The 2nd Gracetown visit with the Weimann's

 

Karijini 2020 Trip - WA at it's "Gorgeous" best

Well, I will start by saying that no photo or video can do this part of the Pilbara justice. It just can't. When you physically stand in these gorges the sense of awe is palpable, and leaves you with no doubt about the immense power behind it's creation.

Wow! We made it to the famed Pilbara. Betty the faithful Trailblazer looks on...

A (very) common sight up North; 4-Trailer Road Trains. Not so bad on the tarmac, but man can they be daunting when they approach at 80km/h on a dusty outback road (which is also very common). My advice; just pull over and let it pass.

Sadly, this is something else you will see North of Cue/Mt Magnet. Lots of Wedge Tail eagles killed while eating dead Roo's (or similar) on the road.

..and this was a small, juvenile bird...

A large dump truck parked at the Southern entrance to Newman. Very impressive!

 

Joffre Falls

Knox Gorge

Joffre Gorge Lookout

Handrail Pool

The Holland Track - 47 Years in the making...

So, it took a while to get to grips with the truck, with all the little technical bits and need-to-know info to give us (Eugene and I) a good shot at a solo 4WD bush track.

Karin and the rest of the family very graciously let us go on this (to us) epic 3 day expedition into the WA Bush, into some real, scary and exciting isolation from the rest of the world.

We took the safe option (called "chicken tracks") most of the time, simply as it was our first solo run and the truck is still not there yet. The truck is quite low to the ground and on highway (road) tyres = very high puncture risk.

As usual, here are some photos.

We chose to start the track at the Hyden end, heading North East to Coolgardie.
Eugene and I've never been to Wave Rock, so just had to take the obligatory tourist snap.

Hippo's Yawn, also at Wave Rock.

Starting the track at about 3pm on Friday, 27 Sept. Kudos to the Landcruiser Club boys; we salute you.

...just follow these. Actually, you will need some sort of VMS/HEMA. We chose to use an App called Terra Maps.
I bought the $13 Pro version, and it worked a treat. So much so that I will not get a HEMA or VMS. It worked flawlessly.

Camp Day 1 - Somewhere near Wattle Rocks (-32.27584, 119.58129).
Eugene has a fly net on; you'll need one...until the sun sets anyway, then you're sweet.

Brekkie Day 2 - Bacon, Eggs, Cheese and some TipTop bread. What more does a man need?
(Coffee probably).

I don't like posting pics of myself, but Geno took a good shot here ;-)

End of Day 2. We decided to not camp among the crowds at Thursday Rock (what's the point of the trip?!).
Setting up camp is thirsty work. A special snap, sharing a beer. (-31.54272, 120.61993)

It is very dry out in the bush. We took great care with camp fires.
Dig a hole and keep the fire small. We only had 3-5 stick tips in the fire at a time, and smothered it with sand when done.

Camp Day 2 - About 2km West of Thursday Rock.
(Yes, there are more than 5 sticks there, but we'd just lit it with finer kindling).

4:30 am on Day 3 - Getting some warmth going while the kettle was on the gas stove.

We hit the road at about 6:45 am and arrived at the Caltex in Coolgardie around 9am. Filled up with Diesel (only used half a tank for the entire trip; bush average was 13km/h) and hit the road home. Was it good? Yep; God willing we'll be back next September it was that good! 

Manne Kerk Kamp op Frank se plaas - 2018

Frank, baie dankie vir die gebruik van jou plaas, dit was awesome. Nicky, dankie vir die organise en Jaques D, Jaques se Broer, Bul en Alex, dankie vir die skiet reel. Bo alles, dankie aan ons Vader; U is so goed vir ons, baie, baie dankie.