Wednesday 22nd November – Exploring the Karratha area

Getting up early also applies to tourists.  If you want to do anything strenuous, it has to be as early as possible to beat the heat of the day.  Last night was sticky.  We really need a fan on the van.  We only have air con in the front whilst the engine is running.  No cooling system in the back apart from the windows and there was nothing to move the air around last night.

I was awake before the alarm I had set for 630am and it seemed that the rest of the site was too.  Apart from Simon. It was heading for 7am and he wasn’t stirring so I ‘man-knapped’ him!  Basically, I chucked some clothes on, made sure everything moveable was stowed away, unhooked the electric cable (very important) and drove off.  With him still in bed!  I took us to the Deep Gorge, only a fifteen-minute drive away.  Boasting one of the largest collections of Aboriginal rock etchings in the country, it seemed like a worthy cultural point to visit.  The short, unmade road leading to the gorge assisted me in rousing Simon from his slumber and we got kitted up.  Johan had warned us to take our head-nets to deal with the flies.  This is a crucial point for anyone thinking of visiting Oz.  They never warn you about the flies!  Not such an issue on the coast or in the Eastern states, but everywhere else, nightmare!  I don’t know what’s it in for them, landing on your face or in your ears but they appear out of nowhere and they are PERSISTENT!  We invested in head nets back in Perth, but today was their first outing.  And we were pleased we had them.  Don’t get me wrong, the sound of 20-30 flies buzzing around your head is still mighty annoying, but the fact they can’t go up your nose or in your mouth?  Priceless!

Simon got it spot on by donning walking boots while I tried to get by with my trainers.  It was only 730am by the time we were ready but it must have already been in the high 20s to 30 Celsius.  ‘Let’s give it an hour’ I suggested.  This seemed reasonable and we started to follow the path most trodden.  To a dead end.  Okay, back to the start, it must be the other way.  We wandered, and we clambered, and in the end we even climbed to try and find these darn etchings!  But the most exciting things we saw were some kangaroos who were much more nimble than us over the rocky terrain.  I had a deep sense of foreboding.  I had pretty much forced Simon to come and do exercise when it still said am on the clock and now we were sweltering in a rocky canyon where the best view was of the gas works.   

A view of.... the gas works from Deep Gorge

This one is going to come back to haunt me.  In scenes reminiscent of what’s now referred to as ‘the Kentucky incident’ we were perched on the top of a mountain with no marked track ahead of us and would have to work our way back down to the camper the safest route we could.  In the end we were out just over the hour, but we still have no clue how we missed the ‘largest collection of rock etchings’ in Australia!  Not my proudest moment.

Feeling rather annoyed with myself, we were back at the camp site by 9am and did the only think that seemed sensible in these conditions – chucked on swimming gear and jumped in the pool.  Much better.  This should have been the morning’s plan all along.

Johan had to attend some meetings this morning but he had booked the afternoon off to spend with us.  We were on the road just after 11am in his fancy 4X4.  That’s how you tour Oz.  He suggested taking us firstly to the heritage town of Cossack, now more of a living museum.  What was essentially a ghost town also had some cracking views of the surrounding coast and a friendly visiting kestrel (right). 

Just one of many buildings in Cossack heritage town

Onwards to Point Sampson, we stopped off for some coffee and cake before arriving at Honeymoon Cove at high tide. The three of us enjoyed a relaxing snorkel and a cold drink on the sand before moving round to the local tavern to sample their brews and views.

We’d suggested having a Barbie tonight to Johan to be sociable and save a bit of cash. He’d invited some of his colleagues and we chipped in a bit of grub.  It was interesting to hear the locals also moaning about the heat – it must’ve really notched up in the last week.  There’s got to be something wrong when it’s still too hot to sit outside to eat your BBQ dinner at gone 7pm – we all retreated into their air-conditioned cabin!  Calling it a night just before 9pm, we thanked Johan for taking some time off and being such a great tour guide – Thanks Johan!!