Day 44 80 Mile Beach to Karijini National Park
We managed to get away by 7:15 this morning, I think it’s a record for us. Incredibly windy day today! Not a great thing for a huge day of driving.
We stopped in Port Headland for lunch and to have a look around. It was great to see the huge ore ships heading out.
We were stopped along the road when some massive wide loads were going past. Turns out they were MASSIVE dump trucks and trays on trucks!!!
Stopped at a beautiful lookout just before we arrived at Karijini that was a view of the valley we had just driven through.
Arrived at Karijini and we stayed at Dales Campground and it’s so lovely. So well spread out, you can hardly see your neighbour. So glad we booked early to get a good spot.
Day 45 Karijini National Park
Incredibly windy and cold morning. Jumpers out for everyone for the first time in about 4 weeks. We may have even cracked out the beanies and gloves.
Made our way to Dales Gorge, and ran into Maddy, Nikki, Nathan and Zara. Brig was very excited. We did the walk with them. We walked down to Fortescue Falls, just gorgeous. The rock formations are incredible. A short little walk down to Fern Pool. I wish it wasn’t so cold, because the waterhole looked amazing. The wind died down once we made our way into the gorge. Walked along the bottom of the beautiful gorge. A few difficult little areas to climb and water to cross. I really enjoyed this walk.
Walked all the way along to circular pools and stopped for some snacks. Nice and cool here after warming up along the walk.
Afterwards we drove along the worst gravel road we’ve come across for about 26km each way. It was heavily corrugated. Luckily at the end was the beautiful Kalamina Gorge. Hamish was not impressed to be doing another Gorge Walk. Brig was super pumped to be doing another rock climbing walk and powered ahead. This was an an awesome walk. Lots of rock climbing and manoeuvring around rocks and water. This is probably my favourite walk so far. You walk along the water at the bottom of the gorge the entire time.
Lovely way to finish the day.
Day 46 Karijini National Park to Tom Price
Beautiful morning at Dales Campground. Headed over to Weano Gorge, we didn’t realise how bad the road in was going to be. We had 13 km on the worst corrugated road with the caravan on the back.
Made it to Weano gorge and the caravan survived in one piece.
We walked to Oxer and Junction Pools lookout and did the Weano Gorge walk. It was lovely, but I think it is hard to beat the Kalamina Gorge walk from yesterday.
Back to the van to have lunch in the picnic area. We asked the kids who wanted to do Hancock Gorge walk which is classed as a Class 5 walk and requires walking through water and difficult climbing. Hamish didn’t think he’d be able to do it, so I stayed behind with him, while Scott took Liam and Brig.
They absolutely loved the walk, they all came back so excited!
Pushed through to Tom Price for the night.
Day 47 Tom Price to 200km West of Tom Price
Lots to do today!
First up is the Mine Tour of Rio Tinto’s Iron Ore Mine. We collected our hard hats and safety glasses from the information centre. The kids looked so cute all decked out in their safety gear. Tour was fabulous and so informative. The scale of the operation is incredible.
Back at the information centre we picked up some little mineral rocks for the kids, they have a fabulous little collection going of rocks they have collected over the trip.
After the tour we walked in to town to get some lunch at a little cafe, then on to the supermarket to stock up for the next 6 days of free camping.
Loaded up the van with water, and groceries and fuel and started on our way to Exmouth.
We found a great little free camp called Blue Metal Area, just as the sun was setting. It was beautiful. Quiet and hardly any road noise. We are making a habit of having Burritos on free camp nights, so hey, why break with tradition. Kids collected fire wood to build a fire with Scotty while I cooked dinner. We then followed it up with roasted marshmallows by the campfire! Cracking way to spend an evening.
Day 48 200km west of Tom Price to Osprey Bay
Drive to Exmouth, terrible winds made it very unpleasant.
We made our way into the beautiful Cape Range National Park. Pulled up in Osprey Bay with plenty of time to set up and get some drinks to watch the sunset. What a magnificent spot! We can’t wait to snorkel tomorrow. Very windy night and even some light rain early in the morning.
Day 49 Osprey Bay
We woke up to find two Euro Kangaroos outside our caravan. They were so cute. Great surprise to wake up to. After breakfast the kids were itching to get into the water for some snorkeling so we got all sorted and walked across to the beach. It didn’t take us long to find a turtle, and oh my goodness what an experience. They are so placid and don’t care about us being there at all!!!! They are just happy to cruise along with you following. Absolutely incredible. And they are huge!!!! Loved every single minute of it. We saw lots of incredible fish and some beautiful coral.
Scotty took the boys back in for another snorkel before lunch and they saw a turtle and a massive sting ray.
Kids had fun playing with the sand on the shore. Absolutely magic spot here.
After lunch we headed to the Oyster Stacks to snorkel at high tide. Really difficult to snorkel here. The water is quite low, so you are very close to the coral as you snorkel along. We saw some incredible fish and it is such a beautiful location.
Day 50 Osprey Bay
Another beautiful day in paradise! What an amazing location! We are so glad we managed to get in to this place. It is just incredible. You need to book up to 6 months in advance for this gorgeous place.
Snorkeling straight after breakfast. This morning was Brig’s first snorkeling by herself and she did an amazing job! I think she’s hooked!!!!! We saw turtles and lots of amazing fish. The kids started getting cold, so they got out. Scotty and I saw a huge stingray, it was beautiful.
After lunch we ventured to Turquoise Bay, wow, so incredible. But there was a very strong current so the kids and I didn’t last too long, but Scotty had another run with the current and said it was amazing. So many fish!