A circuit around the WA mid-west

[RooFlyer]

We were to see a lot of these structures. Paging @RooFlyer to the white courtesy phone for an explanation - in words of one syllable…

You remember seeing similar things in the rocks on the beach near my place? At a guess, iron was introduced in solution by groundwater when the rocks were buried and the iron then fixed on particular horizons in a combination of chemical and electrical reactions. Eh, pH blah blah.

Similar to a previous quandary of yours ..

A high and dry, wild and wet, majestic history medley – RTW 2018

I'm up for that, but with my new abstemious diet and drinking habits I might be a bit on the outer, munching on my green leaves and sipping lime juice :eek:. :rolleyes: If we go down to Patagonia, we can both be on home turf - you in the nation, me amongst the fa_as of Gondwanaland. Lets skip...

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[JohnM]

Moving along to Honeycomb Gorge. This was IMO the most spectacular part of an overall spectacular experience at Kennedy Range.

 

[JohnM]

 

[JohnM]

Then to Sunrise Viewpoint. We resolved to come back the next day and camp at the off-grid campground at Temple Gorge that night in order to do the walk between Temple and Honeycomb Gorges in the late afternoon and get up for a dawn view from Sunrise Viewpoint the following morning before continuing north to Mt Augustus.



A few stops on the way back to Gascoyne Junction.



Shades of the Appian Way.

 

[JohnM]

Next day, back out to Kennedy Range NP and snared a nice camp site that fitted both my brother and SIL with their camper and me tenting next to one of the tables.



Chilled for a few hours and then did the walk from the campground at Temple Gorge to Honeycomb Gorge and back in the late afternoon as the sun set behind the range.

 

[JohnM]

Hmmm – guess what this tree is (with trail markers nailed into it)?

Sandalwood - for those who have paid attention previously.

 

[JohnM]

Hmmm – wine o’clock upon return. Only staying one night, so just popped up my 1-person tent.



Clever… And the only bit that now counts.

 

[JohnM]

Up at sparrow’s the next morning to get to Sunrise Viewpoint for dawn. A little bit of cloud in the sky would have made it more stunning.



Back to Temple Gorge campsite for breakfast and to break camp before a walk to Draper’s Gorge a short distance from Temple Gorge at the southern end of the main face of the escarpment easily accessible for visitors. One of the Draper’s Gorge trails leads up to the top of the escarpment. By all account a good, but solid, hike.

 

[RooFlyer]

Those ferruginous geode-type-thingys are fascinating. OK, the rest of it is pretty good too. If our respective sodding Premiers would let me, I'd be over in a shot (Abrolhos a focus ... that's where you did the cray-cruise, wasn't it?)

 

[TheRealTMA]

Those ferruginous geode-type-thingys are fascinating. OK, the rest of it is pretty good too. If our respective sodding Premiers would let me, I'd be over in a shot (Abrolhos a focus ... that's where you did the cray-cruise, wasn't it?)

What a FerroFella you are. Or is it FerroPhile? Is it ferrous Fe2+ or ferric Fe3+ that floats your slag?

 

[JohnM]

Those ferruginous geode-type-thingys are fascinating. OK, the rest of it is pretty good too. If our respective sodding Premiers would let me, I'd be over in a shot (Abrolhos a focus ... that's where you did the cray-cruise, wasn't it?)

The Abrolhos it was indeed.

Another week and a half PJM and I are heading that way, but remaining on land, at Kalbarri for a few days.

 

[JohnM]

We then departed for Mt Augustus.

A nice spot for lunch on the way. But, about 50 clicks west of Mt Augustus, pieces of black stuff were flying past the window.

Nothin’ that a plug or two won’t fix…



And Mt Augustus (Mount Augustus | Explore Parks WA | Parks and Wildlife Service, Road to the Rock | a road trip to Mount Augustus), coming into view.



Sign at the entrance to the Mt Augustus tourist park reception: “We fix tyres.” Hmmm…, not going to fix this mangled baby.



Fortunately, they had a second-hand tyre of the right size amongst the second-hand tyres they buy in from Geraldton. They were replacing about seven a day while we were there. Someone rocked in after us with two gone; someone else with three, apparently! (Most people are towing something). The bloke camped next to me told me that had just the beads left on one of their tyres.

The tread had a stone split in the middle that possibly would have been patchable, at least sufficient to act as a reasonable spare. I now have a set of tyre pressure monitors…

After getting home, I had a new tyre fitted to replace the second-hand unmatched tyre, bought a second-hand rim and had the unmatched tyre fitted to that so I now have an additional spare to take on rough and remote trips. So, all ended well.

It was a full moon. It’s a good campground. They have areas of lush lawn designed to be encircled, so keeping wheels off. Sun setting behind Mt Augustus.

 

[JohnM]

The lovely evening and a few gusts of wind during the night was no foretaste of what was to come at about 0500h when a powerful sou-wester proceeded to blow constantly. I was expecting my tent to lift off at any moment.

But it held on and as dawn broke, I crawled out to a magnificent spectacle of a southerly buster-type rolling cloud stationary above and cloud enveloping Mt Augustus. I dropped the hoops of my tent and got busy watching the unusual weather phenomenon while being sand-blasted by a very chilly wind.

The previous few days had been quite hot, in the mid-high 30s and the strong cold front that swept across SW Australia overnight obviously interacted with those conditions quite sharply.



Well, that was something!

My tent looks like the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy, but it was deliberately collapsed in place. Aahh…, there’s the coffee. Pics courtesy of SIL.

 

[JohnM]

There is a c. 50km road circuit around Mt Augustus with various points of interest and short to long and steep hiking trails along the way. After the storm abated and the cloud cleared, we set off to do the loop and check out the attractions.



Cattle Pool is a pleasant oasis.



Mulla Mulla.



Golden Orb Weaver, but golden web hard to capture without the sun on the right angle.

 

[JohnM]

Petroglyphs under the rock.



More petroglyphs at a different site and interesting stone accretions and seams.



Back to camp; sunset and full moon setting next morning.

 

[JohnM]

Today’s the day for an assault on the summit. Nice cool morning after the previous day’s dramatic weather change. We (brother and me) were on the Summit Trail at 0715h. 12-click round-trip for which they advise allowing 6 hours. And - as if it needs saying given that duration advice - leaving early. We were each carrying over 4L water and had a first aid kit.

It is not a trivial hike (Flintstone - Beedoboondu | Explore Parks WA | Parks and Wildlife Service). There are two options in the first part: the Summit Trail and the Gully Trail. The latter is reputedly much tougher over rocks, but scenic. We opted to do the conventional Summit Trail.

We met people going up as were coming down at around midday. One really must wonder…

Three people perished there in the last week.



Looking back; looking forward.



Mission accomplished; 2h 20m, taking it steadily.



We passed a guy going slowly and seemingly doing it a bit tough over a steep rocky section, but he rocked in not that long after us. He’s 77 and killin’ it. It turns out that he worked for a different division of the same organisation as me.

Chatting to him, getting Telstra reception, communicating with @Daver6, reading emails and so on, and all of a sudden we had been up there a good couple of hours.

Time to head back. Going down was way tougher than going up. Loose surfaces in steep parts give rise to fear of ending up hard on the bum or getting into a runaway going forward. Took it very carefully over three hours.



Bad moon arisin’.

 

[JohnM]

Chilled around camp the next day until evening when we scoped out the first part of Kutka Gorge Trail through a grove of gums before heading out to Emu Hill viewpoint for a sundowner.



OMG!

 

[JohnM]

Next morning a pretty sunrise and then time to pack up to continue the journey.

 

[JohnM]

Heading SE towards Meekatharra and stopping at marked points on the Kingsford Smith Mail Run route.



Remnants of the Flying Fox used to carry mail in a drum across the river when it flooded.

 

[JohnM]

The Granites and Peace Gorge just outside Meekatharra.



We had intended to carry on to Cue to spend two nights, but a phone call to the Cue caravan park had no availability that night, but did snare spots for the following (Saturday) night. Just as well, because we were on a mission to meet up with @Daver6 and Mrs@Daver6 on Saturday night.

Cue caravan park is very good, far superior to Meekatharra. No wonder it was chockers.

Deviated SW to Big Bell, once a thriving gold town (Big Bell, Western Australia - Wikipedia), and Walga Rock on the way to Cue.