27 April 2013 - Tom Price Tourist Park, Tom Price, Pilbara, Western Australia

I was woken by the roar of road trains pulling out of the roadhouse yard and the screaming of a delinquent child from across the camp. School holidays are well underway here although I think the family in question is travelling before such matters become important. The diesel generator had continued to whir all night but had been more a lullaby than a disturbance. Peering through the venetian blinds, I could see mist lying across the camp but no raindrops on the window; altogether a much brighter outlook than the previous evening.

We were anxious to be away promptly because we wanted to catch the Information Centre in Tom Price, one hundred and seventy kilometres away, before it closed at midday. Having remained hitched up, our preparations took only a short time and soon we were off, out through the dirty rust red yard and on to the bitumen heading south toward Newman.

It was soon evident that we had crossed the Fortescue River yesterday and so we can only surmise that the river runs through culverts when there is water to do so; we had crossed no bridge at all.

The East Munjina Gorge

The road rose gently from the floodplain and up through the East Munjina Gorge, the scenery stunning and the road well engineered. Reaching the top, we pulled into the Albert Tognolini Rest Area from where we had stupendous views back down the gorge and across the beautiful landscape. A couple of tenting parties were breakfasting as we arrived; the camp is listed in Camps 6 as an overnight spot, yet there are no toilets or water and those who had taken advantage of this wonderful spot last night were the very ones who should not have. The ground does not easily yield to a simple digging stick and the rubbish bins were already full. Perhaps calling in early in the season was preferable to calling in a month or two?

Thirty four kilometres from Munjina, we turned westwards into Karijini Drive, a relatively new sealed road through the Karijini National Park to Tom Price. The road is about seventy five kilometres long and climbs through the spectacular Hamersley Ranges at elevations between 700 and 800 metres ASL, but apart from one steep section, straight up and straight down in true Australian fashion, the inclines are gradual.

Closing in on Tom Price, we passed the second highest peak in Western Australia, Mt Bruce which reaches an elevation of 1,235 metres ASL. This stands strikingly above geological wonders, strata striped in varying shades of red and purple, pale cream spinifix in the foreground and mauve lupine-like flowers along the roadside.

We crossed a wide basin weaning us of the spectacular scenery before reaching the highest town in Western Australia, purpose built in about 1966 after Tom Price and Lang Hancock flew over the area and decided that it was a treasure trove of iron ore. (Interestingly Tom Price died just days after that historic flight so never knew the upheaval he spawned.)

Today the town of Tom Price has a population of 6,500 and sells itself as a tourist destination, albeit a quick stopover, where the curious can take a tour of the massive open cast mine and take a tour through the Karijini National Park.

The National Park was established in 1969, soon after the town was, and covers an area of 627,442 hectares making it the second largest national park in Western Australia. The Hamersley and Robe River railway corridor and the Marandoo iron ore mine split the park in half.

You will note that there are several superlatives about the area and finding their way into my blog.

We called into the Visitors Centre and inquired about the mine tours, advertised as running seven days a week, all year. Actually, no, they are not. They currently operate on Saturdays, Mondays and Thursdays and cost $30. The price is acceptable and fortunately we intend to be here until at least Monday so our names are on the list. The Monday tour will only go ahead if there are at least ten takers; we are numbers five and six, and the Centre is shut until Monday morning. A bit of a lucky dip, I think.

There is one caravan park in the town although there is also an “eco retreat” in the national  park itself. This latter offers camping without power, and all the other normal facilities we would want at about $38 per night for the privilege. Here in Tom Price for several days, we were keen to stay in the town caravan park with full amenities and had checked it out on line. The park has an excellent website, but….. and there is always a but, the price on check in was $42.

If you have been following this blog, you will be saying to yourself, “Oh no, here we go again”, and yes, we do. And today it was Chris who gave the young backpacker at the desk a hard time. Soon the manageress was there, taking it too and no one was prepared to bend. Again we had no option to pay up. We had been thinking we might use Tom Price as a base to explore the Millstream Chichester National Park, but are unlikely to do so now, however, watch this space.

Some time ago, we had discussed the need to be watered and comfortable before checking in and setting up camp, but had not headed our own advice today. We had had nothing to drink since breakfast and although the temperatures have not been too much over 30 degrees all day, we were not in a good headspace to be dealing with price discrepancies on check in. Will we ever learn?

Views from Mt Nameless

After lunch we drove into the town centre and bought a couple of items from the hardware store and the supermarket before setting out for the summit of Mt Nameless, just four kilometres from the centre. This can be reached by 4WD vehicles only and offers superb views over the town, the mine and the surrounding country. The mountain stands at 1,128 metres ASL and is the highest mountain in Western Australia with vehicle access.

We crawled up the very rough track in low ratio, the roughest continuous track we have ever travelled. We have crossed river beds and washouts equally rough, but never two or three kilometres without relief. While we were at the top enjoying the stupendous views and taking masses of photos, four others joined us and I was quite anxious about the return drive, since the useable part of the  track is narrow, however we only met one other and they courteously let us through.

Back at camp we tried out the swimming pool, somewhat cooler than those we have enjoyed over the past month or so, and then settled in for the rest of the afternoon, enjoying the galahs, honeyeaters and other birds all about.