Tuesday, Apr 27, 2010 at 23:52
Image Could Not Be FoundG'day Willykj
What can I say regarding the
Pilbara, after all it is a mere 510,000 square kilometres in total with the East
Pilbara being a piddling 379,571 square kilometres in area. Seeing some of the replies to your
forum post directly mention certain
places and points of interest within the East
Pilbara Shire, I feel as though I am able to add comment.
All the repliers rightfully state that the
Karijini National Park is a destination not to miss, it is truely spectacular and deserves at least a week of your time to see and experience all that the park has to offer. The Millstream/Chichester National Park is also fantastic.
If your frame time allows, you would find that there is far more to
Mount Tom Price than the Chip
shop and
Mount Nameless (yes the chips are very tasty indeed).
I would recommend spending a little of your time at the
Tom Price Visitor Centre ~ gain your rail access road permit {no fee} obtain a local map and have a wander out to the various
waterholes in the area, take a drive up to
the summit of Mount Sheila, the view from this mountain top is a true 360 degrees and spectacular in the early morning and late afternoon light.
From
Mount Tom Price, travelling south towards
Newman you have
Mount Bruce, a beaut brisk walk to the top will give you
views of the southern slopes of the Hamersley Ranges and Karijini, then on to
Mount MeHarry the tallest point in Western Australia very spectacular very challenging four wheel driving but so very rewarding as not to many people actually get to
the summit, let alone spend a night as a star gazer.
I guess by now more mountain top climbs would seem a bit much, but you still have
Mount Robinson,
the Governor, Giles Piont, Pamilia
hill and
Mount Newman ~ the
Ophthalmia Range.
I read with some interset in the reply by Duncan W (WA) where he states that
Weeli Wolli Spring(s) is a thermal creek ~ sorry mate it is not thermal, but on a bitterly cold morning in the inland
Pilbara,
Weeli Wolli Spring(s) can seem like a nice warm body of water.
Running Waters or Eel
Pool as it is also known is a genuine "Thermal Flow", but it is on the way into the
Great Sandy Desert via the Woodie Woodie/
Nullagine Road.
If you do get to
Newman, by all means do the
Mount Whaleback ~ BHPBilliton
mine tour, from the
Newman Visitor Centre, it is an eye opener ~ it really is, as is the
visitor centre and mining museum.
But there is far more to the
Newman area than mountain tops and
mine tours.
Deep gorges, deep cold
waterholes, Ancient Geology, Meteor impact crater, ancient indigenous art/occupation sites, Flora, Fauna, history past and present.
I could go on ~ like a tour operator but I won't.
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Duncan W (WA) - Wednesday, Apr 28, 2010 at 15:09
Wednesday, Apr 28, 2010 at 15:09
G'day Joe. When we were at Weeli Wolli in July last year the water being pumped out under the road was pretty warm and admitadly it does get cooler the further down the creek you go.
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FollowupID:
684771
Follow Up By: Member - Joe F (WA) - Wednesday, Apr 28, 2010 at 18:04
Wednesday, Apr 28, 2010 at 18:04
Image Could Not Be FoundG'day Duncan
I appreciate your follow up regarding Weeli Wolli Spring(s) water temperature, the
mine operators on the Hope Downs lease are dewatering their mining venture, just to
mine their ore and subsequently the natural water table level is decreasing.
This is one of the contemptuous issues with current mining practices on the Hope Downs
mine lease and mining in general. The traditional land owners are in an unwinnable situation with this issue, because no matter what, the groundwater is being pumped from above the natural springs to the point where the pipeline discharges the water back into the natural creek bed.
The miners believe the dewatering program will not affect Weeli Wolli Springs but they state their intended water management practices will create a year long flow of the creek. (below the natural spring)
Rio Tinto's answer is to pump the high quality water out of the water table, and replace the lost water to
the springs via surface discharge over the next 20 years, then apparently Rio Tinto will spend the following 20 years pumping 40,000 kilolitres per day back into the water table to "try and re-establish a natural flow".
Weeli Wolli Spring(s) is a significant cultural and spiritual site to the regions Indigenous People, and it was also a mighty important part of inland Western Australia's explorer history, evidence of that period in history are the surviving Date Palms the Cameleers allowed to sprout, grow and bare fruit ~ to this very day, but these too are possibly destined to extinction, I'm only guessing because I know I won't be around in 40 years time, or indeed Weeli Wolli it self, as it's seen today.
The water temperature at the discharge point ~ under the viewing platform is quite warm as the Poly pipeline runs along the surface for most of it's length from the mining operations.
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