Australia day 54 – Roebourne to Karratha

The coast from Port Hedland through Roebourne all the way to Onslow is known as the Pilbara – a largely flat and featureless coastal plain  Along this stretch there are only a few transport towns that ship tonnes of iron ore overseas, while inland are the mines and company towns that supply them.  It is an inhospitable and harsh environment and it’s endless sameness doesn’t make for particularly interesting driving. As ever, the tourist bumpf makes it sound very inviting and the pristine wild and rugged coastline is certainly very beautiful and the interior is reputedly spectacular.  Inland Pilbara is home to  the national parks of Karijini and Millstream Chichester which sound very appealing with deep gorges, wonderful waterfalls and tranquil waterholes.   Getting to them involves a detour of 450 km from the
Coastal Highway and access into the parks themselves is only by unsealed road..  So we plan instead to push on further south with the idea of spending some time on the Coral Coast around Exmouth and Coral Bay. 


 

We get waylaid in the laundry by a Canadian who has been working out here for five years and must be living – temporarily or semi-permanently, we don’t discover which – on the caravan park.  Before we know it, it’s 10am and we still have more laundry to do, showers to have and packing up to do.  We get off around 11am to do some shopping in Karratha just up the road.  After getting the daily bag of ice for the eskie and tonight’s dinner, lunch in a very pleasant park, we make are way to a local beauty spot and camp ground at Miaree Pool on the Maitland River.  This is a delightful spot for a bit of fishing in the late afternoon light.  Needless to say, no fish are biting! 

 

We briefly chat with a young Australian couple who are travelling with a very large dog.  Travelling with a dog or any type of pet is very limiting in Australia.  Pets are not welcome at most caravan parks and are not allowed in the national parks.  They had just come from Karijini National Park in the Pilbara interior and had had to leave the dog with some friends of friends in living in Tom Price.  They were very enthusiastic about the scenery – the gorges in particular – and were sure that it was accessible by 2wd.   

 

We are now considering whether we should make the detour to visit Karijini.  But first we plan to go to Onslow and see the Stairway to the Moon, more of which later.

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