48 WHAT TRADIES WANT.Next was a stop at 40-Mile or Gnoorea
Point, another popular long-term camping
spot about 55km south of Karratha. Again
there’s an industrial complex – a gas plant
- you pass just as you turn off the highway,
but you can get fresh water there from a tap,
which happens to be the closest good water
to 40-Mile. Camps are generally spread out
along the coast south of a reasonable boat
ramp and like many places on the west coast
you need a chemical toilet (a Porta-Potti is fine)
to camp.
ROCK ON
Our stay at 40-Mile wasn’t long. We headed
north, stopping a few days in Karratha to
stock up and experience the local attractions
of the historic port of Cossack and the
Burrup Peninsula.
Now, the Burrup is home to one of the
greatest industrial developments in Australia,
but it’s also the location of Australia’s –
some say the world’s – largest collection of
petroglyphs or Aboriginal rock engravings
dating back probably 20,000 years or more.
It also has a couple of cracker beaches, all of
which are accessible with a 4WD.
Deep Gorge, with its ancient art sites, is
easily reached and with a bit of walking many
petroglyphs will be found there. A little further
on is Hearson’s Cove, a sweep of beach best
appreciated at high tide. A rougher 4WD
track heads further out past the gigantic
gas processing plant and flaring towers and
skirts along the short beach of Withnell Cove
before getting to a thin line of mangroves,
a normally shallow water crossing and a
challenging climb up a rocky jump-up. This
track continues to the shores of Searipple
Passage at the end of the Peninsula, but you
have to be keen and have a well set-up truck
to tackle the aforementioned rock-strewn
climb. Much of the area is now protected in the
5000ha Murujuga NP, declared in early 2013
and leased back from the traditional owners
of the land.DRY ARGUMENT
Next on our whistle-stop tour of the coast was
Cleaverville, a beachside camping spot about
25km north of Karratha.
This was our favourite spot along this section
of coast and it’s, again, popular with many
long-term campers. Like 40-Mile there’s a
caretaker and a fee payable, but it’s easier to
get a site on your own. You can launch a small
tinnie off the beach at a couple of spots there,
but the rocky coastline along the northern
point, jutting into Port Robinson (with Dixon
Island offshore), can produce fish for the
shore-based angler as well.
With itchy feet we pushed north, stopping at
the famous Whim Creek Hotel, built in 1897
and retaining much of its historic character.This had been closed to the general public
for a few years because of nearby mining
operations, but as of mid 2015 it has been
reopened to the public. Don’t miss it!
From there a track heads west past the old
historic Whim Creek cemetery, with graves
dating back to 1894, to Balla Balla, a copper
mine port back in the 1880s. It seems set to
be one of the newest iron-ore export facilities
on the WA coast – but only if the price of ore
improves, I’m guessing. Still, at the time of our
visit you could camp right on the coast close to
the mangroves and the rough boat ramp, or a
few kilometres inland along Balla Balla Creek
in the vicinity of Coorinjinna Pool. The pools
along the creek weren’t extensive when we
were there, drying under an unrelenting sun,
so don’t expect to get potable water from
them unless you’re really bloody thirsty!POOLED RESOURCES
Cruising north on the highway we wanted to
head for the mouth of the De Grey River and
the old Condon Landing site. Once again
though we were stymied, this time by recent
heavy rain. On phoning the surrounding
property owner we were asked not to use
the tracks as the route cuts across some low-
lying country bordering the coast for quite
some distance.
We turned inland hoping for better luck,
passing the 50 or so vans camped at the48 WHAT TRADIES WANT.Tom Price.HIDDEN GEMS AND COASTAL MAGIC