Pilbara Western Australia
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Karijini (formerly Hamersley Range) National Park is the second largest national park in WA. A party led by explorer F.T. Gregory explored the area in 1861. He named the Hamersley Range, on which the park is centred, after his friend Edward Hamersley.

Situated just north of the Tropic of Capricorn, the park's climate can best be described as tropical semi-desert. A highly variable, mainly summer rainfall of 250–350 mm, often associated with thunderstorms and cyclones, is accompanied by temperatures frequently topping 40 degrees Celsius. The ideal times to visit the park are late autumn, winter and early spring. Winter days are warm and clear, but nights are cold and sometimes frosty.

Karijini National Park protects many different wildlife habitats, landscapes, plants and animals of the Pilbara. Wildflowers vary with the seasons. In the cooler months the land is covered with yellow-flowering cassias and wattles, northern bluebells and purple mulla-mullas. After rain many plants bloom profusely.

It is also home to a variety of birds, red kangaroos and euros, rock-wallabies, echidnas and several bat species. Geckos, goannas, dragons, legless lizards, pythons and other snakes are abundant. Huge termite mounds are a feature of the landscape and the rock piles of the rare pebble mound mouse may be found in spinifex country.

In the north of Karijini National Park, small creeks hidden in the rolling hillsides—dry for most of the year—suddenly plunge into sheer-sided chasms up to 100 metres deep. These are the Park's famous gorges. They are spectacular but can be extremely dangerous. Further downstream, the gorges widen and their sides change from sheer cliffs to steep slopes of loose rock.

Rocks exposed at the gorges originated as finegrained sediment which accumulated on an ancient seafloor 2,500 million years ago. At this time, the atmosphere contained much less oxygen and the only forms of life were simple bacteria and algae. Many of these sediments laid down in the oceans were rich in iron and silica.

Over hundreds of millions of years, the iron-rich deposits were transformed by the pressure of further sediments laid down over them, and they gradually turned into tough well-bedded rock. The gorges were eroded when a sharp drop in sea level caused the rivers to downcut rapidly—a process enhanced by the onset of a more arid climate, which depleted the protective vegetation cover on the valley sides.

In Dales Gorge, a stream, pools, waterfalls, and ferns contrast with the red, terraced cliffs weathered by centuries of exposure. The occasional snappy gum can be seen perched on rocky ledges. But every gorge is different, and each one is worth a visit. At Oxer Lookout, the junction of Weano, Red, Hancock and Joffre Gorges, tiers of banded rock tower over a pool at the bottom of the gorge. To explore these gorges you must be fit and prepared to submerge in near-freezing water, follow narrow paths and cling to rock ledges.

The Park is the traditional home of the Banyjima, Kurrama and Innawonga Aboriginal people. The Banyjima name for the Hamersley Range is Karijini. Evidence of their early occupation dates back more than 20,000 years. During that period, Aboriginal land management practices such as 'fire stick farming', resulting in a diversity of vegetation types and stages of succession, have helped determine the nature of the plants and animals found in the park today.

Facilities:
Camping (separate fees apply), toilets, water, information shelter, picnic tables, gas barbecues. No generators are permitted at Weano Gorge and Circular Pool campsites.
Self registration (entrance fee applies) at two entrances, near Ranger Station and Mount Bruce Road.

Best season:
Late Autumn and Winter (May–August)

What to see and do:
Walking, sightseeing, photography, camping, swimming, nature observation.

If you decide to tackle any of the walks within the park, please take great care—the gorges can be extremely hazardous. Many of them are only recommended for the physically fit and you must notify a ranger before starting any of the longer ones.

  • Circular Pool
    It is a loose, steep descent, then an easy ramble to the hidden gardens of Circular Pool. (800 m return.) This is an arduous walk, so you must allow at least 2 hours return.
  • Dales Gorge
    A 4-kilometre return trail runs along the bottom of the gorge. Allow 3 hours for the return walk.
  • Gorge Rim Walk and Circular Pool Lookout
    A 1.2-kilometre return trail runs along the rim of Dales Gorge.
  • Fortescue Falls
    Walk down through the changing vegetation of the iron-rich gorge walls to the park's only permanent waterfall. (800 metres, 2-hour return walk.)
  • Hancock Gorge
    Journey to the 'centre of the Earth' down this steep, narrow gorge. Feel the highly polished rock on the way down to Kermit's Pool. (1.5 kilometres, 3-hour return walk.)
  • Joffre Gorge
    A short track runs from the carpark to the lookout overlooking the falls, which are usually dry, and the plunge pool at their base. (100 metres, 10 minutes return.) Follow the marked route into the bottom of the gorge to the first pool downstream of the waterfall. (3 kilometres, 3-hour return walk.)
  • Kalamina Gorge
    There is a 30-minute return walk into the gorge's lush, shaded pool. Alternatively, walk within the gorge along a stream and small ponds (3 hours return).
  • Mt Bruce
    Spectacular views from the top of the second tallest peak in WA, called Bunurrunha by the Aboriginal people.There are three walks of varying lengths and difficulty:
    Marandoo View is 500 metres and takes 30 minutes return.
    Honey Hakea Track is 4.6 kilometres and takes at least 3 hours return.
    The walk to Mt Bruce Summit is 9 kilometres and takes at least 6 hours for the return trip. This walk is recommended only for fit and experienced walkers.
  • Red Gorge
    Access into this gorge is via Knox, Joffre or Hancock Gorges. Rangers must be notified before entering it.
  • Weano Gorge
    A walktrail takes you down the steep descent into Weano Gorge and through the bottom of the gorge to Handrail Pool (300 m return). Please tell the ranger if you intend to walk past this point.

Millstream-Chichester National Park

Most of the 200,000 hectare Millstream-Chichester National Park is a landscape of rolling hills, spectacular escarpments and winding tree-lined watercourses.

The Chichester Range rises sharply from the coastal plain and includes rocky peaks, tranquil gorges, and hidden rock pools such as Python Pool. Scattered white-barked gums and spiky spinifex clumps cover the stony plateau, which gradually slopes down to the bed of the Fortescue River.

In the midst of this landscape is the remarkable oasis of Millstream, where fresh water springs from an aquifer to create the lushly tropical Chinderwarriner Pool. Paperbark and palm trees surround this deep pool on the Fortescue River.

The park's shady camping areas near deep pools at Crossing Pool and Deep Reach attract tourists and locals all year round, but winter is the best time to visit. The cool season between May and August, experiences little rain, with day time temperatures around 26º Celcius.

The area has an interesting cultural history. It has long been a focal point for the Yinjibarndi people and was an active pastoral station for more than 100 years. Previously two separate parks, the area was expanded into one park in 1982, and it has significant natural, recreational and cultural values.

Chinderwarriner Pool

The broad area of land straddling the Fortescue River, from the Hamersley Range through to the Chichester escarpment is the homeland of the Yinjibarndi people. Ngarrari (Millstream) was an important camp site for inter-tribal meetings. Visitors camped beside Chinderwarriner Pool, where they feasted on fresh fish and edible plant roots, harvested wood for spears and collected rocks for ritual purposes. Today the Yinjibarndi people maintain close ties with their land and have been trained and employed as rangers and contract workers.

Millstream was named in 1861 by the explorer F T Gregory, who reported its favourable grazing prospects. The pastoral lease, first taken up in 1865 changed hands several times before Les Gordon assumed management of the property in 1923. In its heyday the station covered more than 400,000 hectares and ran 55,000 sheep. The homestead which now houses the visitor centre, was built in 1919 and was home to the Gordon family until 1964.

Plants and Animals

Plants flower after rain, when blankets of mulla-mulla and Sturt pea cover the landscape. The soft yellow flowers of the wattles and the orange cockroach bush provide a dramatic contrast to the hard red earth. Generally, the winter months, from June to August, are the best time to see the Pilbara wildflowers.

Plants more typical of the tropical north grow near permanent water pools. Of special interest is the Millstream palm, with its fanned, greyish-green leaves and smooth bark. Exotic date palms and cotton palms introduced by pioneers have now spread throughout the Millstream Delta.

The common kangaroo of the rocky country is the euro and on the plains you can see red kangaroos. Black flying foxes are easily seen at Millstream and a variety of birds can be seen during the cooler hours of the day, especially near water. Fourteen species of dragonfly and damselfly have been recorded in the Millstream wetlands.

The historic town of Roebourne and the ghost town of Cossack are amongst the oldest settlements in WA 
 
The Backpackers Guide to WA says:- 
Wickham, is the support town for Robe River Iron, who export through the port, which is close at hand at Cape Lambert.  

The old police headquarters at Cossack has undergone extensive renovations and is now the backpackers headquarters for the area. Roebourne has a hotel and a caravan park, Wickham a hotel and Point Samson economy priced chalets and a caravan park. 
Fishing is excellent at Samson and fishing dinghies are available for hire. 

Established in 1866, Roebourne was the administration centre of the north-west while Cossack was the major port and base for the pearling fleet. 
Handling all supplies to an area from Port Hedland to Marble Bar it was indeed an important waterway. Problems with silt caused the demise of Cossack as a port and subsequently the town was deserted and fast became a ghost town but local interest has kept the remaining buildings in very good repair. 

Roebourne, the gateway to Australia’s greatest oasis Millstream, which emerges out of the stark rugged iron ore country of the Chichester National Park, is a tropical paradise set on the Fortescue River with tall trees, palms, water lillies and ferns surrounding a huge lake.

 
The jasper reef at the Marble Bar pool

Marble Bar
The hottest town in Australia
There are a small number of towns in Australia whose names have such a potency and such a power of association that they automatically conjure up images. The name 'Marble Bar' is synonymous with mining, isolation and, most importantly, heat. It is known as 'the hottest town in Australia' a fact which is still recorded by the Guinness Book of Records. For 161 consecutive days to 20 April 1924 the temperature in the town never dropped below 100°F (37.8°C). This record still stands after nearly seventy years. During all the time that records have been kept the temperature at the town has never dropped below 0°C.

Located 1476 km north of Perth on the Great Northern Highway, 192 km southeast of Port Hedland and 173 metres above sea level, Marble Bar does not fit the preconceptions most visitors have of it. If you imagined a reckless mining town in a barren wasteland with dirt streets and exhausted people standing outside a rather forlorn corrugated iron pub, then Marble Bar is nothing like that.

It is basically a very modern mining town. Older mining towns (Coober Pedy and Andamooka in SA and Yowah, Qld for example) are characterised by a sense that they have been thrown together in a very haphazard way with poorly constructed streets, no curbing or guttering, and houses built from materials which were available at the time. There is little evidence of this in Marble Bar which has a neatness and tidiness which is decidedly modern and quite attractive. There are, for example, a number of attractive modern houses in the town and even the famous Ironclad Hotel (named by American miners after the Ironclad boats which moved up and down on the Mississippi during the American Civil War) now boasts an air-conditioning system which ensures cool air with cool drinks.

Marble Bar was named, somewhat inaccurately, after a unique bar of jasper (a highly coloured cryptocrystalline variety of quartz) which crosses the Coongan River about 5 km west of the town. It is clearly signposted off General Street beyond the Government Buildings. It is illegal to fossick or cut jasper at this location but a section has been set aside on the road to the old Comet mine for rock enthusiasts.

The area near the Marble Bar is a popular swimming area for locals. Both the Marble Bar Pool and the nearby Chinaman's Pool are suitable for swimming and picnicking.

Marble Bar sprung up as part of the gold rushes to the Pilbara in the late 1880s. The gold which had created a rush to the Kimberleys had all but disappeared and the fossickers and prospectors headed south seeking the elusive metal. Gold was actually discovered near Marble Bar in 1891 by Francis Jenkins (he is remembered in the name of the town's main street) and two years later the settlement was officially declared a town.
Government Offices, National Trust listed buildings in Marble Bar

In 1894-95 the Government Offices (now a series of National Trust listed buildings) were constructed out of local stone with corrugated iron roofs and elaborate stuccoed window dressings. Located just west of Sandy Creek on General Street they are the most impressive set of buildings in the town. Typical of mining towns they were constructed at a time when the prospects for the town were such that major civic buildings seemed appropriate. It was around this time that the population of the town rose to 5000 as miners poured in hoping to find wealth in the region. For some their dreams became reality. At Shaw's Falls the 333 ounce 'Little Hero' nugget was found. Shark Gully was the location for the 413 ounce 'Bobby Dazzler' and in 1899 the 332 ounce 'General Gordon' was discovered.

The goldrush was shortlived. The huge discoveries on the Eastern Goldfields and in the Murchison at places like Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie, Day Dawn and Cue were enough to see prospectors abandon their diggings to head for the greater rewards which lay to the south.

 

The town has been immortalised in the very funny, but sadly, little known poem The Man from Marble Bar by Victor Courtney.

Satan sat by the fires of Hell
As from endless time he's sat,
And he sniffed great draughts of the brimstone's smell
That came as the tongue-flames spat;

Then all at once the devil looked stern
For there in the depths of Hell
Was a fellow whom never a flame could burn
Or goad to an anguished yell;

So Satan stalked to the lonely scene
And growled with a stormy brow,
'Now, stranger, tell me what does this mean?
You should be well scorched by now.'

But the chappie replied with a laugh quite new;
'This place is too cold by far
Just chuck on an extra log or two
I'VE COME IN FROM MARBLE BAR!