From 80 mile beach we left the Kimberleys behind and started our Pilbara part of the journey.... the countryside began to change and the further we travelled there was no doubt we were in ore mining country. There were road trains... rail trains... huge ports.... ships and mining vehicles everywhere.
Our first Pilbara stop was at lovely low cost / off grid camp ground at Cape Keraudren ... what a top spot. We really enjoyed it there and would have stayed longer had we prepared better before arriving... but we needed to shop... wash clothes and fill up with everything...so in the end only stayed two nights. Our spot was perched right on the cliff top overlooking the inlet...on high tide the water was lapping the rocks and at low tide it was an empty mudflat. We fished on the high and walked the mudflat looking at the octopus (or octopi) on the low.
Next stop was Port Hedland for some much needed supplies. We stayed one night in a caravan park and refilled all the essentials for our trip out to Karijini.
We did take in some of the Port Hedland sights... and watched the huge ships coming in and out of the harbour right in their main shopping area.
From Port Hedland it was out to Tom Price and Karijini and we also struck our first patch of rainy weather. We had two nights of free camping and two nights in Dales Campground in Karijini National Park and we really enjoyed. Tom Price was a great little spot for some shopping and we even played a game of golf.
In
Karijini National Park we spent two days clambering through the gorges... and all the walking tracks we could access. A few gorges were closed because of the rain but we made the most of those we could see. The highlight was swimming in beautiful fern pool ... although it was cold it was worth it .... it was so beautiful floating in the middle of the gorge with sheer cliff faces all around.
From Karijini we headed back toward the coast and on down toward Point Samson and booked in for a few days to reset... we enjoyed exploring this piece of coast taking in the sights at Cossack and Roesbourne. From Point Samson we headed to Karratha for a couple of nights... popped out to Dampier for a look at the Red Dog story and had another game of golf.
One interesting spot in Karratha was the
Murujuga National Park and its huge collection of heritage listed petroglyphs.
From Karratha we headed on to Onslow... a lovely little spot with a great boardwalk and a huge war memorial sculpture depicting the rising sun... which at sunrise is spectacular with the sun shining through. They also have some enormous termite mounds... and although at this stage in our travels termite mounds were a common sight... these were very large and there was lots of them.
The things we missed?
Caravan Park Stays - 8
Low Cost / Off Grid / Rest Stops - 6
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