2016 Tour – Part 7 – Tom Price to Barn Hill

Leaving Tom Price on the morning of Friday 15^th July, our first planned stop was at Hamersley Gorge. Hamersley Gorge is in Karajini NP on the far western side. It has it’s own entry and exit from the park. There is no camping so it is a day visit gorge only. From a geological perspective it is the most spectacular gorge in the whole of Karajini. The photos don’t quite do the interesting folds in the rocks justice. While it is a great swimming hole the water is also very cold so we chose not to swim but spent some time enjoying the area.

By the time we left Hamersley Gorge it was past lunch time so our first priority was to find a pleasant spot to pull up and have some lunch. Returning to the main road and then descending through the magnificent Rio Tinto Gorge, Chris and I, who were the lead vehicle, spied a track into the scrub on our left. So performing a quick “U” turn we set of down the track to find a good spot for lunch. About 3 or 4 k’s along the track we came to a wonderful flat area nestled amongst some fabulous ranges.

After lunch we decided to do some exploring to see if the track would lead to a secret gorge or camping spot. It turns out that the track was created by prospecting geologists on behalf of FMG (Fortesque Mining Group). The area was so majestic that we decided to go pack to our original lunch spot and set up a camp for the night, albeit early in the afternoon. It was so serene we decided to stay 2 nights. We were planning to head for Wittenoom Gorge to camp and as it was now Friday, it was more likely that we would find a good camp spot on a Sunday than a Friday or Saturday due to the fact that many people from Tom Price and Port Hedland head to Wittenoom Gorge for the weekend. So the following day was spent climbing some bluffs, reading and generally relaxing in magnificent surrounds.

Camped in the Hamersley Ranges

Sensational Country

After our fabulous 2 night stay, and thinking that it would have been good to stay longer, we set off for Wittenoom at a leisurely pace, hopefully allowing any week enders to vacate their camp spots.

Well we guessed it right and scored what must be the best camp spot in the whole of Wittenoom Gorge, the photos speaking for themselves.

Wittenoom town is of course the old mining town for the blue asbestos mine owned be Hardie and later CSR and was closed down in the 80’s for health reasons. The blue asbestos is obsevable throughout the gorge. A few people who like to stay off the grid still live in Wittenoom which is situated at the mouth of the Gorge. The mine and processing plant was/is situated further up the gorge and some of the mine’s senior personnel also lived in the gorge and the remains of their house slabs and gardens can still be seen.

With our heart not really in it but with the need to replenish food and booze stocks we headed to Port Hedland after 3 nights at Wittenoom.

Port Hedland is not the most inspiring town to visit so we kept our visit there as short possible. Because of a mix up and a computer malfunction we were up graded to a cabin at the Caravan Park. We went out to dinner at the Ibis resort and the following morning after visiting the information centre and having a general look around town, did some much needed shopping and then headed north intent on reaching 80 mile beach caravan park that evening.

Eighty Mile Beach caravan park is an extremely well maintained and managed park, while a little expensive it facilities are outstanding. It caters for a huge contingent of fishermen. The beach is featureless but and the same time quite picturesque. The girls had a lot of fun looking for shells of which there are simply millions scattered along the beach. We stayed at eighty mile beach for 3 nights then headed for Barn Hill out station caravan park. We set up in the non powered, generator free camping area and stayed another 3 nights. Barn Hill beach is sensational with fabulous rock formations with terrific sunsets.

From Barn Hill we headed for Broom and the Dampier Peninsula. So until the next post, cheers for now.