June 11, 12 and 13, 2025
On Wednesday we went on the drive around Mt Augustus, stopping twice to do little walks. Our first stop was a Oramboo, where we did the short trail, plus a little of the longer trail. There were Aboriginal etchings on the rock, with a rope to keep visitors from getting too close. As we started about midday the sun was penetrating as we left the shade of the trees, so not a good time to see how far we could go.
Our second stop was at Beedoboondu where we had lunch and a rest before doing the second short walk to Flintstone Rock. The trails are very well marked here, with a sign to say that you are at the end of the trail, very useful.
On the way back to the caravan park we stopped in at Cattle Pool, which is a permanent waterhole. We only spent a short time there and decided to come back the next day.
On Thursday we packed up relatively early and have spent the day here at Cattle Pool. It is a lovely oasis, with a short walk clearly marked along the bank. There appears to be plenty of birdlife, though we’ve heard far more birds than we’ve seen.
It’s been very peaceful indeed and we appreciate having a fairly restful time here at Mt Augustus before we start travelling again. There were other places we could have visited around the Rock, but we do feel we’ve done a good enough exploration.
In the evening we went to the pub for meals, a hamburger and a T-bone steak. We had a little bit of salad on the burger and some veggies with the steak. The meals were good, but a huge amount of food for us, still we did our best.
This morning (Friday) we managed to get away quite early, despite having done quite a few chores before leaving, such as filling up our tank (water is non potable, but we don’t drink it), doing a little shopping at the reception shop, getting fuel and visiting the dump point. All in preparation for camping without services for the next three nights. The plan was to do a loop around to stay overnight at one place, then arrive at the Temple Gorge Campground in the Kennedy Ranges.
It was cloudy this morning and we had a colourful sunrise.
On our way out we went to the lookout and took some photos. It was only a little way off the road and has a lovely view of Mt Augustus and the surrounding areas. We left there at about 10.30 a.m.
After a few kilometres on the road we realised that the road conditions were pretty bad. It was stony as well as deep corrugations and just hard work to travel on. When we reached a junction we decided to take the road that leads more directly to Gascoyne Junction, with the hope that it would be a bit better. And it was, but still had some difficult patches.
We’ve driven about 180kms and have pulled up for the night at a rest area. We are fairly close to a river and can see some ranges (probably the Kennedy Ranges) in the distance. We’ve pulled off away from the road so that if any cars come through we won’t be choked with dust.
We think we can make it to Temple Gorge Campground tomorrow, but don’t really need to stress as we have plenty of time.