Week 11
Hi everyone, The week started relaxing in Newman, enjoying perfect weather as we had been rained out for the trip so far! Reluctantly we left our dry haven for fear of returning to wet conditions and headed to Karajini National Park. First up, we went to Circular Pool. It was down deep in a gorge, so we decided to leave that one alone as it would be difficult to get James in and out. Post that, we went to my favourite spot in the National Park, Fortescue Falls. There we saw a nicely flowing waterfall that had plenty of rocks to sit on nearby. The water was beautiful and warm and we regretted not bringing our bathers down to the falls. The water that was coming down the falls was from a gently flowing creek. The only disturbance in the water was where the waterfall started for he next level down. The creek had green water so I wouldn’t swim in it, but the green water matched the lush, green plants and trees curling towards the water. Unfortunately, there are some things that a camera can’t capture. After the falls, we decided that we weren’t going to stay in a ‘dustbowl-like’ park for them night, so we drove just outside the Karajini National Park where we could camp and found a spot 300 metres off the road. Even though it was close to the road, we could barely see cars and trucks, let alone hear them and it would probably be the same for them. The next day, we went back into the park and went to the Kalamina Falls, where the waterfall was about as big as the Fortescue, but not as beautiful, or accessible. It looked like an artificial waterfall in a Japanese garden. We drove to Joffrey Falls, where all it took was a rocky 300 metre walk. It was a giant gorge, where on one side, there was a waterfall. As it was some way off, it was difficult to imagine it’s size. After Joffrey Falls, we walked down some steep steps to Weano Gorge. Tiny waterfalls made a nice background noise, that relieved the stresses imposed by the big red wasps. The water was shallow and it was a nice introduction to the next gorge. Hancock gorge was rated at ‘Class 5’, being the hardest climb before a permit was required to use rock climbing equipment. Ali and I climbed down ladders and looked at the path ahead through the bottom of the gorge. After jumping, skipping and hopping our way across unstable rocks, we reached what I thought was the end of the track. “So, are we going back now?” I asked Dad, as I looked out over the deep water ahead. “Take off your shoes and socks,” was the reply. Reluctantly, I obeyed and then stepped into the freezing water. | At the end of the walk, this seemed like a minor thing, but I didn’t know that this was just the beginning. The water in the end went up to my waist. A the start my shorts were pulled up so far I was almost giving myself a wedgie. After that, I watched Alistair come across holding the camera above his head. After that we walked on dry land for about 500 metres. It was then when I was sure that it was the end of the walk. The water was so deep that I wouldn’t have been able to touch the bottom. “Dad started to edge his way across the side of the gorge, holding on to little ridges and standing on tiny foot holds. ‘You have got to be kidding!’ I thought, but I followed anyway. One wrong step and I could’ve hit my head and fallen into the water. But we kept going along. I was surprised by how long it took, then I saw a class 5 sign. Eventually, I could wipe the sweat off my forehead in relief as I saw a class 6 sign. Class 6 trails included a ‘must bring along’ list of items, just the usual. Extra water, abseiling gear, ropes, food, sturdy boots, a permit everything that you would expect. We didn’t have those things on the list, so we headed back. Next was Tom Price where we set up the tents and went to bed. The next day we had a bore water pipe burst on our site, so we took over the site beside us and the one that we were on, as per instructions from the owner. The day after, we went on a mine tour for Tom Price’s Rio Tinto mine. The bus driver had a good sense of humour, he would say things like, “and the big trucks have great brakes, I’ll show you at the crossroads. As if he would pull in front of a 500 tonne truck…” You can hear some of the driver’s tour guide in Alistair’s week 11 video. After the tour, some men came along and fixed the bore water leakage. So we got moved over to another site. The next day was pretty uneventful. In the afternoon we started to go up Mt Nameless. Mt Nameless is the tallest mountain in W.A, that is, the highest above sea level. The Nissan’s radiator stopped working halfway up Mt Nameless. Luckily, two men were coming down the mountain and helped us out. We made it back to the caravan park but the car needed desperate repairs. The next day while Dad was at a workshop having the car fixed for something else, Ali and I did some schoolwork. On the last day of the week, Dad put in a new radiator and we made it the whole way up Mt Nameless. Up the top of the mountain, we had a spectacular view of the sunset. The sun turned into a red ball, and then disappeared behind the horizon. I set the video camera up on a time lapse to capture the sunset at a faster rate. But it was so windy on top of Mt Nameless that the camera wouldn’t stay still. In the end, I built a little fortress around it so that it couldn’t move the wind at all. And that was the end of week 11 of our Journey Around Australia. Cameron |
