Week 27/52- Part 2 - Gascoyne & the Pilbara - River camp and iron ore

Good morning everyone. I have decided I need to include Part 2 of week 27, because I have a few extra photos I wanted to share. We are continuing north along the Great Northern Highway, and these photos are between Cue, our last destination, and Karijini National Park, our next destination.

Here is our camp for the night - the Gascoyne River. It is my favourite free camp heading north and we have camped here several times. Because it is a free roadside camp there are no facilities, but the beauty of the camp site always makes it a place we enjoy. We have a fire and cook marshmallows over the coals. It is gorgeous to wake up to the sound of bird song and the rising sun streaming through the trees.

Here is a photo I took early morning with a perfect reflection on the river, looking across to our camp.

From Life Images by Jill

Another photo from the Gascoyne River camp. The water level in the river rises and falls dependant on the season. You can see the bare roots of the trees on the river bank.

From Life Images by Jill

Although I love the Pilbara, I have a hard time driving up here because of road trains. These massive trucks take up a lot of road space both in width and length. Sometimes they have 4 trailers on behind the prime mover. You need a lot of clear straight road to be able to pass. You see lots of them coming either direction carrying machinery like this one, or covered trailers carrying supplies to the northern towns. My husband knows they make me very uncomfortable trying to pass so he does most of the driving up here. We had already passed this convoy down the road and when we stopped to get fire wood they went past us again. Lucky we were near to camp.

From Life Images by Jill

Newman is the centre of the iron ore region. This is one of the iron ore trucks. Huge aren't they?

From Life Images by Jill

This flower is the Mulla Mulla. You know when you have entered the Pilbara when you start seeing the Mulla Mulla. They are everywhere. There are different varieties ranging from this larger one, to smaller ones, also white. That is the Hamersley Ranges you can see in the background of this photo.

From Wildflowers

This is driving through the Hamersley Ranges - they are rich in iron ore and recognised as one of the oldest weathered surfaces on earth. The ranges are notable for their distinctive horizontal bedding where layers of red, black and brown iron form bands of colour with conglomerates and sandstone.

From Life Images by Jill

And this is an iron ore train we had to stop for - I forget how many carriages I counted, but it took a long time to cross. These trains are commonly 2 km long and have three diesel engines hauling 200 cars each of which carries 100 tonnes of ore. - approximately enough iron ore to construct about 15 000 family cars.

From Life Images by Jill

Week 25/52 - Camel Soak & John Forrest Lookout - in the steps of explorers & fence builders

Hi everyone and welcome to week 25 of my 52 week tour Downunder Western Australia. We are still in the mid west wildflower region as we continue to travel northwards from out last stop at White Wells.

North of White Wells we turned west off the Great Northern Highway just past Mount Gibson onto Wanarra East Road, a well maintained graded dirt road along which the everlastings were giving way to Pink Velleia.

The road passes through Charles Darwin Reserve, formerly White Wells sheep station, purchased in 2003 by Bush Heritage Australia with money partly donated by Chris Darwin, Charles Darwin’s great-great-grandson. The Reserve protects remnant woodlands and the native animals and plants that depend on them. Closed to tourists, volunteers are involved in the Reserve’s conservation and management.

Our camp for the night is Camel Soak, located 30 kilometres east of Perenjori. The Number 1 Rabbit Proof Fence, built to stop rabbits invading the West, stretches 1,837 kilometres from Cape Keraudren on the North West coast to Starvation Harbour on the South coast. The men constructing the 1166 kilometre long Number 2 Fence between 1903 and 1906 camped at Camel Soak as the gnamma holes on the granite outcrop provided water for the men and their camels. Gnamma holes are natural depressions in the rock. When it rains the water collects in these depressions. Gnamma holes were used by Aboriginals and later explorers as a source of water. The aboriginals would visit favoured holes and keep them clean.

This is a view from the rock at camel soak, showing gnamma holes.

From Life Images by Jill

Nestled at the base of the rock under shady trees, Camel Soak is a pleasant place for an overnight camp. The surrounding bushland was covered in wildflowers, so as soon as our tents were pitched we went walking with our cameras.

There were wildflowers all around our camp. I spent quite a while wandering around the area near our camp taking photos of the different types of wildflowers.

From Life Images by Jill

This is the road into Camel Soak lined by a carpet of the wildflower Velleia.

From Life Images by Jill

Here is a close up of the Velleia.

From Wildflowers

some more wildflowers. This is the Silver Cassia.

From Wildflowers

And one of the varieties of Mulla Mulla - you see great swaths of Mulla Mulla all over the Pilbara.

From Wildflowers

This is the rabbit proof fence - or now called "the vermin proof fence" The Rabbit Proof Fence,was built in the early 1900s to stop rabbits invading the West from the Eastern states of Australia. It stretches 1,837 kilometres from Cape Keraudren on the North West coast to Starvation Harbour on the South coast. (unfortunately the fence was unsuccessful in stopping the rabbits!)

From Life Images by Jill

Further east we come to John Forrest Lookout from where the spectacular panoramic of the surrounding station country reaches to the horizon in an undulating sea of scrubland splashed with the colours of spring.

The Lookout forms part of the Damperwah Hills which Sir John Forrest (explorer and later WA’s first premier) discovered and named in 1869 when searching for missing German explorer Ludwig Leichhardt, and used as survey point during his expedition to Cue and Day Dawn in 1897. Granite outcrops like these were often used by early explorers as survey points and lookouts, camp sites, and for watering their horses.

Here is the view from the top. The 750 metre walk up to the Lookout is not difficult and the dry scrubland was covered in wildflowers. There is a shady picnic area at the base of the hill, which would make a good overnight camp.

From Life Images by Jill

Thanks for looking everyone. I hope you have enjoyed these few extra photos, I look forward to hearing from you, and continuing further north with you on our journey. __________________