Day 47 04/08/2013 Carawine Gorge to Mt Robinson via Newman

We were up at 6am and on the road by 7.30am. It would have been earlier except it took us a while to collapse the 'dunny' tent!!

Today we planned to, once again, take the 'road less travelled', and we were rewarded with some excellent outback scenery and 4WDriving. The road we used from the gorge to the small township of Nullagine, was spookily named Skull Springs Road! It was 153km long and strictly 4WD ONLY. The first challenge was a river crossing where the exit from the river was about 25m downstream of the entry, through fairly soft river gravel. Dave walked it first...... it wasn't very deep, so I was able to walk across and take photos as Dave negotiated the vehicle and camper through the water. We continued on our way, encountering a few 'roos and many cattle, either on the sides of the 'road', or actually in the middle of the track. The road was in reasonable condition, but very undulating, and so travelling in excess of about 50km/h was impossible....well maybe not impossible.....just foolhardy! There were also several 'washaways', which needed careful negotiating.......not easy to do at speed!

The scenery was stunning....rich red hills; trees and shrubs in more shades of green than you could imagine. Desert shrubs and wildflowers are beginning to bloom and often there would be patches of purple, blue or yellow amongst the green. We encountered a second water crossing which was fairly deep....too deep for me to walk through without getting wet clothing....but it had a stony bottom and wasn't difficult to cross. Once on the other side we had our coffee break. Whilst stopped, a mining vehicle passed us, going in our direction, and a bit further on, one going in the opposite direction. Both gave us the 'thumbs up', which we returned. Had we indicated that we were in difficulty, assistance would have been readily forthcoming....that's just how it is in the outback.

Not far from Nullagine we passed an abandoned ore-processing plant which still had old machinery on site, some of which had been manufactured in England. This site was probably used in the days when gold was mined in this area. There is no gold-mining now, but some people still come here to obtain permits to go fossicking for semi-precious stones such as jasper, agate, jade and amethyst. We stopped to take photos. We had encountered no other tourist traffic so far, and even approaching Nullargine, we only saw one other mine vehicle and two local vehicles. It was just as well that we did not need to re-fuel. There was a sign at the roped-off bowser.....FUEL COMING SOON !!!!!

From Nullagine we turned south onto a more major road.....still unsealed at this point....and began encountering more traffic, particularly road trains. We stopped about 10km further on, to have lunch. This also allowed the vehicles which were in front us to get further ahead, so that we weren't travelling in their dust. Our map showed that the road as being unsealed all the way to Newman, but this wasn't the case. Once past the Roy Hill mine, the road was sealed. So instead of 190km of dirt road, we only had half that distance. Dave was particularly impressed to be travelling through the area owned by Fortescue Mines, and also the aforementioned Roy Hill Mine. These, (predominantly iron ore), mines, are the source of wealth for Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest, and Gina Rinehart, respectively. (For you non-Aussies, Gina Rinehart is Australia's richest billionaire)!

We reached Newman.....a mining town in the heart of the Pilbara....at around 2.30pm. Mt Whaleback, 5 km south of the town, is the largest single open cut iron ore mine in the world. Whilst in town, I made use of the phone signal, and we did some shopping bought fuel. Although we were not intending to make it to Karijini NP today, (you need to be there early in the day to get a campsite!), we did not want to stay in Newman. We had identified a 'free' camp about 100km further on. Those of you who have been faithfully reading this blog will know our views on these camps. However, those we have come across in WA, so far, have all looked reasonably pleasant, and appear to be being used responsibly......i.e. for overnight stops only. Therefore we decided to stop at Mt Robinson Rest Area/24 hour camp. The camp is 800m off the road at the base of Mt Robinson. On our arrival there was one caravan, and shortly after we set up, another arrived. There was plenty of space and, as it turned out, no-one else turned up. Before dark we were able to take a nice walk halfway up Mt Robinson....we had been told about this track by a guy we met at the fuel stop in Newman. There were great views. We had dinner before it got too dark. It is certainly cooler here and as soon as the sun had set we needed jackets and long pants. We have retreated inside to write this blog and eat chocolate!!! Off to Karijini tomorrow. Apparently it gets cold there at night too....possibly even frosty....hope not!!!