Day 41 –Tom Price

This morning after a breakfast fryup (bacon, eggs, tomatos, mushrooms, bread), we headed down the street for a wander around town. The town of Tom Price was constructed in 1965, and today has a population of 5000 people, including two primary schools, and one secondary school – all for miners and their families. There is a good range of sporting facilities, town pool (amazingly closed in Winter as the temp is only 29deg today), drive in theatre and quite a few little shops. We were amused at the corellas in the town park trees – even they were reddy brown, everything in this town is covered in a layer of iron ore dust – even the birds!

 

At 10.00am we checked in at the Visitor Info centre and boarded the mine bus to begin the two hour tour out to Rio Tinto mine. Rio Tinto own 15 mines in the area (including Hope Downs which 50% of is owned by Gina Reinhart). They pull an amazing amount of both low grade and high grade ore out of these mines every day. 360 million tonnes per annum this year. In the mine that we visited 5 ore trains per day headed out to the port, each one carrying 27,376 tonnes of ore (approx $3.5 million per train load). Rio Tinto owns 173 locos and 10,500 wagons and uses 1600km heavy duty, standard gauge railway track.

It was an amazing tour in which we got out a couple of times to have a look at the lookout and look at the big Tonka toys – huge Komatsu Dump Trucks that cost $4.5 million each and can carry 240 tonne.  We also had a look at the crushing plant, the huge array of conveyor belts, the slurry lake, and ore dumper tunnel that filled the train wagons.

Next up we visited some more of Karajini National Park’s beautiful scenery. First up it was off to Knox Gorge to the lookout. An amazing view down over the red walls of the gorge, to which fig trees cling to the rock faces.  Once again we enjoyed a variety of wildflowers everywhere we went.

 

Not far away was Joffre Gorge lookout (no time to walk down to the gorge today), but the lookout was sensational. It is a spectacular curved waterfall that forms a natural amphitheatre.

A drive over to Weano Gorge was next. This is one of my absolute favorites. Just stunning views, precipitous cliffs, and narrow passages. Banded iron rock formations tower of the valley far below. I’m in awe of my two kids that tackle these walks. They are rated grade 5 (the most difficult grading), and they are ready to tackle any challenge. Must admit my heart was in my mouth as I watched them cling to rockfaces, and walk through waist deep water to get to the end, and to Handrail Pool.

Oh my goodness – what a sight when you do get there – absolutely stunning. After you lower yourself down backwards, holding onto a vertical metal pole, using the tiny footholds, with water dripping and running past you. Scary, but amazing. At the bottom of the gorge you are faced with a stunning sight.

After we completed this gorge, we were all on such a high, we decided to tackle the other grade 5 rated gorge nearby – Hancock gorge, with the end reward being the stunning Kermits Pool (yes the water is iridescent green).

Down rugged stone steps, along the gorge floor, then down a sheer vertical metal ladder. Wading through waist high water, and then the most scary part, negotiating along rock ledges along the side of the gorge, with a big drop below you (don’t look down). Oh my goodness, the fear factor was so high on this one, I had to force myself to keep going. But once again at the end, the views were spectacular.

 

By the end of the day we were all absolutely exhausted. Climbing down a gorge wall, then along the bottom for a few kms, then back up the steep gorge was very mentally and physically challenging – but also very rewarding too!