Telstra: Better Coverage in More Places

That's what Telstra advertises, isn't it? Better coverage in more places.

This is me getting reception so I can use my phone as a modem for my laptop. Yup. My phone is dangling from the gas light pole above my head.

Tomorrow we return to Broome for a quick supermarket re-stock before starting out on the Gibb River Road. Although the road can be traversed in two days, we met people today who had done that, it is better to spend a little time to see the sights. There is little to be seen from the road, most of the good stuff like the gorges and swimming holes are located a little way off the road. Four wheel drive country (and yes still Croc Country). We are planning ten days to two weeks, including a trip up to Mitchell Plateau and Mitchell Falls, said to be the most spectacular falls in Australia. This is also a period of no mobile reception, so no phone or email access.

Welcome to Croc Country

"You can swim at the beach," said our campground host, "no crocs here." Ok, cool. But there are stories of salties swimming past in the sea beside the beaches. Harmless enough, moving from one creek to another. Just last week, Cable Beach at Broome was cleared after a croc sighting.

Dampier Peninsula, north of Broome

Beach swimming, maybe it is over now, I thought. North of Broome is Croc Country: beware the Saltie. The signs at the start of the Cape Leveque, Dampier Peninsula road confirmed it. At our first campsite though, "You can swim at the beach," said our campground host, "no crocs here." Just as well, Middle Lagoon was a spectacular beach. Three beaches, a small lagoon in the middle. Good snorkelling, swimming, beach chilling, the beaches interspersed with rocky reefs and cliffs. As the sun set, the yellow rock in the cliff face turned the brightest orange.

In Broome I met a German backpacker, Beni, who I had met online earlier in the week. He would be sharing the ride with me up to Cape Leveque, along the Gibb River Road and onto Darwin. A keen photographer and fisherman he has made good company. On the second night on Dampier Peninsula we brainstormed how he could watch or listen to the Germany vs Ghana football match for the World Cup. No tv here, but we had phone service. From this we could determine it would be also be broadcast on SBS radio from Broome, but alas, no reception. He could have listened to streaming radio on my iPhone, but it is my last day of the billing cycle and my data allocation was almost all used up. The final solution? Someone from home in Germany phoned his mobile and set the phone by a radio which was broadcasting the game. It didn't work too well, so in the end he got a running commentary from a cousin who was watching it live on tv.

This peninsula, a little strange. Entry is by permit, it is Aboriginal land. The road from Broome to the start of the Lands, about 100km, is a rough 4WD road. In the Lands though, the 100km main road to Cape Leveque is bitumen. Figure that one out. Tracks to many campsites though are still 4WD. I think in 10-20 years though this could be a very different place. It is not so hard to seal the gap between Broome and the Lands, seal a couple of side tracks and suddenly the place is 2WD accessible. Could change the whole vibe I think.

There are many Aboriginal communities here, offering various tours and accommodation options. Kooljaman is downright resort-like (too high-brow for us), visitors flying in and out, most others though quite basic and affordable camping or beach huts. Lots of entry fees, albeit small, to enter communities.



A trip to the peninsula couldn't be complete without a visit to James Price Point, the proposed site of the Kimberley gas plant processing offshore gas. Quite a controversial proposal, the WA Govt has been spruking the wonderful benefits to the local Aboriginal community - improved healthcare and education - apparently something not every Australian is automatically entitled to. Some local Aboriginal people though claim to have not been consulted in the deal, and are launching legal challenges. The development threatens the habitat at the point, said to be a unique habitat for turtles. Even while we were there, we could see a boat conducting seabed surveys - this I was reliably informed of by a gas plant worker from Darwin.

Driving to Broome

Port Hedland is an ugly bastard - a convergence of huge power lines, mining railways, roads, gas pipelines, mixed in with industrial processing plants and slag heaps. All covered in a coat of thin red dust.

Driving from Port Hedland to Broome

I've met four people who say Pt Hedland is: a dump; a dive; a shit hole. It's uglier than Port Augusta which at least benefits from some history and a scenic backdrop. Pt Hedland is isolated, bloody ugly and coated with red dust.


Stop for a scenic photo of Pt Hedland's power lines, railway lines, industrial facilities or it's slag heaps? Anyone?


Eighty Mile Beach, on the other hand, is a welcome respite

Mt Meharry - WA's highest peak

Mt Meharry is a relatively recent newcomer to the State 8 - the highest peak in each of Australia's states and territories. Mt Bruce was discovered by Europeans in 1861. Over a hundred years later, in 1967, detailed surveys were done of the area. A surveyor discovered a strange anomaly, 20 kilometres south east of Mt Bruce, the tallest mountain in Western Australia, lay an unnamed somewhat indistinct mountain which was 13 metres taller.

Mt Meharry, Karijini National Park

I have set myself the goal of climbing the State 8, although in no particular rush or timeline. So far the only peak I have climbed is Mt Ossa in Tasmania. South Australia's Mt Woodrooffe could arguably be the most logistically difficult, as I need to be Very Best Friends with Vicki, who in turn needs to be Very Best Friends with someone working in Ernabella, or that person being Very Best Friends with someone working there, and that person being Very Best Friends with a local, who is Very Best Friends with an elder. It quite isolated, some 300 kilometres off the bitumen road in a remote Aboriginal community in the state's north, near the border of the Northern Territory. From Uluru one can see Mt Woodroofe.



Mt Meharry is a strange one to access. Although in Karijini National Park, it can only be accessed from roads outside the park. I had read some magazine articles and online forums, it seemed an easy enough climb. Access was via some dirt roads off the Great Northern Highway. As a matter of courtesy, I asked at the national park visitor centre for the best way to access the peak. Contact the nearby pastoral station, they said, as you will need to cross their property. Armed with their phone number, but with limited phone reception, I managed to get their answering machine. At my chosen campsite, a rest area off the Great Northern Highway, I overhead some other campers talking about Mt Meharry. I sidled over to question them. They had already been up there today, having driven their 4WDs to the very top. They had asked no permission, they had followed the trip notes in a 4WD magazine. Having copied some of the details down, I could rest easy confident I was still able to do the climb the following day.

The road leading off the Great Northern Highway is a public road, but it is gated. There are no signs indicating Mt Meharry lies down this road. Hidden in the dry grass is a discarded sign stating that the road was only for access to the pastoral station, yet a sign beyond the gate had been erected by the local council warning of the road's poor condition. Deflating my tyres for dirt road driving, a mine worker pulled up. Yep, no worries, just don't get caught beyond the railway line. Rio Tinto's land, my advice, just don't get caught there.

Some 16 kilometres down this well made dirt road, shared by road trains and mine workers, is a simple sign indicating the track to Mt Meharry, to be tackled by 4WDs only. Carefully following the trip notes I had copied the previous night from the magazine, I proceeded down a series of roads. All 4WD but pretty easy going. I had no intention of driving to the summit, I am a bushwalker, not a four wheel driver. I drove to the base of the mountain, perhaps some two kilometres closer than what a 2WD vehicle could brave. I climbed the steep 4WD track, a 380 metre ascent, but an easy one. 45 minutes to the peak, a cairn marking the summit. Littered with trophies so easily brought here by 4WD, and a logbook buried in the stone cairn. Not much mention of people walking up here, but it was a lovely walk. The 4WD track immediately after the plain gets nasty quick, perhaps only negotiable by raised 4WDs.

Download Google Earth KML file

Download kml file to view in Google Earth or adapt to use as a navigational aid in a GPS unit

Karijini National Park

Jaw dropping. Gob smacking. This park is simply stunning: it's deep gorges, it's cool permanent swimming holes, it's coloured shaped rock.

Karijini National Park

My introduction to Karijini National Park was Hammersley Gorge. "Going to a swim at the bottom, " asked a woman in the car park as I was getting ready for the short hike. Oh my goodness yes I am! The pools are refreshingly cool in the heat of the day, nestled in a gorge lined with the most beautiful rock.

The park really is a series of jaw dropping, gob smacking moments as one sets eyes on each gorge or it's cool swimming hole. Deep gorges, maybe over a hundred metres deep. The day I hiked up Mt Meharry, I was able to come into the park in the afternoon and have not one but two gorgeous swims in pools, each at opposite ends of a gorge. A short half hour walk along the gorge between them. A peak climb, a gorge walk and refreshingly cool swims! The best day ever!

Cape Rain

Cape Rain National Park, oops, sorry, my mistake, Cape Range National Park, is spectacular. The rains fell endlessly. The range meets the reef in the rain.

Cape Range National Park

A sign at the Visitor Centre in Exmouth announced that all campsites in the national park were full for the night. How did they know that when you cant book campsites? I drove out to the park anyway, keen to see the sights, albeit in rain. At the entrance station I was told there were a couple of sites at one of the camp grounds, so I hurried set out to check the situation. Sure enough, there was one free. Delighted with my find, I busied myself setting up the tent. A thought passed through my head, Robin Ide wouldn't set up tent here, this is a shit camp site. Most of the site is rocky, the sandy bit is the lowest part - it will fill with water. Nah, she'll be right, I'm so pleased I can camp in the national park!

I ventured off into the wider park, doing some hikes in the rain and exploring some beaches. Returning to the campsite at dusk, I found the tent in a large pool of water. Oops. Lucky it was an empty tent. I moved it to higher ground, but immediately realised this would be no better, if the rain continued, this too would fill with water. Almost instantly after that thought, heavy rain fell again. Sitting in the car, I realised I would be spending a second night trapped in my car, although I could sleep in it's dryness and comfort.

The following morning, my tent and car were in a large pool of water. Much of the camp ground was in water. Mmm.



During a small break in the rain I managed to swim out into the warm ocean waters and view the fish of Ningaloo Reef.

When I had driven towards the peninsula town of Exmouth, I had wondered if this was a wise move. With all this rain the roads could close and I could be stuck out here. Driving back from the national park and Exmouth there was standing water everywhere. Rivers and creeks had flooded, water covered much of the road in many places, and sometimes the road was more of a causeway across an lake.

Poor Timing

It was time for a rest up, restock, a visit to a local doctor, and a car service. Why, oh why, do I always seem to arrive in towns on the weekend and not a weekday?

Carnarvon

I stayed two nights in the caravan park, a rarity for me, a double night. Caravan parks are too much money. Regardless, I had things to do in town. It was here in the caravan park that I met the Dodgy Van People - Sarah and Mike. Having just emigrated to Australia from the UK (and Mike formerly the Netherlands) they were travelling around a bit before Sarah commenced her Perth job. Dodgy van? Yeah, they had lots of trouble starting it each morning, and no shortage of advice from other campers at the caravan park.

Carnarvon itself, an oasis in a desert thanks to the Gascoyne River, isn't much special. A jetty you need to pay to walk along, shit beaches and some overpriced rotten food (this from the alleged fruit & vegie food bowl of the state). The Gascoyne River is a dry riverbed, but the river flows deep below the sand. Lots of water is pumped out and used to irrigate the many market gardens in the region.