Day 15 | 4273 ~ 4865 [592]
Perth – Nambung National park – Jurien Bay – Kalgarri

We’re smoothly driving through the hills, passing large fields of wheats in different green-shades and bright yellows. The trees are all crooked, blown sideways by the wind. The temperature is finally going up as we get further away from Perth and the grey clouds seem to disappear. There’s a few spots of interest on the 592 Kilometre stretch that we’re driving today. First we get to Nambung National Park, where a four kilometre loop-drive allows us to get up-close to the famous triangular shark-tooth shaped rock formations called the ‘pinnacles.’ Made up of shells, the Pinnacles date back millions of years, to a time when the area was below the sea.
This stretch along the ocean is called turquoise bay and during our lunch break in Jurien Bay we take a closer look at the ocean. Looking into the water, we’re peering straight into the eyes of sammy the fast-food seal. Supposedly all seals are Sammy in Australia. Our Sammy is hanging around the pier waiting for fishermen to chuck in unwanted catch. We don’t hang around too long after getting our own fix of food as we want to make it to camp before dark. And so we do, to the most idyllic home station next to the Murchison river. Murchison house station is one of the oldest pastoral working stations in Western Australia, it’s where the outback meets the ocean. While setting up camp we venture into the bush for firewood and get to have our own little fireplace for the rest of the night – this is the life!

Murchison house station

Pinnacles | Skippy spots me

Sammy!

Pinnacles

Day 16 | Kalgarri

We wake to the sound of chirping birds telling us to venture out for the day. There’s a few points of interest in Kalbarri National Park. The best known one that most folks come for is Nature’s window, a rock-formation with a hole big enough to sit in whilst overlooking the gorge and Murchison’s river, quite spekkie!

Day 17 | Kalgarri

After brekkie I realise I don’t feel all too well and the idea of spending the day in the car four wheel driving does not sound tempting at all. There are semi-maintained tracks around the station to explore, a good opportunity for Bob and Trish to find out what their car is made of. Once they drive off, I sit at the fire, one ear plugged to my audiobook Game of Thrones, the other for the sound of the birds singing and paddling on the Murchison river in front of me. My only achievement today is keeping the fire going and gazing into it as you simply have to do.

Nature’s window

Proudly posing pelicans

Camp oven delicassies

Murchison home station

Day 18 | 4865 ~ 5495 [630]
Kalgarri – Carnarvon – Warroora

We leave this lovely pastoral station after three nights, leaving its playful goats, ever-chewing alpaca’s and quirky birds playing on the riverbeds. From one station to the next, Warroora wilderness station offers us a completely different but fantastic experience too. To read the details of our adventure out there and the following days at the magical Ningaloo, check my previous blog “Wonders of the Ningaloo Blue.”

5495 ~ 5742 [247] | Warroora – Coral Bay – Exmouth

Day 25 | 5742 ~ 6343 [601]
Exmouth – Tom Price

It’s been a hell of a stay at Exmouth. Whale sharks, scuba diving, arguments and laughter all being part of it, not to forget that howling wind keeping us awake at night and covering everything with a fine layer of red dust.
Early afternoon we arrive in Tom Price; a small mining town covered in, you know it by now, right; red dust. There’s not much to see but a bunch of greedy galah  particularly interested in Bob’s lunch. The afternoon activity is to go and climb, my hiking gear stays put though, because we go up four wheel driving. With its 1150 metres, Mount Nameless is the second highest peek in Western Australia that can be driven by a 4×4. Bob knows just how to manoeuvre the car in these terrains and we’re up before we know it. The views from Mount Nameless are quite nice, but maybe I just don’t appreciate it that much as getting up here was done as effortless as the mountains namelessness. We’re becoming real roadies, at least by the look of the car, now dirtier than a dog that’s been proudly rolling in a pond.

Curious galahs @ Tom Price

Rocky’s off his face again @ Mt Nameless

Day 26 | 6343 ~ 6603 [260]
Tom Price – Hamersley gorge – Oxers lookout – Knox – Joffres – Fortesque Falls – Fern Pool – Dales gorge – Circular pool – Dales

We’re driving to the famous Karijini National Park today, which contains numerous gorges, pools and waterfalls and gets rated as a highlight of many a trip.
A dusty dirt track leads us to our first viewpoint, Hamersley gorge. On the way we pass a dozen mine sites, scraping off layers of hilltops for iron ore. The red-greyish soil is very rich in iron, causing temperatures to rise past fifty degrees in summer months, and we’re quite happy with that heat, not passing thirty degrees.
Hamersley gorge has a short and steep descent right into it, where cold emerald water silently cuts away through the many layers of red and brown. Down here, you look straight onto giant curved walls where the movement of the earths plates caused layers to ripple up like a thick open phonebook. After Hamersley, we stop at a handful other gorges and lookouts, all offering spectacular views and bright blue pools at the bottom. We stick to the viewponts and make it to Dales campground around lunchtime, which lies right next to the famous Dales gorge.
There’s a beautiful loop-walk through Dales gorge, taking you from the fern pool, past the fortesque falls all the way to the circular pool. Rated as a class 4 out of 5, I’m a bit wary about doing this by myself, but once I get going, my worries fade like a shooting star. The iron ore layers provide natural steps with flat surfaces and loose bricks are placed to create steps through the water to zig-zag through the gorge. The continuous sound of a trickle of water running through the gorge is interrupted by my footsteps only and when I stop to take in the scenery I can hear the breeze gently blowing through the trees with birds chirping at the top of their lungs (note to self: stop writing like it’s a fairy tale). Passing the stairs leading up to the three ways lookout, the trail continues to the circular pool. This is an absolute gem amidst massive red walls. The stale blue pool is lying in the shadows all day, so its water cold as. There’s water dripping into the pool along the curved walls and ferns have squeezed their roots deeply into the red bricks, creating a picture perfect (note to self: just imagine some flying tinkerbells here).
It’s long before sunset so enough time to head back to the fern pool for a refreshing -but not freezing- dip. The fresh water feels great and across the pool I clamber upon the rocks to sit behind a small waterfall. All this natural beauty! I’m loving it and realise once again how much I enjoy hiking and nature. Hiking through New Zealand (and looking for elves) will have to move further up on the bucket list.

Hamersley Gorge

Circular pool @ Dales Gorge

Dales Gorge

Dales Gorge hiking trail

Termite mounds @ Dales

Fern pool @ Dales Gorge

Day 27 | 6603 ~ 7184 [581]
Dales – South Headland – 80 mile beach

Another night where the surroundings are still moonlit when I crawl out of my swag to have a peek at the stars above and see the sun take over.
We’re packing like pro’s by now and drive out of Dales before the sun heats the red soil. The first hours of the drive towards Pardoo gives us plenty to look at, there’s gorges and deep trenches in the red rock formations we pass and the rugged tabletop formations slowly change into sloping hills with lots of machinery driving in and out. Around Karijini National park, miners swarm like bees on a candy to get tonnes of iron ore and massive road trains rule the roads. The further we get from the Pilbara ranges, the flatter it gets, and the pretty landscape turns into red soils with barren bushland only.
We pass Pardoo before we even realise we’re there and continue for a place called eighty mile beach. After all those miles driving alongside the Indian Ocean without seeing it, we all let out an ‘aaah’ when the turquoise waters come into sight.

Day 28 | 80 mile beach

Thongs and shorts can finally be used again on a daily basis!
The tides move in and out of the beach with an astonishing variance of 9 metres, and when I hit the beach the tide’s creeping back to the horizon and stirs the white sand into the bright turquoise waters. As appealing as it looks, nobody goes for long swims here, as we don’t know what’s lurking beneath the surf. The locals talk about the amount of sharks, whereas my fear is based on that tough prehistoric green animal with big yellow teeth and a long tail. I go for a few dips but most the time I’m immersed in my book about sharks, matching the location.
Later that day, I go for a long stroll over the beach till the sun drops beyond the horizon and puts the full moon in the spotlights. When I return to camp I have a huge grin across my face, thanks to the magic of eighty miles of beach. No need to stargaze after dinner, I’ll get out of bed in the morning to properly enjoy them. I wonder, will I ever get enough of sunrises and sunsets? I hope not.

Counting Dollars @ 80 Mile Beach

Holding on to the sun as she goes

80 Mile beach

My mate keeps running away 8(

Day 29 | 7184 ~ 7562 [378]
80 mile beach – Broome

The ride from here to Broome is more than another Netherlands in distance and from what I’ve been told, the road is long and lonesome. The beginning is actually empty with dry greenish grasslands on both sides of the highway for as far as the eye can see, but as we drive, the scenery changes quite a bit. The random termite mounds peeking about two metres above the ground completely change colour from dark red to a pale grey and hundreds of slender trees surround them, most more twig than branch. When there’s no bush, the distance is erased by the heat (isn’t that called refraction? BAM! My blog, educational.) Cattle in the distance appears to be floating above the land due to this phenomenon. Not too boring. Just need to open your eyes to see the beauty of nature and it’ll cheerfully put up a show.