Leonora to Broome WA

Bill’s last blog left us in Leonora WA, after we had crossed the Great Central Road.  Entering Western Australia, we began to see evidence of how pervasive the mining boom is, and all of the effects on the economy.

We stayed in a very inexpensive caravan park in Leinster, WA, another mining town.  Mining towns are usually great places to stay, as they are well funded and supported with good shops, parks, and pleasant facilities.  We had dinner in the mine “mess” at Leinster.  $15 a head for all the food you could eat at a huge cafeteria, and it was very good quality.  Choices included soup, salad bar, about 10 different mains, including vegetarian offerings, and about 20 kinds of dessert.  Apart from the travel and stress on family life, I think the main thing FIFO (fly-in, fly-out) mining workers will have to worry about is obesity.

We had a day of rain in Leinster, which was unusual and upset our plans (few as we have) a bit.  We were intending to go to Lake Mason, a former cattle station that is now a national park.  The rain, however, caused the township to close all roads (mainly 4WD) to the park and they gave no indication as to when they would re-open.  In the face of such uncertainty, we gave it a miss and took the highway west to Mt. Magnet.

From Mt. Magnet we headed north towards Newman. The impact of mining and exploration was even more visible here.  In a 200 kilometre stretch between Meekatharra and Newman, I counted the following vehicles:

Police Car	Pilot Car	Oversize*	Road Train	Truck	Car/Light Truck	RV/camper
1	8	9	41	13	16	14
*Two of the oversize vehicles were carrying huge mining dump trucks, which overhung their flatbeds on both sides and took up ¾ of the road.  They had 2 pilot cars and a police car driving in the wrong lane (towards us) to force cars onto the shoulder so the huge trucks could pass.  Trucks and road trains also often carried other trucks and caravans.

Following Oversize Vehicle into Tom Price

The volume and size of the traffic is awesome.  We spent most of the day passing road trains, an exciting experience in itself, especially if there is a strong cross wind.

Road Trains at Mt. Magnet Servo.  3 of 7 shown

In the next stretch of highway, we began to see another effect of the increased traffic.  The highway went through Bulloo Station, a very large cattle property.  There are no fences along the roads, and between Kumarina and Newman I counted over 20 cows on the roadside, killed by vehicles.  Made me very nervous as some were quite large and I think hitting a cow would be worse than a kangaroo.  It must be a big problem and not appreciated by both the drivers and the station owners, not to mention the cows.

Newman is another town riding the mining boom.   We stayed in a caravan park that also had a mining dormitory and mess.  The park was alive at 5:00 am with workers on a shift change, and mining and rail noises continued all night.  As one of the other campers said “Doesn’t this bloody town ever sleep?”

We had to buy a new tyre in Newman as we had ripped a chunk of rubber off one of ours somewhere.  This is when we found that the much-publicized guarantee on our famous brand name “tough, off-road tyres” only applied in major cities and was void if you took the tyres off the bitumen!!! Duh!!  Prices were much higher than Sydney, but we couldn’t be without a spare.

After Newman, we spent some time in Karijini, one of our favourite national parks.  It is in the Hamersley Ranges and has a beautiful selection of gorges to hike and explore.  We also gave swimming in them a go, but the water was even colder than Bongin Bongin Bay in winter.  Swims were very short.  Photographs cannot do justice to the scale of the scenery here – the steepness, depth and red colour of the gorges, the immensity of the sky over the plains where only the horizon stops your view, the clarity and number of the stars in the incredibly black sky at night.

Bill with termite mound at Karijini National Park

Hamersley Gorge, Karijini National Park

Hamersley Gorge, Karijini National Park

Kalamina Gorge, Karijini National Park

Kalamina Gorge, Karijini National Park (find Billy)

From Karijini we headed north to Millstream/Chichester National Park, supposed to be a wet tropical oasis in the Kimberley.  We were very much looking forward to this, as the weather had been unusually cool, with night temperatures often down to 1°C and day temperatures 12 -15° rather than the 20°+ you usually get this time of year.

Millstream was lovely and warmer than further south.  It has a series of palm-fringed pools that are home to flocks of galahs and corellas.  Swimming (warmer than Karijini but still not balmy) and kayaking are popular.  We also did a great hike from Python Pool in the north part of the park along an old camel track to Mt. Herbert.  We left our bikes at Mt. Herbert and then drove to the start of the hike.  It was a three hour hike, uphill all the way, but when we got to Mt. Herbert we had an incredible 15 minute downhill ride along the road back to the start.  Best part of the hike.

Millstream Chichester National Park from Old Camel Track

Palm Grove,  Millstream National Park

Sturt Desert Pea, Camel Track, Millstream National Park

After Millstream we travelled through the booming mining towns of Dampier (where we camped in earshot of the iron ore trains that shunted all night) and Port Headland.  From there we headed east to Barn Hill campground on Thangoo Station (350,000 hectares).  This is a private campground on a long sand beach interspersed with rock points, about 1½ hours west of Broome.  The setting was beautiful, and we had some nice runs along the beach and swimming when the tide was high. Tides here are immense, like everything else.  The water's edge can be 200-300 meters further out at low tide, and the beach is totally different.  There were also lots of rock pools to explore at low tide, with fish, crabs, anemones, etc. etc. The campground  also had its own version of the pinnacles – see photo.  Pity that they crammed people in like sardines in the campground.

Rocky Headland, Barn Hill Campground

"Pinnacles"  Barn Hill Campground

We are now in Broome for a bit of a break from travelling and to catch up on chores, repairs and shopping.  For example, one of the gas struts on our camper was leaking.  We bought a new pair in Adelaide, but were unable to install them, as the end fittings on the new ones are different to the old ones.  The slide-on manufacturer mailed us some adaptor ends, but they reached Whyalla after we left.  The caravan park in Whyalla kindly mailed them back to Mona Vale, where the friend who forwards our mail (thank-you Lindy) re-sent them to us in Broome.  So the struts we purchased in Adelaide 25 April are finally installed 7 July in Broome.  Patience is a virtue.

We are staying in Broome Caravan Park, 5 kilometres out of town.  It is an older park and not too exciting, although it does have a 25 metre (unheated) lap pool.  It is situated near a highway and next to the speedway, so we got to listen to roaring engines for 4 hours on Saturday night.  We managed to hit Broome not only in peak summer season, but at the start of WA school holidays, so there was very little accommodation available at the last minute.

Shopping in Broome is also interesting.  Bill wanted a couple of wine casks but they are not sold anywhere in the Kimberley – part of an effort to discourage aboriginal drinking.  It has the side effect of discouraging drinking in poor retired people as well, or forcing them to buy more expensive bottled wine.  Despite this, he likes Broome.  He very chuffed to be taken for a local yesterday -- albeit by a Queensland.  I put it down to his very daggy “bushie” hat (see photo with termite mound)

We have seen “ the stairway to the moon” (see photo) – an illusion of a ladder or stairway on the wet sand that occurs at full moon and low tide.  It was a beautiful natural spectacle but with a  couple of kilometres of rough sand dunes jam packed with cars, people, dogs, etc.,  all trying to get a glimpse of the 20 minute event or the perfect photo, it was somewhat less pleasant than I anticipated.  Broome’s population of 12,000 swells to over 70,000 in high tourist season, and I think all of them were trying to watch stairway to the moon with us.  Tomorrow night we are attending a big cultural event "The Reef 2012 Tour" Concert with Richard Tongetti.  A little change from all our "bush bashing".

Stairway to the Moon, Broome

Stairway to the Moon, Broome

From here we are heading up to Cape Leveque, then to Derby and a flight over the reversing falls, and across the Gibb River Road.  Lots to look forward to.