As we left Broome we knew we were heading for the Great Central Road which crosses the Gibson Desert in central east WA. We didn’t know if we’d see much along the way, BUT of course we did, and we learned a lot about the history, landforms and people of this part of WA.
This map covers the places we visited in this blog post.80 Mile Beach was our first stop, and we arrived in time to have a restful afternoon.Our friends, Neil and Suzanne, arrived shortly after us so we all did a 5km walk on the beach at sunset. We met them on a hike in the NT on 25/5 and unplanned we ended up camping with them at Keep River NP, Kununurra, El Questro, Windjana; plus we bumped into them in Broome. They were good company and we enjoyed our times together. Our paths diverged after this point (26/6).It was our last beach stop in this trip and a nice place to have a rest day and do a long drive along the beach.
Our next mission was a service for Belle at Toyota in Port Hedland. Unusually for us we left camp just after 7am and got Belle dropped off by 7:15am. After breakfast out and a stop at the Tourist Info, we picked up Belle and drove out of town by 11:40am. Port Hedland did not look like a place to stay for long – very industrial. Heading inland to Tom Price we mostly saw roadtrains on the road – ALL DAY.
After free camping at Tom Price (the caravan park was full and turned us away) and on another long driving day, we met a family who had a flat tire. Dick lent them some boards to put under their jack and used our compressor to pump up one of their tires. The guy was very grateful and gave Dick a 6 pack of beer as a thank you. A few hours later when we camped for the night, alongside the road, we noticed we had a flat tire. In the morning Dick managed to repair it (so that we could keep our spare in reserve), using his tire repair kit than had not been used before. He did a good job and it lasted 6 days until we got to a tire repair shop in Meekatherra.We drove 1026 kms from Port Hedland to Mount Augustus over 3 days and didn’t see much along the way; some feral donkeys, lots of mines, road trains and long straight roads.This is Mt Augustus, twice the size of Uluru and the largest rock in the world! This ‘island mountain’ (inselberg) rises 715m out of the plain. Burringurrah is the aboriginal name for Mt Augustus, and for the national park. The aboriginal legend is that Burringurrah, a young aboriginal boy was undergoing his initiation into manhood and ran away, breaking tribal law. Tribesmen pursued him, speared and beat him. He collapsed and died there and Mt Augustus represents his final resting pose.SUNRISE AND SUNSET FROM OUR CAMP. We had glorious views of Mt Augustus.Its a 49 km circuit around the rock and the park features lots of walks from easy to Class 5 -challenging. We did the 3 hour, 5 km walk to Edney’s lookout. It’s the walk for people who want views but won’t be doing the 12 km summit trail (12 km’s, 5-9 hours return). We are both happy we got to the top of this peak and enjoyed good views without any incidents.It was a big rock scramble to get to Flintstone Rock, which Dick is laying under to photograph engravings by aboriginal people.This is a selection of the delicate flowers we saw on the walks in Mt Augustus NP.Cattle Pool (Goolinee) is a permanent pool near Mount Augustus on the Lyons River. Beautiful river gums and lots of birds. I included a copy of the sign to illustrate how the place names are gradually being changed over to the aboriginal names throughout this park and all the others we have visited. After a final visit to a lookout, we left this park and would certainly recommend it, although its a long drive from anywhere to get here.After a long, boring driving day to Meekatherra, we were rewarded with a stunning sunset at our free camp. Realising that Meekatherra was the biggest town we’d be in for a long time, we spent another day at the Meekatherra caravan park so we could be first in line at the tire repair place on Monday morning. Made it there by 7:15, he opened at 7:30 and had our tire repaired by 8am.As I was wandering around Meekatherra, I got invited to the flag raising ceremony. It was low key and interesting and afterward the community put on coffee and sandwiches and a few people invited me to join that also. Inclusivity seems to be an important part of aboriginal culture. Everyone here was friendly and welcoming. On the other hand, the whole town is full of fences, some with barbed wire on top and security is a big issue. Hard to reconcile …………Next stop was Wiluna, start of both the Canning Stock Route and the Gunbarrel Highway, two 4 WD adventure trails I never want to do. We did go to No 1 well on the Canning Stock Route, on our way to a free camp, so I got photos of the signs wishing people well on the track and welcoming them back.This ‘Last of the Nomads’ statute in Wiluna depicts Warri and Yatungka, who met in the 1930’s and fell in love but tribal law forbade them from marrying because they were the wrong match according to ‘skin group’ law. The consequences of breaking this law would have resulted in severe injury or death so they ran away together in the middle of the night, They lived together in country, in isolation, until 1977. They had three children, one died, During a severe drought in 1977, the elders worried about them and asked for help to find them. After several weeks a search party found them in the Gibson desert, near starvation. They agreed to come into Wiluna, although still feared punishment, but the elders had forgiven them. Both died in Wiluna in 1979 and their deaths marked the end of a tribal lifestyle that stretches back over 40,000 years. To me, this is a true love story as well as an amazing survival story.
The town of Leonora was a pleasant surprise. We got very helpful information from the Visitor Center, good grocery selections and a bonus Indian dinner (twice). The big attraction is Gwalia, a living ghost town and museum, on the edge of a working open cut gold mine 3 kms from Leonora.
This was the open cut gold mine, incongruously placed right beside Hoover House which Herbert Hoover designed and had built in when he was a 24 year old mining engineer working as the mine manager. He went on to become the 31st President of the USA. It is now a luxury B&B and we could have slept in Hoover’s bed for $190/night.This chart outlines the history of the gold mine. Gold was discovered in 1896 in the ‘Sons of Gwalia’ reef by Welsh miners. Gwalia is one of the Welsh poetic names for Wales. 500 men were employed at the mine in 1899.In addition to having coffee in Hoover House, looking in all the rooms there, we had a good look around the museum, which largely consisted of lots of old mining equipment, Dick is looking at the steam winder and the headframe.However he got really excited when he saw this little beauty. Its a lathe for cutting metal into particular shapes AND Dick worked on one very similar to this when he was 15 and working in his father’s business.The living ghost town of Gwalia has been lovingly restored by countless volunteers over the years, and funded by various government heritage grants. 15-20 people still live there. We had a quick look around just before dark.We’d heard about statutes at Lake Ballard so decided to check it out, as it was almost on the way. Had no idea of the scale of this exhibition called Inside Australia’ by Anthony Gormley, an internationally renowned artist from the UK. The exhibition of 51 statutes was commissioned to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Perth International Arts Festival in 2003.
The 51 statutes are based on body scans of inhabitants of the small town of Menzies. Each statute is based on a digital scan of the naked body in three dimensions. Then the body volume is reduced by 2/3’s but the height remains the same. The result is called an ‘insider’.It was fun visiting with all the statutes and we did refrain from any disrespectful touching!We had two sessions walking on the salt lake checking out the statutes; one afternoon and one morning. As you can see here, it was a muddy walk due to recent rain. It would have been nice if the salt lake was in its normal dry state, presenting the statutes against a white background, but we still enjoyed the experience.This little guy was kind of cute. We have been told that many of the inhabitants are able to recognise their own statute.This shows the size and the hill in the background. We thought many of the statutes looked similar but the artist maintains each ‘Insider’ is unique and each reveals the passage of that person’s life.Dick was very happy when he got to the top of that hill, and we enjoyed the views!This sunset photo starts to give the sense of what the artist was getting at when he said the salt lake was ‘absolutely magic’ and the figures are ‘markers in a vast space’. It is quite amazing to see such an exhibition in this remote location. We managed to see 27 of the 51 statutes and walked about 9kms in the process.We camped at The Terraces, a 75 km long line of breakaways near Leonora. This is land where the hard top remains and forms a mesa but erosion of the softer rock and soil forms a steep ‘breakaway’. Quite a common landform in Aus.Of course we climbed up the breakaway and had a look around. In these photos Dick is taking me on the top of the breakaway and I took one of him down at the road. After this we start out on the Great Central Road.
The next part of our journey was to Cape Leveque/Dampier Peninsula from Broome, as shown on this map.
Broome, for the first stop, was a catch up / stock up time – work on the blog, laundry, phone calls, fix the water pump in Belle and lots of shopping (apart from groceries and beer, they have a very nice swimsuit and dress shop, and of course a Bunnings!). Then off to Cape Leveque.
Our three stays at Cape Leveque basically featured beach walks, amazing sunrises and sunsets, plus lots and lots of wind. These pictures tell the story (apart from the wind).
PENDER BAY ESCAPE
Campsite on the point between two beaches – sunrise shot at Pender Bay Escape.Sunrise reflected on the cliffs.Enjoying the beachside cliffs and caves.Quite fun just exploring a beautiful beach which we had to ourselves.Returning home after a beach walk.Couldn’t resist a kiss at the loveheart rock.
MIDDLE LAGOON
Middle Lagoon was more like a regular campground, ideally situated on two beaches; one for the fishermen and one for swimmers.Daytime at the swimming beach.I enjoyed a couple of swims at this good beach (except for the sandflies that appeared at 4pm). While I was swanning around on the beach, Dick was helping the guy that managed the place with some computer issues. We noticed his sign saying ‘Computer Geek Wanted’, so Dick offered to see what he could do. In the end (ie after about 3 hours over two days), Dick successfully resolved the problems. The guy was very grateful and offered to pay but Dick said just help out the next person who needs help.Vicki and Neil (friends from Sydney) were in the area so joined us for coffee at the cafe at Middle Lagoon. As he sat down Dick broke a table vase with a plastic plant. A bit later the cafe manager came over and asked if Dick could have a look at their computer, to make up for breaking that vase! They had some issues that Dick managed to help them with quite quickly. For that he was given an ice cream, which he happily accepted. I realised that we needed to leave or Dick might have a new volunteer job at Middle Lagoon.
Sunset at Middle Lagoon.
KOOLJAMAN CAPE LEVEQUE WILDERNESS CAMP
When we checked in here, Dick asked if we could get a beachfront shelter camp (normally booked out months in advance) and to our surprise we got one for one night and its the same one we had five years ago. The ownership has changed and the Native Title land is now owned and managed by the Bardi Jawi, two aboriginal communities. That is the aboriginal flag in pride of place at the entrance.Our beach shelter camp right on the Eastern Beach, complete with shower, table and bench, fire pit and fire wood.They brought us fire wood – what else could we do!!!Sunset views – a beautiful sky in one direction and last light on the beach with the campfire in the other direction.The next day we moved to a regular campsite on the cliff near the office and overlooking the Western Beach.The indigenous communities have developed the facility in line with the communities’ aspirations and their inherent knowledge of the land. I took this photo to illustrate some of the changes that are now operational; lots of restrictions on where we can go. In this case, areas we could previously drive to are now only accessed by walking. This reflects the Aboriginal values of caring for land and country.The owners promote the natural wonders, wildlife, marine life and coastline as part of what makes this a unique experience. Here is a prime example. On a rather dull day, we waited for sunset and saw a stunning display, just two minutes after the top photo was taken.They also offer cultural tours and want to be respected as custodians of this country.It was truly magical to see the cliffs light up like this.A fitting sunset photo to end the Cape Leveque experience. Although we did not participate in any of the cultural experiences, we did appreciate being in such a special environment and we respect the indigenous owners’ approach to managing their land. Their willingness to share their country and culture with others outweighs any objections to how they decide to manage it, and potentially their less sophisticated management skills in doing that.
The second stop in Broome was another catch up time, with loads of errands and repair jobs to do in addition to the regular shopping and laundry BUT this time we added some treats for us
Dinner out at the Sydney Cove Oyster Bar which has relocated to Broome.Such a treat to indulge in two fine dining restaurants, for the first time since Sydney.AND, I didn’t want to be in Broome and not see the famous Cable Beach at sunset. As you can see here, it looks like a car park and apparently there are traffic jams as everyone tries to leave at the same time. We saw enough so didn’t need to wait until sunset, especially after all the wonderful beaches we had just visited.
So glad we revisited this beautiful part of Australia. It was interesting to see how aboriginal land rights are being practically implemented. That said we were only able to visit commercial operations and could not visit any aboriginal communities, due to covid restrictions. $50,000 fines were advertised if one took the wrong road and ended up in communities, so there was a big incentive to follow the rules. From here on we start heading south, and basically say ‘goodbye’ to the hot weather.
