Robb and Sue's Excellent Adventure: Australia Entry 16

Unfortunately, we don't have time right now to document our last travel segment in any detail, but suffice to say we've had yet another great week since leaving Broome. Some pics and brief description will have to do for this time.

After leaving Broome, we had a long drive south to the coast city of Port Hedland where we overnighted in this shipping port that is Oz's largest iron ore shipping port. We saw Port Hedland's version of the Stairway to the Moon, which was actually better than the one we'd seen in Broome the night before. But there was not much more to see here, so we were on our way early the next morning for a long hot drive westward into the Great Sandy Desert to Karijina National Park near the remote mining town of Tom Price, where we stayed for one night. We had an afternoon touring the fabulous gorges (gorgeous gorges as Sue would quip) at Karijini. These red rock canyons are amazing....beautiful layered red and black rock, lovely ghost gums and other trees in their spring greenery, lovely waterfalls and a fabulous swimming hole where we had a cooling dip.

The Fortescue falls in one of the gorges.

Rob near the falls.

The Fern swimming hole near the falls. Beautiful cool clear water for a refreshing plunge to cool off from the 40+ degrees and merciless sun.

A panorama of the gore walls

Another view of the Fortescue Gorge

The second gorge we visited...Dales's Gorge

More of Dal;e's Gorge

This shot shoes the colorful layered rock

The swimming hole at Dale's Gorge....we didn't try this one as it was getting late in the afternoon and we had to get to Tom Price some 60 kms away before nightfall.

Some lovely reflections in the waters of the gorges

A cliff in the last gorge we visited in the park...The Joffre Gorge

Another view of this deep cleft in the terrain

The ghost gums were beautiful

Sunrise at our campground in Tom Price with a couple of early morning visitors to our tent site.

The rising sun turned the surrounding hills to orange.

Another visitor to our tent...a curious gala.

We saw this sign on the road near the Nanaturra Road House, a gas station 300 kms from the nearst town. The sign indicates the Royal Flying Doctor Service uses the highway as a landing strip when needed.

We had another long drive to Exmouth on the tip of a penninsula on the coast. One of the few places you can see the sun rise and set over the ocean. The coast line here is magnificent...the beaches are pristine and the 30 degree water is clear as a bell. The reef borders the coast for miles and snorkeling is great right off shore...beautful coral and spectacular fish.

Robb standng on the shore in Tourquoise Bay

Tourquoise Bay...named for the vibrant water color.

This was one of the bays near the top of the penninusula taken from the lighthouse lookout. We watched humpback whales passing out to sea.

Rob relaxing at one of the many beaches along the coast. We had it all to ourselves.

Another beach. (Do you get the impression I like beach time??)

Beach combing was great fun. We found some of the neatest stuff on these deserted beaches.

We were walking along a beach and rounded a point and came across this fantastic, once-in-a-lifetime sight...two huge greenback turtles mating just by the shore. We were able to approach to within a few feet.