Category Archives: WA

Bell Gorge – Gibb River Road, The Kimberley, Western Australia

Australia, Kimberley, landscape, Landscape, mountains, Plant, river/creeks, trees, WA

One of the iconic destinations on the Gibb River Road in The Kimberley is Bell Gorge. The Doc will let the pictures do the talking. Remember to click on the image to see the full size (the thumbnails are blurry). Enjoy.

Pilbara textures

Australia, bark, desert, Landscape, other, Pilbara, rock, Textures, WA, WA

The trip to The Kimberley also included The Pilbara, where iron ore mining occurs on an industrial scale. At Port Headland, 6 bulk ore carriers are loaded at once (more now as the terminal has expanded) and over 20 ore carriers are moored off the port awaiting their turn. Trains bring the iron ore to the port – trains 495 carriages long!

Port Dampier near Karratha is the other large port. It is not as big as Port Headland but impressive nonetheless.

The Pilbara has amazing textures, heavily influenced by the abundant iron in the rocks. So many things are red, the rocks, the sand, the dust and the visitors. The red is caused by the oxidation of the iron in the rocks. Who said you cannot bend rock?

The Pilbara also had some interesting barks, distinctly different from the Kimberley. Enjoy.

Mornington panoramas and sunsets – The Kimberley

Australia, AWC, Kimberley, Landscape, Mornington, Mornington, mountains, sunset, WA

When The Doc visited Mornington Wilderness Camp he took quite a few panoramas of Sir John Gorge, Fitzroy Bluff and also some sunsets. He has now stitched many of those together. Enjoy (remember to click on thumbnails to see full size.)

Sunsets

Paruna Sanctuary – landscape, flora and wildflowers

Australia, AWC, bark, Landscape, Paruna, Textures, WA, WA, Wildflowers

The Doc hiked at AWC’s Paruna Sanctuary about an hours drive out of Perth. It is one of AWC’s smaller properties.

The Doc walked around Possum Loop, the shortest walk. He took about 3 hours practising macro photos.

After the walk The Doc located Karakamia and then had a pub lunch at Chidlow a nearby town. That night he was booked for a Guided Tour of Karakamia.

Here are landscape photographs around the loop.

Here are a few more flora and wildflower photos. Enjoy. Remember the thumbnails are blurred, click to see the full size image.

 

Australian Wildlife Conservancy Images indexed – huge sigh!!!!!

Australia, AWC, Bowra, Bowra, Charnley River, Charnley River - Artesian Range, Kimberley, Landscape, Mornington, Mornington, Qld, WA

The Doc has finally finished indexing 300,000 odd AWC photographs. The photographs have been sent back to the AWC head office. It will take a week or 2 to copy across the files and get them into the Daminion catalogue. It has been a huge undertaking – The Doc started in late Janaury.

The Doc would love to show you some of the images, but you’ll need to settle for his images, from AWC Sanctuaries. Enjoy.

 

AWC’s Artesian Range – Charnley River Sanctuary

Artesian Range, Australia, AWC, Charnley River, Charnley River - Artesian Range, Kimberley, Landscape, river/creeks, WA

Still thinking about last years trip to the Kimberley. This time Charnley River which also contains the majestic Artesian Range. Report and photos here.

AWC’s Mornington Sanctuary

Australia, Kimberley, Landscape, Mornington, Mornington, river/creeks, Uncategorised, WA

We are coming up to May 1st when the Mornington Wilderness Camp reopens. This time last year The Doc was driving to The Kimberley. Report and photos from The Doc’s first trip to Mornington here.

Cadjeput Waterhole

Kimberley/Pilbara Trip Trivia

Artesian Range, Australia, AWC, Bowra, Broome, Charnley River, Charnley River - Artesian Range, Derby, desert, flowers, Kimberley, Landscape, landscape, Mornington, Mornington, Newhaven, NT, Pilbara, plains, river/creeks, Textures, trees, WA, WA

The Doc decided to put some trivia together about the longest trip so far. Enjoy.

Time, distances and economy

  • the Kimberley/Pilbara Trip lasted 108 days;
  • total distance travelled was 27,000 kilometres exactly (what a coincidence!). The Patrol has now driven over 70,000 kilometres on The Excellent Adventure;
  • most kilometres travelled in one day, 1,032 kilometres;
  • average kilometres travelled each day was 250kms. In reality the figure was less, as 9,000kms was driven to and from the Kimberley which were concentrated days of driving;
  • best fuel economy was 12.4 litres per 100 kilometres. In 2WD, not towing, driving on the bitumen;
  • worst economy 15.1 litres per 100 kilometres. In 4WD, towing the trailer in sand at Cape Peron National Park;
  • average for the trip 14.4 litres per 100 kilometres, which makes sense as the trailer was attached for much of the trip. So the Pod Trailer adds about 2 litres per 100 kilometres, a modest increase compared to towing heavy trailers or caravans;
  • most expensive diesel was $2.50 a litre at Mt Barnett Station Roadhouse, Gibb River Road; and
  • total fuel bill, decided not to add it up!

Flights

Several flights were taken on the trip including:

Corrugations

Over 60% of the trip was offroad. On badly corrugated roads, you can hit over 10 corrugations every metre (the four wheels do). A very, very conservative figure would be the car, trailer and driver went over 20 billion corrugations!!!! No wonder things break and get damaged.

Breakages

The breakages included:

  • hub cover on Patrol, it fell off and was lost on Charnley River Station;
  • broken wire on coolant alarm (it has broken twice before). Field repair that is still working;
  • striped thread on a shock absorber. The front shock was replaced (The Doc was carrying spares). No dramas as the damage was detected early;
  • after a car service an ignition fuse started to blow. It turned out to be a bare wire shorting on the rear towbar and nothing to do with the service;
  • front control arm bushes needed replacement;
  • a broken windscreen 3 days before the trip finished. Thanks to the driver who did not slow down properly on the Plenty Highway. The Doc got more stone hits on the windscreen that morning than the rest of the trip combined;
  • rivets on an awning came out, thanks to the corrugations on the Plenty Highway on the return trip.

Tucker

Best meal, no contest, Restaurant at Mornington Wilderness Camp. Drysdale River Station also put on a good meal.

Cadjeput Waterhole
Murchinson River, Kalbarri National Park
ASCII

Photo competitions

Australia, AWC, Bowra, Bowra, Flinders Ranges, Kangaroo Island, Kimberley, Landscape, landscape, Mornington, Mornington, Pilbara, Qld, river/creeks, SA, Scotia, sunrise, WA

The Doc has been a bit quite because he has been indexing 300,000 images for AWC and also preparing some images for photo competitions.

Here is a selection of the images The Doc will shortly enter into an Australian competition (you get the low res versions, some images are over 350 megapxiels). Click on each images to see the correct size.

Wildlife

White tern

Landscapes

Cadjeput Waterhole