.
Back to previous chapter - Port Hedland to CarnarvonWe ended up staying for several nights at
Rocky Pool. It’s a big
free camp area that sprawls along the southern bank of the Gascoyne River about 50km east of
Carnarvon. While it’s popular with caravaners they stay close to the access track leaving 4wds to venture further away and find secluded bush camps. There is indeed a big
pool of water there, deep and good quality and at least for some, warm enough to swim in. There is also plenty of firewood, so we were able to have a good campfire and do some
camp oven cooking.
Rocky Pool
In between domestic chores we chatted to other travellers and picked up some useful tips on
places to see and good bush camps. We also had a day back at
Carnarvon for supplies which included some of the excellent (and cheap) local prawns. We had a walk around
the pool that included quite a scramble over big areas of
rock on the northern bank. The Gascoyne is WA’s longest river, with its headwaters going east for hundreds of kilometres. When a cyclone happens to drop heavy rain in its vast catchment it results in a huge flood; the rest of the time it’s a massive river of deep sand with occasional pools but with water under the sand.
Our next destination was the
Kennedy Range National Park. Heading east from
Rocky Pool we passed through big grazing properties that have been largely destocked due to drought. But we did have to watch out for stray cattle beside the road. Much of this country consisted of red sandhills with big claypans in between. Some of these claypans had water in them from recent showers that had also brought on some brilliant patches of blue and yellow daisies. There were also many large wedgetail eagles making the most of roadkills, mainly kangaroos.
At
Gascoyne Junction we refuelled and turned north to the Kennedy Ranges, passing through very dry country. The scenery here started to become more varied with small flat topped hills giving way to large mesas and impressive
sandstone cliffs. The
Kennedy Range consists of a rugged
sand dune capped plateau and a dissected eastern escarpment broken by numerous short gorges.
Kennedy Range NP
Much of this area is contained in the National Park, although access either by vehicle or foot is limited to a small area of the gorges.
There is a small basic
campground in the park with a volunteer couple acting as
camp hosts. There is no water, and no fires are permitted, except for one communal fire. Even for that, wood is rationed to 3 logs a night! Still, a communal fire does have the advantage of bringing people together to swap experiences and we found the company there congenial. We walked all 3 o the accessible gorges and enjoyed the rugged scenery and marvelled at
the rock formations, the fossils and the few hardy flowers that survive in this harsh environment.
Leaving the park we detoured on a section of
cobbled road that was built during the 1930s depression by men on the dole. What soul-destroying work in such a remote area. The idea was to use local stone to make the tracks useable by motor transport. Up to that time supplies were moved by camels, and the local produce – wool – was taken to port the same way. Surely those who laboured on that road would be gratified to know that at least some of their work still stands in good condition.
Back to
Gascoyne Junction, then southeast and south on the
Carnarvon –
Mullewa road. There were increasingly frequent stops for
wildflowers (mainly eremophilas) as we progressed. Also a fascinating stop where roadworks had revealed a rich fossil bed. Our lunch stop was at
Bilung Pool, a big plunge
pool surrounded by massive river red gums, very much a surprise in this dry landscape.[Image not found] (We’d learned that one of the huge (several thousand square kilometres!) cattle stations nearby had recorded about 50mm of rain this year, i.e. in 7 months. This was less than usual, but not exceptional.) Turned west onto the Butchers Track near Murchison, stopping for the night soon after entering the Toolonga
Nature Reserve. This has an area of about 3000 square kilometres and we travelled the only ‘road’ through it, a graded sand track. Our overnight stopping point proved to be a hotspot of
wildflowers, pinks, whites, blues, yellows, all on profusion. After leaving our
camp site, we saw very few flowers in the enormous
nature reserve.
Back to civilisation. We reached the north west coastal highway near the
Overlander Roadhouse and refuelled before setting off west to
Shark Bay and
Denham. This road too had lots of everlasting daisies stretching back between the shubs. Into
Hamelin Pool to admire the
stromatolites Stromatolites
and the old quarries where building blocks were cut out of compacted
shell deposits, just a part of the early agricultural history of the area.
From
Denham we went out to
Monkey Mia to see the dolphins – what a con! Yes you have to pay – half price, good; oh did we forget to tell you that feeding is over for today, despite what all the notices say. So we saw no dolphins. The
Francois Peron National Park was rather more rewarding. It’s a 40km 4WD track to get to the tip of the Peninsular where the brilliant colours of turquoise water,
red rocks and white sand had the cameras working flat out.
Cape Peron
The big colonies of cormorants on
the beach were entertaining to watch.
We are beginning to understand this part of the WA coast – it is prone to being windy with occasional showers, conditions not conducive to comfortable camping where shelter is scarce. No wonder the locals love their caravans!
Back on the highway we turned south and were soon rewarded by big patches of white everlastings making a brilliant display. There were more trees too and we had several stops to admire brilliant scarlet grevilleas and hakeas. A lovely
bush camp that night among the mallee was a welcome change from the wind.
Then suddenly we were really in among the
wildflowers; the trees gave way to rolling paddocks of
emerald green wheat, and all the road verges and patches of remaining bush were carpeted with flowers. What a sight!
Murchison River camp area
A big
free camp area on the
Murchison River was a kaleidoscope of colour, pink, white, yellow and blue of different shades.
Just outside the eastern edge of
Kalbarri National Park we found a
bush campsite that had been recommended to us. It was a blaze of yellow billybuttons with 2 different ground orchids for variety. Our boots turned yellow with pollen. Just as
well we aren’t prone to
hay fever!
Then it was on into
Kalbarri itself, but only after numerous photostops along the way as we passed through the park. Every time we spotted a new flower closer searching revealed half a dozen more new things – new to us anyway. It was all very exciting, even though the shrubs were only just beginning to come out.
Kalbarri NP flowers
The highlights among a long list of finds included featherflowers, coppercups, red and green kangaroo paws, yellow catspaw and dryandras.
We had a few days in
Kalbarri and spent more time exploring the park, finding more glorious floral vistas. And we also went and admired the spectacular gorges where the
Murchison River has cut deeply into the
sandstone.
Kalbarri Gorges
Other treats included visiting the seahorse sanctuary where seahorses are raised for
the aquarium trade, and having morning tea with a very convivial local couple.
Kalbarri has such a lot to offer – it’s definitely a place that we would like to return to.
The weather was becoming showery as we left
Kalbarri and we had a few damp nights as we continued south, past convict
ruins, through
Geraldton, then east through lush looking crops of wheat, canola and lupins to
Ellendale Pool. [Image not found]Going in to this popular
campsite the road was very wet and slippery and Troopy and the trailer required a wash when we arrived. Not too many flowers there, but there were a good variety of birds and a deafening frogs chorus at night – and mosquitoes.
Our leisurely path to
Mullewa took us first past a fair sized wind
farm where 41 turbines were steadily rotating. Then on back roads where yet more flowers conspired to slow our progress. Pear fruited mallee with its giant pink and cream flowers, great swathes of pink everlastings, brilliant red hakeas,….., the list seems endless.
And so to our next
bush camp, a huge space carpeted with yellow, pink and white… and don’t tread on the blue orchids that are beside the track.[Image not found]What a great base from which to visit
Mullewa and their delightful annual wildflower show, and do the beautiful wildflower walks on the edge of the town. It’s still a bit windy and drizzly, but with all this beauty around us we don’t care about the weather.
Carnarvon to Mullewa
Forward to next chapter - Mullewa to NorthamBack to the very start!