DownUnderNoel
Member
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2012
- Messages
- 38
This was a long awaited trip back to our favourite red corner of Australia. Where I met and married the wife then popped out a couple of kids. Time to take our 17yo son back to where he all began. Six hours in a Qantas jet from Sydney across the country to Karratha, Western Australia. First stop Red Dog in Dampier.
For those that have seen the fictionalized account of Red Dog’s life. The dog was real, the town was real, and the statue in his memory is real.
A night’s rest then on the road to Karijini National Park where we were to “camp” for the next three nights and hike as many gorges as we could. A few miles of pavement then 200 miles of dirt road, eating dust and mostly following a long straight railroad.
Pilbara Roads by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Pilbara Iron Railway by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Karijini Eco Retreat by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Our first morning saw a beautiful sunrise over the Snappy Gums and Spinifex. This was the only time we had some cloud in what was normally a clear blue winter sky.
Karijini National Park by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Then we were off to visit gorge after gorge. Up and down cliff sides, stretching muscles that had become disused.
Dale’s Gorge
Snappy Gum on the ridge by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Circular Pool by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Fernery Pool by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Kalamina Gorge
Below Kalamina Falls by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Kalamina Creek by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Monitor by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Joffre Gorge sunset
Flocking cockatoos by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Knox Gorge
Knox Gorge Lookout by outtrimau5, on Flickr
From here on you need ropes, rappelling skills etc.
Knox Gorge by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Heading back upstream by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Hancock Gorge
Spider Walk by outtrimau5, on Flickr
The Ampitheatre by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Going down by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Kermit's Pool by outtrimau5, on Flickr
The Chute by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Son getting away upstream by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Between days we ate kangaroo and drank emu.
And froze in the tent as temperatures dropped into the 40’s overnight.
Heading on from Karijini we stopped by Witttenoom, a mining town that refuses to die despite the mine shutting down in 1966 and the state’s best efforts to erase any trace of the blue asbestos industry. Once the Pilbara’s biggest town they turned off the water and power about 20 years ago, bulldozed and buried all they could, and delisted the name in 2007. But some people have lived here for so long now they don’t want to be anywhere else. It has gotten very hard to reach the mine and the signs do say bad idea so we only made it half way up the gorge.
Doc Hollidays Cafe by outtrimau5, on Flickr
by outtrimau5, on Flickr
From here the dirt road heads back towards the coast and the next roadhouse 260 miles away.
The road to Nanutarra by outtrimau5, on Flickr
But we had other plans, other old friends to see, so off north to Port Hedland. Miles and miles of plains and spinifex with a paved road. The photography took a back seat to old times and beer.
The trip ended back in Karratha with our son’s curiosity about his beginnings satisfied, his eyes opened to the mining and gas industry, and a 1,000 miles on the rental. During one last sunset hike on the Burrup Peninsula looking for aboriginal rock art we stirred up this old man red kangaroo who coughed warnings to his harem, calling them up into the rocks.
Kangaroo by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Sturt's Desert Pea by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Featured image for home page:
For those that have seen the fictionalized account of Red Dog’s life. The dog was real, the town was real, and the statue in his memory is real.
A night’s rest then on the road to Karijini National Park where we were to “camp” for the next three nights and hike as many gorges as we could. A few miles of pavement then 200 miles of dirt road, eating dust and mostly following a long straight railroad.
Pilbara Roads by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Pilbara Iron Railway by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Karijini Eco Retreat by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Our first morning saw a beautiful sunrise over the Snappy Gums and Spinifex. This was the only time we had some cloud in what was normally a clear blue winter sky.
Karijini National Park by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Then we were off to visit gorge after gorge. Up and down cliff sides, stretching muscles that had become disused.
Dale’s Gorge
Snappy Gum on the ridge by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Circular Pool by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Fernery Pool by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Kalamina Gorge
Below Kalamina Falls by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Kalamina Creek by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Monitor by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Joffre Gorge sunset
Flocking cockatoos by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Knox Gorge
Knox Gorge Lookout by outtrimau5, on Flickr
From here on you need ropes, rappelling skills etc.
Knox Gorge by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Heading back upstream by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Hancock Gorge
Spider Walk by outtrimau5, on Flickr
The Ampitheatre by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Going down by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Kermit's Pool by outtrimau5, on Flickr
The Chute by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Son getting away upstream by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Between days we ate kangaroo and drank emu.
And froze in the tent as temperatures dropped into the 40’s overnight.
Heading on from Karijini we stopped by Witttenoom, a mining town that refuses to die despite the mine shutting down in 1966 and the state’s best efforts to erase any trace of the blue asbestos industry. Once the Pilbara’s biggest town they turned off the water and power about 20 years ago, bulldozed and buried all they could, and delisted the name in 2007. But some people have lived here for so long now they don’t want to be anywhere else. It has gotten very hard to reach the mine and the signs do say bad idea so we only made it half way up the gorge.
Doc Hollidays Cafe by outtrimau5, on Flickr
by outtrimau5, on Flickr
From here the dirt road heads back towards the coast and the next roadhouse 260 miles away.
The road to Nanutarra by outtrimau5, on Flickr
But we had other plans, other old friends to see, so off north to Port Hedland. Miles and miles of plains and spinifex with a paved road. The photography took a back seat to old times and beer.
The trip ended back in Karratha with our son’s curiosity about his beginnings satisfied, his eyes opened to the mining and gas industry, and a 1,000 miles on the rental. During one last sunset hike on the Burrup Peninsula looking for aboriginal rock art we stirred up this old man red kangaroo who coughed warnings to his harem, calling them up into the rocks.
Kangaroo by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Sturt's Desert Pea by outtrimau5, on Flickr
Featured image for home page:
