Sat, 24th Aug, 2019 Beasley River Rest Area, north-west of Paraburdoo to Mt Augustus Tourist Park near Mt Augustus National Park, WA

7am 17.9 degrees, clear sky and no wind. Lovely chorus from the birds to wake us up.

Back out to the bitumen which was covered in corellas till we drove up.

Drove back 10km then turned south onto the Ashburton Downs Road. Someone’s trip wasn’t a happy one having to leave their camper-trailer behind.

Flat plains with spindly trees. Through a couple of dry creek beds. Rolled over a rise with a nice view ahead.

Checked out the old coal truck. Interesting graffiti.

A range of hills appears which is part of the Capricorn Range which stretches east to west.

Crossed the dry Ashburton River on a narrow causeway which has been built up. The old one is broken. 7 Mile Creek that we crossed near Paraburdoo meets the Ashburton just east of here.

Passed the Ashburton Downs homestead area and continued south-east.

Around the edge of Mt Blair (380m) and through a gap in the range then noticed we are crossing the Tropic of Capricorn so we stopped for a photo.

Stopped for a cuppa opposite flat top hills – so different from the round ones we have passed. Steve found me an interesting rock. The wind has picked up again whipping up the dust.

Continued along. Plenty of cattle around the water points. Crossed into Meekatharra Shire – road condition not as good as what we have been on.

As we near the turn off to Mt Augustus Steve spotted an old car perched on a hill.

Stopped for lunch at the turn off then headed west to Pingandy Station which isn’t on my map but luckily we know where we are going as there are no signs indicating this is the road to Mt Augustus. Some bad corrugations for a bit then onto a nice graded road. Rolling up and down hills – it's like being on a roller coaster.

Past the turn-off into Pinandy Station and we find our first Mt Augustus road sign – 100km to go.

Back onto corrugations as we windy our way through low hills. We have been slowly climbing in altitude (it shows us on the Hema). As we view Riley Gap we are at 466m above sea level. Forgot to check what the town of Tom Price’s elevation was as it is WA’s highest town.

We turned away from Riley Gap then we saw a big mountain and are guessing this is Mt Augustus. We are still 38km north of it. We have been tricked before when we first went to Ayres Rock we stopped at Mt Connor and complained that it didn’t look anything like the rock in the brochure – young and silly of course.

Puffy clouds are coming over now. Back onto flat plains (413m elevation) and Mt Augustus comes into view again.

Drove up onto Yalloweerie Hill (448m) to the lookout for a cuppa while we take in the view of the World’s Biggest Rock. It is a good spot for sunrise viewing according to our brochure.

Zoomed in on Mt Augustus Station which has the camping facilities – no camping allowed in the National Park.

The hill is covered in shisty rock (not good on geology terms) that makes good slabs to build a cairn with.

Back down the hill and across the dry creek bed of the Lyons River which feeds into the Gascoyne River further south-west. Into the Station grounds. The campground is on the other side of the station.

Lovely green grass is a change from all the red dirt. Paid our camp fee for two nights - $22 per night for unpowered. Read the information provided. Mt Augustus is an inselberg – island mountain. Found some more info in the National Park brochure. A lot bigger than Ayres Rock as the track around it is 49km long.

There are circles of grass for tents and the vans etc can park around the outside and pull out our awnings and sit on the grass. Very nice.

More ‘bush campsites’ available but we are going to enjoy the grass for a change. Nice view of Mt Augustus too.

Poor old ‘Nova’ is starting to wear out as there is more dust coming in through the walls etc so each time we stop I give everything a wipe down with paper towel then we are all good.

Put our drinks and nibbles in the truck to have watching the sun set from Emu Hill. Lots of plants growing on this rock but there are nice shiny cliff faces too.

First we checked out Cattle Pool which is a permanent waterhole in the Lyons River. Interesting information.

Lovely pool but I don’t think we will have a swim.

Nice and calm so I can get a good reflection photos.

We followed the pathway down to the next pool.

As we walked back two pelicans swam by.

Drove further along to Emu Hill and joined another couple from Nanup with our drinks.

Watched the colours change on Mt Augustus as the sun set. Not that good but we had a nice time chatting.

Walked along the path to catch the sun as it disappeared.

Another look at Mt Augustus after the sun had set. Needed some more clouds to capture the sunset colours.

Back to the van for dinner and a nice long hot shower in the amenities. It is bore water but it was very hot.

No one got the communal fire going so it was very quiet around camp but we quietly watched a movie before going to bed. Set the alarm as we are going to do the Summit Climb early in the morning as it takes 6 hours or so to do the 12km return hike.