The Murchison and Pilbara 5-7 September 2017

The Murchison and Pilbara both rather untamed landscapes, bear witness to sometimes foolhardy but always romantic human endeavours indicated by the grand old buildings and countless pubs. Lots of wealth has been, and is still being, torn out of the ground. One is very aware of the mines all round, but rarely sees them except for one monstrous plant along the road from Nullagine (an old gold rush town) to Marble Bar. Earth 'modification' as far as the eye could see. Staggering!

This is a\Acacia inaequilatera to the world but to me it's a blackberry wattle - you can see why. Cute isn't it? The flower ball is so unusual and the young leaves a delicate shade of soft maroon. We're in a place of diverse beauties - but of course, we are back in the Pilbara!!

On through Munjina Gorge

These monster truck movers will soon be on the Marble Bar road I think. We encountered these near Munjina on the skirts of the Karijini NP.

Ore trucks were regular passers by kicking up huge clouds of dust and stones - c'est la vie!

However ....... before Marble Bar we  passed through some pretty amazing countryside. 'Blackberry' wattle, banded behemoths, and butterflies! Here it's so dry birds and butterflies clustered around every small muddy patch on the ground. We park overnight at a wee roadside spot calked Auski Tourist village, AKA Munjina, right on the perimeter of the Karijini National Park in the Hamersley Ranges. Mining trucks zooming around everywhere but not so much that we haven't been able to appreciate the breathtaking beauty of huge red banded hills dotted with eau de nil green spinifex, gorgeous deep gorges!!
Karijini NP ... what can I say? Amazing gorges and waterfalls 100m deep - awesome and not a bit scary seen from above. Needless to say we didn't venture down into any of the gorges as the climb was a bit too treacherous for us. After exploring each of the gorges albeit from above, we drove back to camp after sundown surrounded by a sound and light show - heat lightening all around us. It was spectacular!!

There's a huge drop beyond this lovely tree

Senna Ferraria - iron cassia. Found only in this small region.

Karijini is full of gorges - or is that empty!? Their walls are so vivid and the spinifex and stunned trees that cling to the rocks, stand in stark contrast both in colour and form.

That's as far as we climbed. Too scary!

Then we hit the dirt en route to Marble Bar. Surprisingly, there are no sealed roads to Marble Bar from the south although I think that will change in the next little while. While we were in Marble Bar we were told that roads were being built to service a new mining interest in the area. Oh well! We enjoyed the dirt!

Wonderful country! There were many dips and flood ways in the road. Evidence of heavy rains somewhere sometime. That all made for a rocky ride so we took it slowly.

Out on the dry plains, spots of colour and texture leap out - if you're looking! Like this member of the pea family, Psoralea lachnostachys meaning with a woolly flower spike.

And its cousin, Psoralea pustulata. You'd want a pretty flower with a name like that.  Latin -where are you when I need you?

Grevillea pyramidalis- Caustic tree. So called because the fruit has a sticky caustic coating

The flower of the caustic tree is quite pretty seen close up.

Along the first part of route to Marble Bar - Munjina to Roy Hill, the road was lined with flowers, mainly mulla mulla. And another of my favourites - butterfly bush. A delicate airy bush a couple of metres tall scattered with gorgeous yellow flowers which look just like butterflies. Large water holes, pools were fringed by paperbarks and cattle - and birds of course. It was very pretty. And as we continued along the route, the countryside became quite awe inspiring - treacle-topped iron stone ranges and soft green spinifex plains  - soft in colour only - they leap out and stab you if you venture too close! Spinifex clumps like squatting porcupines on a slow creep up the the sides of the ranges gave the ranges a soft pale green hue, a perfect foil for the rust red earth and rock.

A wee stretch of tar along the dirt! Mulla mulla along the road side. Lovely.

Petalostylis cassioides - butterfly bush. You see how it got its name. One of my favourites.

This little baby - Calytrix desolata- is a relative of the turkey bush we saw in NT months ago. There is so much to see in this flower. Zoom in for a look. The fine tendrils you see are the calyx which wrap around the flower bud as it is developing.

As a matter of interest, the Shire of East Pilbara, through which we were driving, is the largest shire in the world, bigger than Victoria, but the population is small and punctuates this huge space with a small number of communities and properties - and mines!

We hit bitumen and turned left for a short run into Marble Bar.

We got to Marble Bar at sundown after a fascinating day in the heart of Pilbara country.