Monday 12th May 2008
A leisurely pack up this morning since the visitors’ centre at the Woodside North West Shelf Venture didn’t open til 10am. We figured the girls wouldn’t be particularly interested so primed them in advance that we wanted time to have a good look around and they would have to be patient. It sort of worked... up to a certain point they took in info, past that point they were only interested in food and getting out of there.
It was interesting to find out all about oil and gas recovery and how much is exported (mostly to Japan) and the extreme measures they go to in order to achieve it all. The technology is incredible – the old ships carry Liquified Natural Gas (at ridiculously low temperatures) in big tanks on top of the ship but the newest ship carries it below deck in just a membrane?! Is that safe? Of course, there was lots of mention of all the work they do to maintain the natural environment – revegetating land, donating large amounts of money to various causes, the reef that now covers the undersea pipeline etc. but I was also interested to see how much the modern world relies on these fossil fuels.
We then did a detour to find the biggest (or was it oldest?) cache of aboriginal art in Australia. It’s not at all signposted and the only way we found it was following some indistinct instructions from the tourist brochure, and seeing a car parked off in the middle of what seemed nowhere. We left the camper trailer on the side of the big gravel road and took only the Cruiser down the dirt track, not knowing whether either the track was safe or if we’d be able to turn the trailer around.
We consulted a couple who were just leaving to make sure we were in the right place and I confidently led everyone off down a track that looked like it might lead somewhere. Paul and Holly complained bitterly about having the wrong footwear and everyone complained about being hot and not finding anything after ten minutes of walking. Not wanting to miss out in case the art was really good, I pushed on for another ten minutes before finally admitting that I must be wrong (that took a lot of admitting!).
By the time we got back to the car Holly and Katie had completely lost interest so stayed in the car to read their books but Paul and I tried a different direction – up an overgrown creekbed. Paul’s crocs were not helping him and my thongs (flip flops) didn’t protect me from the spiky Spinifex but after some intense scrambling it opened up a bit and we found a gorge with a small creek and almost running water through the middle.
The rocks up the sides did indeed have pictures carved into them and on closer inspection they were definitely of the aboriginal variety. They are supposed to be very old and the gorge is certainly atmospheric. I was slightly suspicious of one of the ‘etchings’ which seemed to depict a hot air balloon but it is possible that a couple of more recent artists have added their work.
On leaving the gorge we found a much easier way back and to our chagrin there were also a couple of signposts. We worked out that the car of the other visitors had been hiding the first of these and since we had parked beyond them we hadn’t been able to see any of the subsequent ones either.
I think the lack of signage from the road is due to a desire to keep it all protected and hidden – it nearly worked for us!
Back on the road we drove out to Roebourne and then onto our first serious dirt road with the trailer. It was an extremely mild version – well maintained, white/light gravel (none of the notorious red dirt, yet) but it was definitely a longer way around than the Access Road that goes alongside the railway.
We drove past Python Pool without stopping even though we knew it would be a pretty place – there’ll be plenty of gorges to see in the next week or so – so that we could make sure we got to Millstream before dark. The drive past Python Pool, up to Mt Herbert and down again is a sealed road – in the middle of a long dirt road in the middle of nowhere! That stretch is pretty spectacular with views over the plains and the surrounding hills covered in spinifex clumps and white trunked gum trees – and the red dirt.
We made it to Millstream National Park and found the Crossing Pool campsite with no trouble. It is a beautiful spot right next to a long, deep pool in the Fortescue River. To Holly’s absolute delight there was a family with two girls already camped there. Almost as soon as we’d got out of the car they were joining these girls in the water (well, Katie was only watching from the edge), paddling in their canoe and becoming best buddies.
Opening up the trailer gave us a nasty surprise – a whole load of red dust had seeped under the rear bed and onto the counter tops. But we were in the bush, what did we expect?! I cleaned it up and thought no more of it (there will be more of it later!!).
We barely saw Holly and Katie as they played with Paige and Cate and Holly got freezing cold in the very cool water! The campsite is well equipped with two drop toilets, a gas bbq and two gas rings, two picnic tables and even a ladder concreted in to reach down the two metres to the water.
There was no wind, clear skies and a very cold evening. We all huddled under our doonas at bedtime.
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