to the beach to see the full moon hanging over the ocean.  Beautiful.

Sunset at Kurrajong Beach

Full moon at Kurrajong Beach

We went for long beach walks, but it was a bit cool for swimming in the early part of the week, though John went for a quick swim.

Kurrajong Beach

Kurrajong Beach, reef is close here

Gorge visits
There are two gorges on the western side of the range and both are inhabited by the rare black footed rock wallaby.  They are beautiful animals with long bushy tails.  The wallabies live in the limestone cliffs of the gorge, which are full of caves and crevices, and they eat the sparse vegetation growing on the cliffs.  The wallabies are very agile and able to leap up to 3 metres, even though they are only the size of a small dog.

Black footed rock wallaby

One of the gorges, Mandu Mandu had a dry bed which we walked along.  The torrents of water which destroyed so much of the park during the recent cyclone tore down this creek bed ripping out river red gums.  However, those that had manged to keep a few roots in the stones were already regenerating with new growth from the fallen trunks.

Mandu Mandu gorge with now dry creek bed

Yardie gorge is flooded with sea water and not often open to the sea, however the cyclone has opened the sand bar for the first time in 3 years which alters the ecology, a natural event though.  On Yardie we went on an informative boat trip run by the Dept of Conservation.  There are osprey nests on the high cliffs, but unfortunately the birds were out fishing when we were there.

Yardie gorge

Mesa campsite was quite different.  The campsite is smaller and the sites are close together.  There are conifer trees around the camping area from the days when oil exploration was going on in the area; they must have been planted for wind breaks and to provide shade.  Now there is contention within the Dept of Conservation on whether they should be removed or not.  The campers like them but they are not native to the area or even to Australia.

Mesa camp

Mixed flocks of corellas and galahs

Our camp here was on a creek inlet, though no fresh water is present.  Once again the beaches were glorious.

Beach at Mesa

The wind improved enough to produce a day towards the end of the week when it was warm enough to go snorkelling.  This we did at Turquoise bay which is very pretty.  The coral is within 40 metres of the shore at low tide but is not that spectacular.

Sunset on last evening at Mesa

Two days before we left we did the whale shark swim.  This was the big highlight and the main reason to go to Ningaloo.  It was a full day trip and due to the temperature in the lagoon, which was only 20 degrees, the educational snorkel took place outside the reef where the water was 26 degrees.

Ready for the whale sharks!

The company uses spotter planes to find the sharks and soon we were in an area with lots.  The participants are divided into 2 teams and we each got 4 dives into the water with individual sharks.  The largest I saw was about 8 metres in length and really close!  This was a wonderful experience.  During the trip we also saw turtles, indo-pacific dolphins, dugongs, huge manta rays, reef sharks and a very playful humpback whale,  He wanted to interact and dived under the boat a couple of times and came up right alongside.

Magnificent whaleshark

Tour group after the fantastic day on the reef

After the boat trip on Monday we drove out of the park and up to the lighthouse, which is the nearest place a telstra signal can be obtained.  John called the panel beater and found the rear windscreen had arrived that day so we booked in for the repair on Wednesday.

Waiting around in Exmouth

10th May 2014

Less windy today but still overcast and some showers so we just spent all day hanging around waiting.  We will be off into the NP tomorrow and out of phone/internet range for hopefully 6 days if we can get the additional camp spot allocation in there.  Then back on Tuesday when the car part should have arrived from Sydney.

We booked the whale shark viewing trip today, for next Monday, so fingers crossed the weather will be fantastic by then as currently the choppy seas are keeping them away from the reef.

Best part of the whole day was the sunrise.

Sunrise over the Gulf of Exmouth

Dreary day in Exmouth

9th June 2014

Still very windy this morning and rain threatening.  The rain started around noon and continues on and off, but the high wind has stopped so this is a good sign.  The weather was not good enough to do anything, and apart from the outdoor activities there IS nothing to do in Exmouth.  So we have caught up with chores, and generally chilled out all day.

Dreary rain soaked view through caravan window

John got the go ahead from the insurance broker, Ken Tame & Associates, to have the window repair done in Exmouth

and we will just be up for the excess of $100.  As it's a public holiday in NSW he was lucky to be able to make contact with anyone.  He took the car into the smash repairer in Exmouth who had been recommended.  The good news is the job will only take a few hours, the bad news is that Toyota have only one replacement rear screen for our model in the whole of Australia and that is in Sydney.  The spare couldn't be ordered and shipped today because of the public holiday, but should be on the way tomorrow.  At best case it will be here in 8 days, assuming no hold ups with the freight company.

In the meantime John found out about a web site on which the NP camp sites can be booked on line.  There was nothing available for tomorrow night so we will have to stay put, but we have secured 3 nights on Wednesday, Thursday , Friday.  As the DEC give preference to campers already in the park we are hoping  to extend the stay until Monday night then come back to the Exmouth caravan park ready to take the car in for repair.

Makeshift carport [back cleaned, the rest still caked in red bulldust]

John's temporary repair is holding up well but we have kept the back of the car under the caravan awning for added protection from the rain.  In some ways this enforced wait has not been too bad as the weather for the last 2 days wasn't good enough to enjoy any activities on the Ningaloo reef.

First sight of the west coast - Barradale Rest Area to Exmouth

8th June 2014

Departed our overnight stop around 7:15 and were in Exmouth by mid morning.  We booked into a town campsite for 2 nights though we are hoping to move into the National Park once we know when the car can be fixed.  Then we can get on with the reason for being here, the Ningaloo Reef.

Even though it is Sunday, we managed to find a hardware store open and John purchased the necessary items to do a fairly durable cardboard, double sided tape, plastic and duct tape cover over the back door on the car. Very neat!

Hope the repair is waterproof.

We took the car for a drive and it seems to be holding up well so are hoping we can at least drive around the Cape Range NP area until it can be fixed.  There is a repair shop in town which is fortunate as Exmouth is a very small place and extremely isolated. Tomorrow morning John will contact the repair shop after speaking to our insurance company.  We hope the replacement window can come from Perth and not Sydney or Melbourne but even so the minimum time before the work can be done will be 4 or 5 days.  Must look on the bright side, we could have been stranded somewhere awful.

Bleak outlook at WWII radar bunker with Vlamingh lighthouse in background and Ningaloo reef in the distance.

Today has been cloudy and very windy and the area is quite unlike my expectations.  Rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow so we managed to get the rear of the car underneath the caravan awning which should offer some protection.  Hopefully no worse weather is on the way - this is an area prone to cyclones and the highest wind speeds on the Australian mainland have been recorded here.  There was a cyclone a couple of months ago which has unfortunately destroyed much of the infrastructure in the national park including some of the campgrounds.

There is a bizarre system in place for allocating campsites in the national park.  Bookings cannot be made on line or by phone - only by queueing up at the park entrance on the day you want to start camping.  The ranger arrives at 8:00am to allocate sites but to get a good choice I am told I need to be in the queue by 6:15am.  All going well with planning the repair I can do this on Tuesday and we should be able to stay in the park for about 5 days before coming back to Exmouth for the car repair.

Whilst driving through Exmouth I came across 2 big 'things' to add to my photographic collection.  Ironically the real whale sharks, at up to 13 metres, are much bigger than this concrete one of only about 4 metres.

Big prawn

Big whale shark

Bit of a disaster day - Tom Price to Barradale Rest Area

7th June 2014

Nice early start today for a big drive.  We did not expect to get all the way to Exmouth, but were certainly not expecting what happened about 120 km's out from Tom Price.  The rear windscreen in the landcruiser suddenly exploded and shattered into thousands of pieces.  Initially we both thought it was a tyre blowout until John looked in the rear vision mirror.  All very strange as the obvious cause would be a stone thrown up against the front of the caravan which then bounced onto the window.  However the caravan was unmarked so this seems unlikely especially since we were travelling on a sealed road at the time.

Anyway, we knocked out as much glass as possible, it was all over the gear in the back of the car.  Then we had a choice; return to  Tom Price or continue on.  We decided on the latter as the car was fine to drive without a rear windscreen and the caravan provided a wind shield anyway.  This occurred on a Saturday so we knew it would be 2 days before we could even start to get it fixed and anyway we had no phone coverage and wouldn't have for another 500 km's.

So we continued on through the hilly arid countryside until we reached a convenient rest area in the mid afternoon where we could free camp for the night.  John managed to fix up a piece of plastic sheeting to keep out any dew and we stayed hitched up for the night for a quick getaway in the morning.

No rear windscreen

Karijini from Tom Price

6th June 2014

Today we drove up the western side of the park to visit Hamersley Gorge.  Not much of it is accessible but the part that is was glorious.  We arrived there early morning and the sun was sparkling on the water.  The walls were the best examples we have seen of  folding in the rocks and the range of colours was extraordinary.  Some limestone was present giving a white colour and some of the rocks were pink which had been caused by the organic action of ancient rainforests on the underlying rocks.

Hamersley Gorge

Hamersley Gorge

We also made a quick trip to Mt Bruce though we did not climb to the summit, just up about 200 metres above the plain to get a good view in all directions.  One of the sights in view was the Marrandoo open cut mine.  Hamersley Iron have been permitted a rail corridor through the park and the mine is at the western end of it.  The iron bearing rocks are crushed then taken to Dampier for shipment to China where the smelting takes place.  We watched a couple of trains make their way slowly across the plain.  The trains are 2 km long and when fully laden weigh 20,000 tonnes.  I am glad we didn't have to wait for one to pass on the rail crossing.

Having coated the car with more red dust we decided not wash it, but John had to take it to a mechanic to get the fuel filters replaced.  A lot of the diesel available in the outback is contaminated for some reason so the filters clog up really quickly.

Cheeky galah at our campsite

Karijini National Park - 5 nights then on to Tom Price

31st May to 5th June 2014

Karijini is a beautiful place.  We camped in the national park where there are no services so we really slowed down.  The camp space we were allocated was spacious and surrounded by trees.  At night it is pitch black so the stars are magnificent.  The days were a pleasant 25 to 28 degrees, the nights cold, probably around 5 degrees on some nights.

Camp site at Karijini NP

We managed to explore most of the gorges over the 4 full days in the area.  The entire Pilbarra area is rich in iron ore and the protected Karijini is just a small part of it.  Rio Tinto have a huge mine at Tom Price and would like to add parts of Karijini to their holdings.  It is a shock to see the huge Marandoo mine set amongst such pristine wilderness.

Folded Rocks in Kalamina Gorge

The Pilbarra area is an elevated flat landscape with many hills rising across the plains.  The rocks were mostly formed as an ancient sea floor about 2,500 million years ago, which makes them some of the oldest rocks on earth and they pre-date all life except simple bacteria and algae.  At this time there was little oxygen in the atmosphere and the water was laden with iron and silica.  Over time the iron and silica settled on the sea floor and subsequent layers of rock built up over the sediments.  Then the water was squeezed out leaving the iron and silica in bands. Eventually the rocks were squeezed horizontally making them buckle and uplift to form dry land.  At this time vertical cracks were formed.  Subsequent erosion by water took place forming the spectacular deep gorges that can be viewed today.  Some of them drop 120 metres from the surrounding flat land to the gorge floor.

Arid landscape above Dales Gorge

Dales Gorge
This was the first gorge we explored since it was within walking distance of our campsite. The gorge always contains water so there are many plants and fish in the pools. Fig trees hug the rock walls and exquisite ferns and mosses cling the wet walls around the waterfalls.  This is in stark contrast to the plains which are very dry with spinifex grass and the occasional snappy gum.  The gorge contains 3 deep pools and we returned on our last day to this gorge where John had a swim in the prettiest one.  The water was very cold!
This gorge also contain asbestos in small quantities, it can be seen flaking out between the layers of iron ore.  Up until the 1960's, asbestos was mined in Wittenoom and Yampire gorges which are not far from here.  They are accessible but there is plenty of advise to keep away from the area.

Looking into Dales Gorge

Resident gecko

Fortescue Falls in Dales Gorge

Corellas at Fern Pool, Dales Gorge

John swimming in Fern Pool

Fig tree roots in Dales Gorge

Asbestos in Dales Gorge

Red dragonfly in Kalamina Gorge

Kalamina Gorge

This gorge was much wider and water more shallow, very pretty though.  There were butterflies and lots of red and blue dragonflies.  

Kalamina Gorge

Kalamina Gorge

Hancock Gorge

Steep climb down into this gorge.  After a short walk we had to wade through thigh deep water to reach the start of the narrow chasm leading to a spot known as Kermit's pool.  To proceed any further it was necessary to 'spider walk' the near vertical walls or wade chest deep through very cold water so we gave that a miss.

Descent into Hancock Gorge

Hancock Gorge

Hancock Gorge

Weano Gorge

Weano is quite a long gorge and at one end is a pool, known as handrail pool which it is possible to reach by wading through a shallow pool then following the water along a very narrow chasm until it drops into a spectacular circular pool.  Not sure how deep the pool is but the chasm walls were about 80 metres so it was an awesome sight.  The handrail refers to the means to descend the rock face alongside the waterfall to the pool edge -scary but well worth doing!

Weano Gorge

Weano Gorge

Chasm to Handrail pool

Handrail pool

Junction Lookout

This is the point at which 5 gorges meet.  Climbing into them is not permitted but a lookout has been placed so the dizzying 120 metre drop can be viewed.Reluctantly left Karijini on 5th and drove to Tom Price, which is the mining town of the Pilbarra.  Actually quite a nice place set in amongst the peaks.  Here we have stocked up on food supplies, replenished the water tanks and washed the red dust out of as much as possible.