Day 91: Mon 17 Jun 24 - Bellary Creek (FC) to Dales Campground (Karijini NP) Via Tom Price

Mon 17 Jun 24 - Bellary Creek (FC) to Dales Campground (Karijini NP) Via Tom Price (142km) 

17 Deg C clear and sunny at Bellary Creek to 31 Deg C and mostly sunny at Dales Campground. If this is winter, I'm not sure I would like to experince summer here. Very hot and dry. 

After a lot of broken sleep due to nearby road noise and an occasional Iron Ore train passing by last night, we were up early and did manage to pull the van back up the rough track from our free camp to the main road (the Ranger did it effortlessly in 4WD). After 37 km we landed in Tom Price where we refuelled, topped up with water and caffeine from a local take away van,  followed by a quick visit to the visitor centre. Tom Price is a mining town in the Pilbara region, located inland at the edge of the Hamersley Range, and is the highest town above sea level in WA (747m), explaining my poor fuel economy from Exmouth. Tom Price (both the town, the mine and the mountain) was named after Thomas Moore Price (1891-1962), the vice-president of the giant US steel company Kaiser Steel, and he was one of the main initiators of the opening up of the Pilbara region to iron ore mining. 

Onwards we continued 107km to Dales Campground where we were set up for a 3 night stay at 1230. After lunch and an LLD, we went for a walk about 3-4km from the camp to the Dale Gorge Lookout, then down many steps (Noel may have counted them) to Fortescue Falls and onto Fern Pool about 300m further. Unfortunately, I didn't have my swimmers or a towel, and although I was tempted to dive in anyway, I decided I will return tomorrow much better prepared. After our hot climb out of the gorge and back to the van, we grabbed our chairs and joined a Canberra couple who we met at Kalbarri (Carol and Terry - coincidentally camped opposite us), and their caravan neighbours for evening drinks. It was nice sitting outside enjoying the sunset and good company, before returning for an unusually late dinner. Unfortunately Carol and Terry are leaving tomorrow, and we won't see them again this trip. 

This place has such rugged beauty, I can't wait to explore tomorrow.

**There is no telephone reception here, but thankfully we have Starlink and an inverter to be able to post today's report. Hopefully the cloudy conditions forecast for tomorrow allow enough light through to recharge the batteries.

Sculptures in Tom Price

Sculptures in Tom Price

Sculptures in Tom Price

Sculptures in Tom Price

We moved well out of the way of this 7.4m wide load - 3 semis pulling and one pushing one very big heavy bit of mining equipment. 

Approcahing Karijini NP from Tom Price

Set up for the next 3 nights at Dales Campground (Warloo 117) in Karijini NP 

Walk Dales Gorge - The ground rich in Iron

Walk to Dales Gorge

Walk to Dales Gorge

Walk to Dales Gorge

Walk to Dales Gorge

Walk to Dales Gorge - Fortescue Falls

Walk to Dales Gorge

Walk to Dales Gorge - Fortescue Falls


Walk to Dales Gorge - Fortescue Falls

Walk to Dales Gorge - Fortescue Falls

Walk to Dales Gorge 

Walk to Fern Pool in Dales Gorge

Fern Pool in Dales Gorge

Fern Pool in Dales Gorge

Fern Pool in Dales Gorge

Fern Pool in Dales Gorge

Dales Gorge

Walk to Dales Gorge - Leaving Fortescue Falls

Walk to Dales Gorge

The Landscape

The Landscape

The Landscape

Sun setting at Dales CG

Sun setting at Dales CG

Sun setting at Dales CG

Sun setting at Dales CG


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