Fri, 25th May, 2018 Caroline Pool, east of Halls Creek to Spring Creek rest area, near Bungle Bungles, WA (Palm Springs, Sawpit Gorge & Boab trees)

6am 9.7 degrees so stayed in bed till 7am when it reached 14 degrees. Clear sky with no wind.

Chatted over breakfast with Jeff and Lyn. We packed up and said our farewells. We headed south to check out Palm Springs and Sawpit Gorge. Through the hills. Lots of burnt sections and one still burning well.

Stopped at Brockman’s Hut for a quick look – keeping an eye on the fire coming over the ridge.

This hut was owned by an explorer and prospector who has the surrounding mining district, The Brockman, named in his honour. This is what the ‘Old Stone Hut’ on Sophie Downs would look like further north (we skipped the 28km return trip). It was the last stop to rest the horses before the final leg into Old Halls Creek from Wyndham for those bringing down supplies and for those taking their gold up to export it.

  

Continued on through the lovely countryside. Lots of quartz blows.

Crested one hill and saw an opening between to ridges – by the looks of the map that must be Sawpit Gorge. On the Hema it says Sawtooth Gorge.

Crossed over Spring Creek which flows into the Elvire River.

Arrived at Palm Springs – now this is a lovely surprise. There is only a small area for camping and it is right beside the road but as the traffic isn’t too bad it would be a nice spot. 

They even have a new toilet here on the other side of the road. Zoomed in on a little waterfall at the other end. 

Palm Springs. It is known as Lugangarna in Jaru language and is spring fed and a permanent freshwater pool on the Black Elvire River (which flows to join the Elvire River). It is known as the ‘oasis in the desert’. Afghan teamsters are thought to have planted the original date palms found here. They played a prominent role in the early days of Halls Creek. Afghan man, Sam Hazlett, and his Aboriginal wife, Duddru, lived at Palm Springs for many years. Sam used the springs for drinking water and to grow vegetables, which he sold in Halls Creek. An old Aboriginal man called Wellman lived here too and worked in the gardens with Sam. He was known as ‘Wellman’ because he was the man who got the water from the well. Wellman Road in Halls Creek is named in his honour. Sam Hazlett maintained this valuable water resource by regularly cleaning out the reeds and overgrowth. He passed away in the 1980s and Palm Springs has been unoccupied since that time.

Lots of fish too.

Drove up the hill and saw the water seeping out of the reeds on the uphill side of the road. Then we noticed an old shack. Will check it out on the way back.

Turned off the Duncan Road and wound our way past old car remains – probably Sam’s days, to Sawpit Gorge. Lovely big gum tree at the top where the new toilets are.

 Drove down the steep descent into the creek and onto the river stones to park near the water. Lovely spot.

Sawpit Gorge – The gorge is located on the Black Elvire River where flood waters have cut through the range. Freshwater crocodiles have been seen here.

We can see why it would be called Sawtooth as the rocks at the top are very jaggered.

Walked around the edge of the pool.

Debris in the tree branches says it gets a good flow of water through it when there is good rain.

Climbed over the rocks in the creek, only a bit of water further down.

This is the map from the Shire booklet.

Had a cuppa in the cool shade then headed back. Thought this ironstone wall looked interesting – like the quartz China Wall.

Pulled into Sam’s shack and checked out his old truck and the remains of the home.

Out the back and beside the house on the lower edge you can make where the gardens would have been. Lots of bits of rubbish and another truck remain. There was a little track heading into the palms and I could see water so the spring is in there somewhere.

Took photos this time of the water coming out from the spring area and flowing down under the road into Palm Springs pool.

Got to the bottom and Jeff and Lyn were there having a cuppa. Chatted for a bit then we headed off again.

Crows and hawks are circling the burnt area looking for a ready-cooked meal.

Nearly back to Halls Creek then we turned off to check out China Wall. I was on gate duty as we are entering Sophie Downs.

First look is impressive. Definitely a wall and a half.

China Wall – This place acquired its English name because it is somewhat reminiscent of the Great Wall of China. It is known as Burraluba in the Jaru language and as Mulugunjiny in Kija language. The family of Chamia Samuel, who lives at Billiluna, are Aboriginal custodians for the story of this place (but they don’t tell us the story). China Wall is a natural vein of sub-vertical white quartz rising up to 6 metres above the surrounding country in places. This striking formation transects the country for many kilometres, rising high out of the ground and then disappearing back into the earth again. Scientists believe the wall was formed when the rock surrounding the much harder and resistant quartz was weathered and eroded away.

Closer up it is amazing.

It goes over the top of the ridge too.

A creek runs below it and we spotted a wallaby who spotted us.

Walked down the hill this side – you can see bits of quartz coming to the surface which would continue the wall.

I climbed up onto the big quartz rocks.

So straight up either side.

Further over there is another quartz line.

Looking across the creek we see that the China Wall continues higher up on the hill from the little bits we saw as we walked down.

Just before the Cemetery we saw a sign for Nicholson Town Camp. Jeff said it was the camp for the station workers when they would come into town for rodeos and horse races etc. The station is on the Duncan Road nearly at the NT border. There is another one on the other side of town for another station. Now it is a dry community for one of the groups of local people.

Back to Halls Creek for lunch – our first try of tin ham (Plumrose), edible but will buy a normal knob of ham from the IGA. I uploaded some more of my blog – getting there slowly.

We did a drive around the streets checking out the Kimberley Hotel and Accommodation and the airport. Lots of newer colourbond homes. On the outskirts are different family groups in their ‘homes’. Jeff said they are still having problems in Kununurra and Fitzroy Crossing too.

Headed north on the Great Northern Highway towards the Bungle Bungles.

Great Northern Highway – This highway is a generally north-south WA highway which links Perth with its most northern port, Wyndham. It is 3,204km in length, with 3,144km being National Highway. It is the longest intrastate highway in Australia and also the longest Australian highway in absolute terms. In parts, it is among the remotest sealed roads in the world. Some sections are several hundred kilometres in length without so much as a roadhouse. Economically, it is a vital line as it provides access to the resource rick regions of the Pilbara and Kimberley.

Crossed over the dry Elvire River. Seeing lots of roos but sadly they are dead by the roadside. Mr Wedgie in slow take-off.

Travelling through hills and over wide dry sandy creeks.

Spotted some Boab trees in a creek. Steve saw names carved in one of the trunks so we turned around and went back for a closer look.

Obviously Linge has been here a few times!!

There are heaps here.

Found a seed pod – the white stuff felt like coolight.

A huge one – I wonder how old it is.

They continue down along the creek.

This one repaired itself.

Found one with a few leaves on it.

Across the road we can see more trees continuing along the creek bank. We continued on with big ranges to the left and more hills to the right. More Boabs in other dry creek beds.

Checked out the causeway over the Ord River but we aren’t allowed to drive across anymore as they have built a big bridge just up the road.

Walked along half of it, chatted with a couple of other visitors. One lady said when they were hear last year in April it was flowing fast under the causeway. They didn’t get the rain from the cyclones this year. Very dry now though there was a puddle on one edge of the causeway which had a couple of little fish in it.

Mr Bull doesn’t seem impressed with us walking about.

There is a 24hr rest area here and there were lots of vans etc. It was quite open and near the road so we decided to check out the next one 7km up the road. Crossed the new bridge over the Ord River. It starts in the King Leopold Ranges and flows (well when it rains) to Lake Argyle then north to the ocean near Wyndham.

Crossed over Spring Creek – look nice.

Turned off and passed big rubbish bins (we are near the entry to the National Park – they don’t have bins in there) and then a bitumen parking area near toilets and dump point. With a couple of shaded picnic tables. The track though continued down to the creek so we went down for a look.

Found a spot and set up for the night. Steve got water out of the creek for our showers and cleared a spot to make a fire.

More vans pulled in, some people aren’t very considerate when checking out a spot and zoom around making dust!

Had phone reception here so had a long chat with Wendy then Rebecca and Clive.

Had dinner then enjoyed one third of our ice-cream tub which was a bit soft, but Steve loves it like that.

Steve still winning a Skipbo – he has the hide to say I win all the time so I am recording how many times he wins!! Bit chilly by 8pm 17 degrees. All the other campers have hit the sack so we had our showers and did the same.