Marble Bar

Wednesday 22nd May - Thursday 23rd May 2013

After being told by many a traveller that the Marble Bar pub was well worth a visit we decided we should put this place on our itinerary.  Marble Bar is also well known for it's extremely hot weather and set a world record of most consecutive days of  37.8 °C or above for 160 days from 31 October 1923 to 7 April 1924. Due to Craig's interest in weather we also thought that this was  a good reason to visit.  We took a very scenic dirt track to Marble bar with many abandoned mines along the way and spectacular scenery of red mountain ranges and mounds of rock.  We stopped a few times to take in the scenery and snap a few shots.  We did not pass a single vehicle for the whole 150kms!
 

 

 We arrived at Marble Bar and had lunch at the pub where we met a couple of locals who were very inviting and happy to welcome visitors. The vibe was good so we set up at the local van park and walked back to the pub, which was only around the corner.  Kai enjoyed playing music on the juke box, Lachlan practiced his handstands inside the pub and Adam had a go at darts.  We chatted to a few locals (including the photo bomber below) and the local doctor.  Another told us the quickest way to get to Eighty Mile Beach. It was a lot more scenic than the 'blue road' through Port Headland and would cut off about 200km's of driving.   Interestingly the pub's chef was from Thailand and we were told that the Thai dishes were a specialty around these parts and we had to try them.  Craig had the Thai green chicken curry for dinner and thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

 

 

 

 

Tom Price and Karijini National Park

Wednesday 15 May 2013 - Wednesday 22 May 2013

After Exmouth we were going to meet the Rippons at Cape Range.  After waking to a very rainy day and checking out the camping websites of Cape Range, to find that all the camping areas were full, we decided to head inland to enjoy some different scenery and definitely some less windy weather.

We drove to Tom Price, which is WA's highest town located 747 m above sea level. We met Bill, Sal and Bridget for lunch in the local shopping square and that night the boys met some new friends in the van park, Kai and his brother Finn. The next morning we met Kai and Finns parents, Steve and Lotcha and they invited us over for a cappucino.  Both families took a drive up the four wheel drive track of  Mount Nameless and enjoyed the view of the town and mines below.

At the top of Mt Nameless 

 
When we arrived at Karijini we visited the camp hosts who allocated us a spot in Kangaroo loop, they also gave the kids ranger activity books to complete so they could earn their junior ranger badge. When we got to our spot we recognised our neighbours van which belonged to Nathan and Steph, who we had met at a rest stop on the way to Tom Price.  That afternoon we took a walk to Circular Pool.  The walk was rated as a class 5 walk, which meant that some parts were very steep and rugged, and the boys coped extremely well. On the way we encountered many lizards which were basking in the afternoon sun. When we arrived at Circular pool we all enjoyed a very refreshing swim.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Circular Pool

 

The next day Adam’s mate Ryan and his family arrived in Kangaroo loop and set up camp across from us.  We also caught up with Sal, Bill and Bridget again who were camped not too far from us.  We took a walk with Bridget to Fortescue Falls where  the kids had great fun sliding down the slippery slopes into the water.  That night we had a BBQ with Ryan and his family.

 

The kids checking out their walk from the top of the gorge

 



 

Sliding down the slopes of Fortescue

 



The next day the Rippons arrived and we took a walk along the bottom of the Gorge starting at Circular Pool through to  Fortescue falls  and ending up at Fern Pool.  The track along the gorge was a lovely shaded walk and we had a swim at all the stops along the way. 

 

The pool at the bottom of Fortescue falls

 

We took a drive out to Joffre Falls before attempting a very challenging walk to Handrail Pool.  Part of the walk required us all to swim a water crossing that was too deep to walk.  My kids were amazing and swam across with dad, whereas I attempted to scale the rock wall without falling in.  It would have been alot easier to swim but I am not a big fan of swimming in water where I cannot see what is below me.  We then had to scale a steep hand rail down the side of the waterfall to get to the pool.  Adam, Kai and Craig even went a little further and swam in the dark cave at the end of the walk.

As a few other families including Richard and Rachel and Steve and Lotcha were also camping at Karijini we all had a big group BBQ. We all brought along our meat and communal salads and had a wonderful time sharing our travelling stories.  When we left Karijini the kids become honorary Karijini junior rangers.

 

 

 

The kids table