Tuesday 16th August 2023 to Wednesday 17th August 2023
After two days in Dales Campground in Karijini National Park we were happy to leave and forfeit the last two days of our booking in order to get away from the dust and head to the coast and see more of WA.
First stop Tom Price. Shopping, more fuel, washing, then overnight at the caravan park. Friends had advised us of the most direct route to Karratha was via Rio Tinto’s rail access road that follows their rail line from Tom Price to their loading facility in the port of Dampier. A private road that can only be used with a permit. After watching a 20 minute safety video we were good to go.
The rail access road was unsealed, but in good condition. The speed limit was 80 kph, and with tyres down a little, we had a good ride, with great views of numerous ore trains, full heading north and empty heading south.
After leaving the access road we found a turnoff to Python Pool. It looked great in the travel brochure, so we headed there. Spectacular scenery along the way, but a horrendous road. The worst one so far this trip. The pool, whilst nice, really wasn’t worth the jarring drive. Despite having lowered the tyres to use the rail access road, we had to drop them more to travel on the road to the pool. The side trip and fiddling with the tyres got us into Karratha just 15 minutes before the van park office closed. A quick set-up and we were off again to Dampier, 18 km away, with wine and nibbles to enjoy the sunset before heading back to camp for just one night in Karratha.
More Ore Having spent so much time working out of the Dampier area it was a bit nostalgic to see the red terrain again
Cheers guys