Hamersley Gorge

Wed 25^th June

Jan and George left Paraburdoo early to get into Tom Price to go on a mine tour.  We left later and met them there. We drove up to Hamersley Gorge which has a really good viewing platform that is newly constructed. From it we could see several beautiful rock pools of varying sizes and three waterfalls that linked them. The walls of the gorge towered above them with their layers of colour.  We then went to a picnic area where we were told there was an internet hotspot so I thought I would have a go. It has been several days since we have had any internet or phone connections, so who would expect to find one out in the middle of nowhere with no houses or any sign of habitation or civilization other than the road and the lookout. Sure enough, it worked. 

 

 We had planned to go back through the Karijini National Park and get across to the highway to Port Hedland, but when we were nearly at Hamersley we saw a sign that pointed straight ahead to Dampier. We decided to give it a go, even though we couldn’t find the road on our map. The first part was the scariest, particularly when you are towing caravans.  It was a winding single vehicle road that went right down into and along the Gorge – absolutely beautiful, and then it opened up to a wide dirt road that was in very good condition. After some time a car approached from the other way so we flagged it down and the driver gave us directions. The first part of them worked ok, until we got past Wittenoom, a town that was abandoned because of the asbestos. We hear that people up here think it is just a token measure because the gorges and everywhere else up here are full of asbestos.  We drove for ages and came to a couple of T intersections where we had to take our best guess. Nothing was marked or signposted so we could have been anywhere. None of it appeared on any of our maps – actually there was one sign to a town but that wasn’t on any of the maps.

 

By this time it was getting late in the afternoon when we saw a sign for a farm stay at Mt Florance Station and decided to go there.  About fifty km later we came to the next sign that said we only had 5km to go. Eventually we got there and set up camp.  Mick got out his gas thingo that we couldn’t get a part for and had another go at it. Eventually a young chap came and started to help, but had no more idea than Mick or George. Then his mate came over and he turned out to be a diesel mechanic. The first bloke told us he is studying law at uni, so you can imagine the length and depth of the advice we gave him. George, with his great flair for descriptive language, told all of his best experiences with lawyers.  Both guys were goggle-eyed.  Between them they managed to get the fitting together, but you can imagine our trepidation when it was attached to the gas and lit. The first time a sheet of flame blasted out, but with a bit more adjustment it worked perfectly (we hope!) Actually it was far too warm to even consider using a heater.