Trip to Karijini and Coral Bay

We packed up the 4wd and headed off towards Perth in two minds - our son had to be taken by ambulance to hospital with severe back pain.  He has an extremely high pain threshold so we knew it was bad!  We kept driving, making his mate promise to phone us if we needed to turn back.  By the end of the day he was pain free thanks to drugs!  Our other son was also having a traumatic day (it's a twin thing!) so we made sure we were in phone range when we camped out the first night near Mt Magnet, having driven around 730 kms.


Next day we were up and off fairly early.  I was looking forward to visiting Meekatharra and Cue, towns I'd heard a lot about but hadn't seen.  We stopped at the co-op in Cue where we stocked up on fruit and veg and had a fabulous cup of coffee :)  Cue's main street is full of old buildings.  Unfortunately I left my camera in the car and was too lazy to go and get it - it was packed under heaps of gear (that's my excuse anyway)!


Onwards to find another suitable campsite.  We camped out near Kumarina.  By now I had my camera out.

Next day we headed towards Newman.  Driving the less popular inland highway, there really wasn't a lot of traffic and we could just sit back and enjoy the scenery.  We were in Newman by mid morning, and after picking up a few more groceries, enjoyed a coffee and a read of the newspaper in a little cafe.  Next was a quick visit to the Visitor Centre then lunch on a hill overlooking the town.

I just love the red dirt and the spinifex (even if it is prickly stuff).


Now it was time to drive to Karijini.  We wanted to arrive well before dark to get a good campsite as the park is very popular at this time of year.  The drive between Newman and the park entrance is very scenic, lovely hills, more spinifex and red dirt and then add in the white snappy gums and I'm in heaven :)

 We had decided earlier to climb to the top of WA's highest peak - Mt Meharry.  When I say climb, I mean in the 4WD!  It took a lot of grunt to get to the top but we were rewarded with beautiful views.

 Survey Mark

 Evidence that the vehicle made it!  There is this cairn at the top, and a bbq plate for an impromptu meal :)

 We are standing so far apart from each other it looks like we've had an argument, but we were actually just hoping that we had set up the timer on the camera correctly!

 The track to the top

The daylight began to fade and the colours became softer....

 There was a real glow in the air....a lovely soft light for photography!

 Next morning and we headed along the track towards the gorges of Karijini...

Mulla Mulla, a common plant in the Pilbara

I'll share gorges images tomorrow :)