Monday, 9 July 2012

Karijini Part 1 (13th-17th June)



Next day it was back to Exmouth and a few chores including a new phone (which pushed the boundaries of the shops) as mine had expired unexpectedly and inconveniently.

Next day I joined with the next tour group for an early departure from Exmouth in the rain. More flat, scrubby country, sheep grazing with wide horizons and not much else. But the scenery started to change as we drove into the Pilbaras and rusty mountains rose from the red dirt. Leaving the main highway for an unsealed road we rattle into Tom Price several hundred k's north of Exmouth- an incongrous green oasis and prosperous mining town. We have a slight panic when the main fuel station is out of diesel but find an alternative where the road trains fill up- this feels even more like frontier country and you realise the importance of fuel, second only to water.

It's afternoon as we enter the Hamersley ranges and pass into Karijini National Park and the weather is great now. We stay 2 nights here at an Eco retreat. It's only sort-of camping because the tents are fixed and have bunk beds, I discover there's nothing that can't be cooked on a bbq in a bush kitchen and we share the area with not much more than spiniflex grass and termite mounds. At night the temperature drops to near zero despite the latitude, and we're all wearing hats and clothes in bed, but during the day it's into the mid 20s.

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