Newman had been good to us and getting our wheels from Perth was a great bonus.
Next stop was Hamersley Gorge. Here was our first taste of crowds, the carpark was overflowing and there were people everywhere in the gorge. It was a lovely place with amazing rock formations. It was a pity the crowds weren't too respectful to the beauty of this place, most were intent on making noise and jumping into the waters.
From here the road became very rough and rocky with lots of traffic and dust. The traffic was mainly mining, but there were also a number of caravans hammering along.
Our destination was Wittenoom, or more precisely the gorge.
Now, as you approach Wittenoom there are signs warning you not to stop and saying there is asbestos in the area.
As you enter the gorge there are many signs with the same warning, well if I could read, I think that is what they said.
The gorge was stunning, wild flowers everywhere, water in the water holes and lots of birds, and only one other camper. We had quite a look around and were amazed at what must have gone on here in the 50s.
While in Tom Price we had been lucky enough to book two nights in Karajini NP and after another night camped out we headed to our booked site in Karajini at Dales Gorge.
Here we met the lovely campground hosts who told us about the walks and suggested how we should do them.
So after setting up we went for a walk into the gorge to see Fortescue Falls and Fern Pool, Circular Pool was closed due to a rock fall.
On the way from the falls to Fern Pool we spotted lots of what looked to be Fruit Bats hanging in the trees, they were amazing to watch. Fern Pool was stunning with big trees around the perimeter of the deep pool and some cascading falls at one end.
You can understand why these places hold such spiritual significance to the Aborigines. There are signs asking visitors to be quiet and not to dive into the water, it's a pity most people don't appear to bother reading the signs!
The walk from Fern Pool along the gorge takes you to a different place, you can't believe you are in a desert, there are ferns, big trees and grasses, absolutely stunning. At the point where you head up out of the gorge you can continue on to Circular Pool, apart from the sign that tells you it is closed and dangerous. We witnessed another chap who obviously couldn't read because he stepped over the barrier and past the closed sign.
That night the campground was packed with young families and their screaming kids, it sounded like a kindergarten until about 9.30!
The next day was spent visiting the other gorges in the park, all special, all busy. The standouts for us were Handrail Pool and Kalamina Gorge.
That night in camp was just as noisy as the previous and we were glad to be leaving.
We had planned on spending a couple of days in Newman, but when we arrived we found out the the caravan parks have been taken over by the mining companies for their FIFO workers.
We had a choice of staying in the visitors center carpark or the oval, we chose the oval. Here we met a Polish couple, he was working on his plan to walk from Cape Inscription in WA to Cape Spencer in SA, then to Cape ? It way in Vic before finishing at Cape York QLD, some 15,000Ks. His plan is to start on 2022.
We also met a local tour guide that gave us some great information on places to visit on our way out of Newman.
We only stayed in Newman two nights, we were none too impressed with the camping arrangements, or the service we received at the businesses we spent money at.
Armed with the information from the visitors center and the guide we headed to Hickmans Meteor Crater, one of only two craters in Australia. Hickmans isn't a big crater, but it was very interesting and a great spot to stop.
The next day we went from Hickmans to see the Punda Aboriginal Art.
From there it was onto Nullagine, a lovely little and we think underrated town. We stayed here in the caravan park and had dinner in the pub with our new friends who we using their new Tvan for the first time.
Our new friends had just come from Running Waters, a lovely oasis where a spring feeds a waterway with warm 28° water. They had planned on staying at Carawine Gorge but said it was packed.
In the morning we headed towards Running Waters with great expectations of having a nice quite place to camp.
Unfortunately on the way out we took a wrong turn that took us through some amazing landscapes, but has us doing 88K that we didn't need to do. Both the correct road and our detour were very rough in places and the bull dust was the worst I have seen. Because of this we were running late to get to Running Waters, so we stopped and camped at another oasis, Skull Springs. Here the water isn't deep or warm, but the Paper Bark trees are huge, the biggest we have seen. We had a lovely quite night here under the Gum Trees.
In the morning it was only 26Ks to Running Waters. On arrival at the 'top' camping spots, there were three families camped. They said that the places down on the river were full. So we took up our place in one of the two remaining spots before walking down to the river.
At the river the place was packed, any place you could fit a car was taken except for one, there were ten cars packed into 100M of river. There were people playing music and kids swinging on ropes into the water, we were glad to be up the top.
The people camped with us said they had counted 40 plus cars at Carawine, an area they say fits about 8 camps!
In the morning everyone left, all bar one on the river went, it was peaceful and we went for a lovely swim.
That night was wonderful, but in the mornings the cars started coming in again until the top area was full and the river area nearly full. That night we could hear the music over our neighbours generator! Aargh!!!!
We left the next morning for Marble Bar. We arrived before lunch and the caravan park had already run out of powered sites. While we were booking in another four cars arrived with vans. It is crazy busy and we hope that once the school holidays are over that things will
get quieter, soon.