Any easy river camp spots in the Gascoyne/Pilbara?
Submitted: Wednesday, Sep 07, 2011 at 19:04
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Member - Lee & Eric
Hi everyone,
Do you have any suggestions for an easy to access/use river
camp spot in the Gascoyne or
Pilbara?
You see in June, Eric and I went up to Carrawine
Gorge - east of
marble bar and had a wonderful time
bush camping for a few weeks.
Unfortunately since our return Eric's cancer has raised its ugly head and he is considerably more frail and less able to help out if we go camping again.
Even with the his limitations we would very much like to get in another
bush camp in the next few weeks.
We really want to be somewhere it is warm ..don't want to go to caravan parks preferring to be out in the bush...but given the state of Eric's health we don't want to be too far away from civilisation if we can help it. Mobile phone coverage would be a bonus.
As they say planning your trip is half the fun - we are really enjoying looking at where we could go... looking at how we can manage different things etc.
Current destinations ideas include the
Robe River near Pannawonica (in fact only 7.5 km out of town and still within mobile phone range...which is very attractive ). The only drawback with this spot is that it is still 20 hours driving from
home -
Busselton)
Another thought was
Rocky Pool outside of
Carnarvon. but Mary-Teresa tells us that DEC has designated it a no
camping area. Billyuin pool was another consideration but it was packed the last time we went through and there wasn't much water left in the river.
Of course if anyone has any suggestions..please let us know... we would really love to be able to get out again.
Warm regards
Leonie and Eric
Reply By: Old Dave - Wednesday, Sep 07, 2011 at 19:46
Wednesday, Sep 07, 2011 at 19:46
Hi Leonie and Eric.
I have just sent a mm to you.
Have you thought about going up the great northern hwy ?
from the word on the
forum the wild flowers in the Murchison area are great .
Regards and give Eric my best wishes,
Dave.
AnswerID:
464460
Follow Up By: Old Dave - Wednesday, Sep 07, 2011 at 20:36
Wednesday, Sep 07, 2011 at 20:36
We were at
rocky pool july 2010 and there was a lot of camping,
if you go there Sandra said open a tinnie then you could stay for one night
at least
Regards Dave
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Lee & Eric - Wednesday, Sep 07, 2011 at 22:55
Wednesday, Sep 07, 2011 at 22:55
We love the inland road up the middle...and when we were up there in mid june we could see that the
wildflowers were going ot be spectacular - so it would be a lovely spot to revisit... any rivers that have water in them to
camp by that you know of?
As for
Rocky Pool ...we may just call in to see what is a happening!
Thanks Dave and Sandra
regards
Leonie
FollowupID:
738420
Follow Up By: new boy - Thursday, Sep 08, 2011 at 09:48
Thursday, Sep 08, 2011 at 09:48
Not 100% but would suggest that the January floods could have a big bearing on the closure of
Rocky Pool
FollowupID:
738449
Reply By: Tessysdad - Wednesday, Sep 07, 2011 at 23:17
Wednesday, Sep 07, 2011 at 23:17
Hello Lee and Eric,
Pity about
Rocky Pool - another good decision (not) by the people at DEC.
Can I suggest you perhaps hire a Sat phone for a couple of weeks and that might increase your possibilities a fair bit.
Galena
Bridge, follow the track along the river on the west side of the highway for some lovely secluded spots.
Ellendale Pool near Walkaway just out of
Geraldton isn't a bad little spot.
Middle Branch of the Gascoyne River north of
Meekatharra has lots of campsites along the river.
The Degrey River north of
Marble Bar just south of where
Shay Gap used to be is a great spot and has mobile phone (Telstra) coverage - don't ask me how.
Hope this helps and I certainly hope you can have that special time together doing what you love where you love to be.
Happy camping,
Mike.
AnswerID:
464469
Follow Up By: get outmore - Thursday, Sep 08, 2011 at 11:29
Thursday, Sep 08, 2011 at 11:29
sorry but the biumen road and
grey nomads seald rocky pools fate
in 98 it was a corragated road past there and I had the place pretty much to my self
in 09 a nice bitumen road was thee - build it and they will come
and HOW!
it was a
grey nomad city
another vote for ellandale pool
or if you can wait till it wams up alot closer to
home the
blackwood has some of the nicest riverside camps ive seen
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - John Baas (WA) - Thursday, Sep 08, 2011 at 20:25
Thursday, Sep 08, 2011 at 20:25
I'd be careful about Galena
Bridge, Over the last five years I must have stopped for lunch there at least that number of times while on my way nth or sth. In every case the flies were pretty
well intolerable. I don't stop there any more.
I haven't been to Ellendale for years but it certainly was nice when there last.
Cheers.
FollowupID:
738494
Reply By: Member - john y - Thursday, Sep 08, 2011 at 20:11
Thursday, Sep 08, 2011 at 20:11
Doolena Gorge about 100km s.e of
port hedland would get my vote providing it is not too isolated for you. I recently spent a week there after intending to have an o/nite stay. Access was easy and the bird life was amazing. At the time there was plenty of water in
the gorge and there were good shaded campsites.Perhaps someone else could provide a more up to date report?
Where ever you decide to go I hope that you both have a good time.
Best regards
john y
AnswerID:
464520
Follow Up By: Member - Lee & Eric - Friday, Sep 09, 2011 at 18:55
Friday, Sep 09, 2011 at 18:55
Hi
John,
Doolena Gorge sounds divine and in fact we drove past it in June when we spent a few days at Carrawine
Gorge and then a night over at
Glen Herring Gorge etc.
And yes the birdlife is possitively mind boggling. We had a wonderufl time.
We were thinking it might be getting just a tad too hot for us up there at the moment... mid 30's and we're under canvas. Plus as we only have two weeks we were concerned about spending half the time getting there and back!
Doolena will definitely be on the list for our next trip to
Marble Bar...which we love!
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