The Pilbara

Expectations can completely transform an experience. In Coral Bay, our excitement about whale sharks and SCUBA diving created incredibly high expectations, which were not just met but exceeded. Often though, high expectations lead to disappointment. This was the case with Carnarvon earlier in our trip; having read ’The Lucky Galah’ it appeared to be a town with a lot of history. After visiting we learnt that while that history may have been there, none of it was available to us.

When we left Coral Bay for Karratha, we had no expectations of history. We knew Karratha was a mining town that had been established only 50 years ago. We knew that there were some pretty awesome people who lived there that would let us stay out the front of their house. We learnt that it was a 5 hour detour away from Karijini National Park, discovering this only as the turnoff to Karijini whizzed by.

What we got was an incredibly warm welcome and an insight into the long shifts, extreme heat, and an amazing roast dinner with crispy potatoes and a recipe for baked pumpkin that included cinnamon and brown sugar… yum. And a range of unexpected places to visit. And amazing flowers, though we thought we were well outside the wildflower season.

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Up the road from Karratha lies Cossack, a pearling town that was doomed once the pearling industry moved to Broome. Over the course of 50 years the population dwindled, and eventually fully disappeared. Now all that remains are buildings in various stages of restoration, and a cemetery that gives a history to the region.

Iron Ore is Australia’s largest export, and the majority of it is exported out of Dampier, just near Karratha, and Port Hedland, two hours up the road. Trains 2.5km in length rumble past, unloading three carriages at a time onto the queued awaiting ships. The ships have a red line around their hulls, which we very quickly learnt means ‘full’, as they go from sitting well above the water to a much lower stance once loaded.

The most unexpected part of our trip was however a trip to Murujuga National Park. Murujuga has the oldest known representation of a human face in the world. At over 40,000 years old, it is 10 times older than Stonehenge. Amazingly, the carvings here are fully exposed to the elements, carved onto the rocky mountainside, and yet have still lasted all this time. And these truly are rocky mountainsides, with mountains that look like someone has just dumped a pile of rocks on top of one another.

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From Karratha we made the long trek to Karijini National Park. A couple we had met in Coral Bay described this as the best national park they had experienced in all of Australia, so expectations were high. We spent our first night at perhaps our best free camp yet. Located outside the park, it was nothing but a dirt patch, but the view over the valley and gorges were pretty special.

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We began our first day in Karijini with a gorge-top walk, admiring the desert landscape and learning about iron ore plants and other species of flora found only in this region. We then descended into a gorge and headed up several small waterfalls until we came to a circular pool. The circular pool was at the end of this particular gorge, fed by aquifers and surrounded by greenery akin to a rainforest, a sharp contrast to the arid desert landscape outside the gorge. A very quick dip in the painfully freezing water was followed by a brisk, warming walk and to the other end of the gorge, to admire Fortescue Falls, and then continue on to fern pool. Fern pool was, as its name suggest, a pool surrounded by ferns, but also reeds, with fish that nibbled away the dead skin and bacteria on your toes, feet (a spectacle that many would pay for the privilege of), and a warm waterfall to sit under and contemplate the beauty of the park.  

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Feeling incredibly rejuvenated, on day 2 we braved 12km of gravel road in the motorhome to head to the west side of the park. Our fridge still intact despite the bumpy roads, we climbed down into Hancock Gorge, swimming and spider walking through the narrow gorges until we reached Kermit’s pool, a blue oasis amongst many blue oases. More waterfalls, blue water, stunning scenery, and some very slippery rocks. No injuries sustained, we retraced our steps, and tossed up between Handrail pool, which was another canyoning pool that required feats of dexterity and shuffling along a canyon, or heading back to Fern Pool. We decided Fern Pool was good enough to warrant a second visit as the sun set and intensified the oranges in the rocks.

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Given we have a deadline to be in Broome to enjoy the Staircase to the Moon, two days and three nights in Karijini was all we could allocate. It was easily a spot you could spend a week or more at, enjoying the pools as the dragon flies hummed in circles around you. Dragon flies that dazzle your senses with blue and orange bodies.

Port Hedland was a shorter stop than expected. The most memorable part of our stop in Port Hedland was the advice from the information centre that they didn’t recommend swimming at the local beach, due to Stonefish, sharks, and stingers, and that if we wanted wanted to enjoy ourselves, we could head away from Port Hedland to Karratha. We made the most of the experience, and watched the activity of Australia’s busiest port, shipping iron ore, and the refinement of salt hills whiter than any snow we had ever seen.

The final thing we didn’t expect was the distances. Everything is at least 3-4 hours away, potentially more, with very little in between.  One guy we met drove three hours a day to work, leaving a city commute looking easy. Roadhouses are a lifeline as we very rarely now take our eyes of the fuel gauge. No jerry can needed yet though! Road Trains 50 metres long litter the oncoming traffic and the earth becomes redder. 

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This week’s contender for the best road name? It may be a little immature, but we thoroughly enjoyed ‘Buttweld Street’ in Port Hedland. Imagining the origins of that name was a precious thing. 

Also, termite mounds. There are termite mounds. Everywhere. Millions of them, all made from the same red dirt. Some have been dressed as poop emojis and some have hard hats, but there is no escaping them everywhere.

There may also be a million flies. After swearing I would never wear a fly net, it took me two days to cave.

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