Colours of the Pilbara

Tuesday 11

We woke peering out of our RTT window. Here sat, what I envisioned, to be three ancient pyramid shaped hills with weathered peaks of iron stone coloured rock protruding from their summit. With the sun rising up next to them it made for another incredible view to wake up to. We were in the heart of the Pilbara!

We pulled into Port Hedland to see what all the fuss was about. The heat was up with fury this morning. Windows down, we slowed as we drove up into town. I noticed a squeaking noise coming from somewhere. “Ohh no!” I said. I stuck my head out of the window and my heart sank. The squeak was coming from the rear. It sounded like the wheel bearing. I panicked and once again a million scenarios ran through my head. The most likely option was the heat from the brake the day before heating up the grease in the bearing and making it fail again. We were too far to go back to Broome now. “Ohh bollox”.

Back in our hay days in Kalgoorlie, we used to get breakfast and coffee in a café chain called Dome. Back in WA once again, it was only right that we re-applied old traditions and wet our lips with a tea and coffee. I rang one of my best mates in NZ for a chat and advice on what to do with the ute. He said to ring them to tell them of the news, just to see if they could offer some advice or not. So I did. Bob once again reassured me it was definitely not the bearing, it had to just be dirt in the brake and not to worry. With Bobs trusting words, we made a trip to the visitors centre. On display were the amount of ships coming and going from the port and how many tonnes of iron ore they were carting. It was incredible. Some were carting 200 thousand tonnes of ore or more and were in an out of the port within 24 hours. Within a day there was over a million tonnes of ore leaving Australia due for Eastern Asia. I never knew that. Its insane when you think about how much it must all cost from exploration to final delivery! Big business!

I had always been told, “the best thing about Port Hedland is wiping your feet on the way out!” Yet I saw the beauty in it just as I did with Kalgoorlie. With all the big bucks of business, it can be used as a stepping stone and to advantage your own life financially.

We restocked the supplies and continued on south on a route that would take us to Karijini NP. The road crossed several ore train lines heading to the port as well as many passing road trains carting ore as we made our way along. The Pilbara is quite a beautiful place if you can clear your thoughts from the dust, heat and bombardment of flies. In fact, we actually had to eat our lunch in the car because of the amount that there were invading our faces. We crossed hills and iron ore ridges that scattered across the landscape. Then all of a sudden the ground changed. Purple and black mountainous hills grew over the horizon as we neared. Karijini NP was bearing down on us ahead with all her gorgeous might. Rocks of many different colours sculpted the hill and mountains all around us. Sides of entire hills had been stained in charcoal black from a recent bush fire that had raged up its side. The scenery was stunning. By now, I’m finding it hard to use different words to describe the land that we have crossed in the last seven weeks. We have seen so much that is simply incredible. You will have to just take my word for it when I say it was truly spectacular!

We headed to the eastern side of the NP and checked into Dale’s campground. A volunteer couple showed us the maps of the area and set us on site 131 – with almost 140 sites, this place gets busy! We were lucky to get a spot, only a couple of places were left. For a Tuesday night it was crazy. With our arrival at the end of the season, we’re surprised at how full it was. We made for a quick drive around the park to check out our position, and then headed to the gorge for a much needed dip. The eastern side held numerous gorges, yet with the sun setting we had time to make a run for Fortesque Falls.

A rusted steel man-made stairway took you deep down the rock into the gorge. It was nice as the rust blended into the background not making it noticeable within the landscape. It had us us dizzy by the time we reached the bottom from constantly scanning the rock walls that changed colour from ore orange to dark browns. The rock formations looked as if a giant had built this gorge. The rock in thin sheet form stacked one on top of the other, almost resembling a giant lego play-pen. We reached the bottom to see a set of large rocks tapering down with the water making its way over each ledge into a pool full of people at the bottom. Fern Pool was another 300m on and we decided to check it out first. A short walk along to the pool took us through a winding path carving around giant boulders with trees growing from the bottom of them. Their roots wrapping around strangling the rock as they weaved there way around and up to the trunk above. This place was something special. Deep green grass covered the gorge floor. Looking up through the grass the bright orange glow coming from the ore coloured rocks glowed from above with a clear electric blue back drop as the sun was setting. It was heavenly. The sound of tropical birds thriving in this jungle echoed down the gorges throat and sang out to all who were listening. As some of you know, my wife walks along with a heavy foot at times. I took a minute for her to get ahead of me so I could take it all in. A brake from passing traffic of people gave me the chance to sit on a rock and take in my surroundings. What an incredible moment. Sometimes we can get lost in our own mind at times – making it easy to forget the beauty of nature living out here.

“Why is it that whenever we arrive, everyone else gets out?” Cath exclaimed. As we made it to the water’s edge, the other travellers were all towelling off and ready for the hike back up the stairwell. A large pool with cascading falls was laid in front of us. A small ladder leading into the turquoise water – which was now darkening as the sun was setting fast, we knew we just had to get in. With toes in, small fish began to circle us – Cath and I stood and edged each other on, as not only the fish made us wary, but also the cold! We both leaped in and with a quick swim, jumped equally as fast out. “Right, next one” I said, and without towelling, we made our way back to Fortesque Falls.

Edging our way down to the rock formation that was like a staircase leading into the pool below, we were met with a large rock ledge slightly submerged in the water. It was covered in a small layer of algae making it very slippery. Having experienced Bell gorge we knew what to do. Bend the knees, keeping our bums low, we slid our feet to the edge and leaped in. Ahh the refreshing water after a long days hot drive was well and truly needed. An elevated heart rate walk back up the steel stairs helped dry our clothes before we made it to camp. At the top the sun was just tucking itself to bed – the gorge rocks orange from the ore turned an almighty blood orange. It was spectacular to see. “I like Karijini already darl” Cath agreed with me.

Wednesday 12

With a few references in our old 4WD magazines and handbooks, we decided today’s itinerary would include Weano Gorge, Hancock Gorge and Oxer lookout. Hancock being the most popular and sheltered, we decided to tackle Weano first. With a brief walk from the car park, we dropped down into the gorge and made our way along the bottom. We were quickly met with a large body of water around the first corner. Already people ahead were wading through the water up to their waist. I decided to adjust myself by taking my keys and phone out of my pocket and put it in the backpack along with my shirt. I modified the backpack so it sat high on my back and we waded in. The water was freezing cold. The sun was out of view, which took away all the visibility. We had no idea what was under toe. The last thing we wanted was to lose our footing and submerge the backpack, so we took it rather slow, scouting out what was ahead with our feet before taking a step. We made our way along, winding around each corner and in and out of the water as we conquered each rocky path as they came. Finally we ended up at a warning sign that recommended that only the brave and confident continue. “That’s us!” we said.

The walls of the gorge narrowed in on themselves. A small alleyway carved through the rock with layers of stone stacked on top of each other building the walls on each side. Water was running along and made for a slippery surface that was our pathway. The sun, now non-existent, was unable to cast any rays through the slight crack that made its way up above us to the surface. It looked as if we were making our way into the bottom of the Earth. We made our way, resembling spiderman with feet and arms spread apart, trying to keep off the water that was running underneath us making the floor extremely slippery. We kept on taking it slow, calculating every step before we made it.

Through one of the more narrow sections a handrail appeared on our left. We grabbed hold of it with both arms as a lifeline to stop us being washed down and into a pool that opened up below us as we edged around the corner. Handrail Pool was its name, a bowl shaped room letting a small bit of light in from above. The rock dropped away and made a waterfall about 2 meters in height. The rail continued down the side of the fall. Five steps were placed on the sides of the handrail for people to make there way down it to the ledge below. These steps as I describe them were not the ones you may think of for a usual staircase. These were small rocks that could only support the end of your foot. Made from a rock that had been drilled and bolted to the vertical rock. A task not for the faint hearted to conquer; as we saw a few elder women struggle to get down. Cath was hesitant and wondered if she could do it or not. With the waterfall cascading over the drop, I encouraged her and with a gentle hand, told her where to best place her feet as she made it down. Yet past the hardest part, managed to get complacent with how much grip she had, resulting in a small fall. I picked her up and dusted her off. “There’s more to come babe. No rush, just take your time. I think the next part were going to have to swim” I told her.

We left our bag and got ready to dive in for a swim. Only having the GoPro with us we made our way across the shallow side of Handrail Pool and onto a rock ledge that dropped off into a deeper pool below. The gorge carved its way around the corner ahead. Too deep to stand up in, Cath took the plunge in. Her breath being taken right out of her from the icy cold water. She quickly swam ahead and clambered out, informing me of just how icy it was. With a family behind me there was no avoiding it. I stepped off the ledge and was in. Holy moly was it cold! It knocked the breath out of me as my chest went under. The narrow walls on each side made it impossible to breaststroke through. With a bit of a doggy paddle, I was through and out the other side.

The challenge continued with every corner. Scaling over slippery rocks, water running over rocky ledges and pools that varied in depth. We finally reached the end of the road. Yet where the gorge continued, we were unable to continue. Stop signs warned of dangerous drops ahead. We sat in the low light cave that was at the end, ever getting colder as the heat had not made it down through the crack that was high above us – unable to see sunlight, the chilling waters cooled our bodies down. We had to move on. It was a shame, the adventurer in me really wanted to keep exploring along. But without ropes and any climbing equipment we may have ended up unstuck, with no means of contacting anyone for help.

Back into Handrail Pool, we gathered our gear and had to wait to make our way back up the rocky wet staircase as a couple made their way down it. The woman feeling very un-brave and lacking confidence, trembled as she made her way down – her husband un-assisting her. I asked if she needed a hand. She trembled “no” at me, and thankfully finally made it to the bottom.

As we clambered out of Weano gorge, we were ready for the next adventure. The game of conquering the gorges of Mother Nature had become harder and we were in anticipation of Hancock gorge. With a quick lunch, we restocked our supplies and headed for Hancock. Again, unlike other places with long drives between sites, the opening for Hancock was in the same vicinity as Weano; only fifty meters from the car park. We were off!

Hancock had a reputation preceding and with this mornings adventure, we couldn’t wait to see what lay below. Again, we dropped down quickly into the gorge via a metal staircase and heavy boulders. A narrowing gorge carved through the land as before – It lead around to a small waterfall that made its way down into what can only be described as a long narrow lap pool. We took the plunge in. Too deep to walk through, we swam its length. Further on, the pool got shallower and we made it to a ninety degree bend. Water rushed down a small crack that had been formed. The path ahead was once again extremely slippery as we made our way along it, adopting the spider man position once again. A small group of young Asian’s made there way past us in the opposite direction with not an ounce of water on them. They must of climbed the walls along to prevent getting wet despite signs everywhere telling people not to climb on the walls as it can be very dangerous, and can contribute to eroding. Obviously not being able to read English, I guess they just did not know. It was kind of a shame I thought; the beauty of doing this track and seeing the gorge was submersing yourself in the waters and taking in your surrounding, making you feel part of the landscape. Others clearly didn’t think so. Why try and do it, if you are not prepared to get wet? Despite this, it was a small feat avoiding getting wet at all as we made our way already soaking. We had to clamber over a boulder that had fallen down from above and had wedged itself in the heart of the path. With water rushing around it, it made for a challenging obstacle to get over. This later would be the point where Cath slipped and fell, hitting her elbow. There was one final pool we had to dive into making it to the last corner. Again the waters not getting much sun at all were freezing, sending chills up your spine and near on freezing internal organs. The view at the end was incredible. A ten metre drop down a waterfall below continued on. Unable to scale down it, this was where the path ended. A ranger was there, I over heard him talking to another person, informing them of the ‘miracle mile’. It’s a mile long gorge walk/swim/rock climb, using ropes and proper equipment and leads all the way around to Weano gorge. He said that it was called the ‘miracle mile’ because if you could complete it – it was a miracle. There was a 25 metre waterfall you had to climb up at the end. Apparently a volunteer rescuer was trying to save someone and had unfortunately lost his life when the gorge flash flooded and he ended up drowning. It is now understandably closed off to the public.

Back at the car park we looked at the map and we’re happy with the mornings adventures – but we had one last outing of energy in us. We decided to walk to Oxer lookout. Not far, a kilometre max, we made our way. Here is where the four gorges met up to form one continuing gorge. High up above and looking down it was incredible. Deep orange towers of rock carved by the corrosion from the flow of water over millions of years plunged below. The gorges were so narrow it was almost impossible to see them, until they met up at this one point – like cracks that had been forced open like something you would see on a film. Made me think that if you were on a motorbike scouting the terrain, you would not see them coming and probably take a pretty nasty fall. This place was definitely epically beautiful. An absolute highlight to the trip so far and well worth the drive inland from the coast.

We decided we would have an early retirement tonight after the day’s activities. If you’re ever in WA, make sure you take a visit to Karijini NP. This place is without a doubt one of the most spectacular places we’ve seen in Australia so far. We cannot wait to one day return.

The Cooks.