Week 16 – Gorges, Rocks and a Dust Storm

Carnarvon…we were told to just stock up and leave, nothing to see or do in Carnarvon. Well the initial intro at the caravan park was a bit unfriendly. But the three days we initially spent here were so interesting. The locals are so friendly and went out of their way to help us and the Carnarvon Space and Technology Museum was a hit with the kids both big and small. We were pretty happy to stay, stock up, reorganise and prepare for our inland adventures to Kennedy Range National Park and Mt Augustus.

We headed out of Carnarvon and turned east towards Gascoyne Junction. An interesting place, although it seemed a bit sterile for an inland town. But as we learned most of the buildings were new as the old ones were washed away in floods. Turning left we drove off the black top and onto the red dirt roads we had been expecting. It was a fair distance to the campground at Kennedy Range National Park; actually it felt like we drove the whole way around the park. Driving into a beautiful coloured gorge area with a lovely camping area was definitely the reward. Naturally we sought out Macs tracks that had arrived a couple of days earlier to get the low down and for the kids to say hi.

The walks and the gorges in this national Park are beautiful, full of natural rock formations, colours, animals and reptiles and both easy and challenging walks. Needless to say that we all loved the place.

We were also lucky to meet some new travellers, who were also heading out to Mt Augustus. Jim, Suzie and their Dutch friends Robert and Petra were lovely people, inviting us to join them for a campfire and drinks. The kids were more than happy to help Jim with setting up the fire, asking Robert and Petra about the Netherlands and curling up on Suzie’s lap in front of the fire. We even stayed an extra night as we were having fun and the fact that there was actual green grass for the kids to play on. Lily used the time wisely to learn how to do handstands!

Mt Augustus is worth the visit. The rock itself is pretty cool, whether or not it is actually the world’s largest rock or the biggest monocline or inselberg in Australia is immaterial, it is an impressive lump of rock. In addition to the geological features, there are some amazing aboriginal petroglyphs. Whilst there was no real interpretation on the symbolism of the art, they were amazing and located in the most interesting places, including under a large rock in the middle of a watercourse. Next time we might even be able to try to walk the summit trail!

We took a slightly different route back to Gascoyne Junction to follow some more of the Kingsford Smith Mail run. This route had some great points of interest, including a section of cobbled road, limestone fossils and quite a few dry river crossings. Would have been a hard mail run!

Arriving back in Carnarvon was a bit of a home coming, even if we changed caravan parks! The new caravan park tucked us away in a protected corner near the playground. Although being near the playground is not always the best, this time it was a blessing as the area copped a fair storm creating a huge amount of dust until the rain came to dampen it down. We heard that this was the first proper rain they had in over 2 years! Before the storm hit we managed to get out to see Point Quobba Blowholes and the iconic ‘King Waves Kill’ sign.  Then it was time to clean out some red dust from the camper and pack up for the next big adventure at Ningaloo Station!