Biggest Rock in the world - Mount Augustus

With the road sign's indicating the tracks open,  and the web site indicating 4WD only, we figured it was good enough for us to head out of town and try our luck on the roads east of Gascoyne Junction.  Our aim was to make it to Mount Augustus, and then loop back around towards the coast as we had a booking at Cape Range National Park, on the Ningaloo Reef.  It was to be a fleeting visit, but it turned out to be a thoroughly worthwhile diversion.

We paused when we crossed the Gascoyne River, and had a chuckle at the old flying fox mail drum still hanging across the river.  In times of flood, the drum was often the only way mail and other supplies could get through.  Some things haven't changed.

The postman arrived early at Gascoyne Junction the previous morning, stopping in for breakfast at 7am.  The Roadhouse was surprised to see him, as he normally arrived for lunch - however in true outback spirit, he had heard the weather forecast, and at the first hint of rain, decided to get up and commence his run at midnight in order to ensure everyone got their mail (and groceries and other supplies) before the rivers rose and the roads were closed.  

Old mail drum

We continued our journey east, stretching our legs in an ancient sea bed, surrounded by ancient fossilised sea shells, making pretty good time on the dirt roads.  Many of the floodways still had boggy sections in them, and some had quite a bit of water in them, but the base was mostly solid, and we were following someone else's tyre tracks, which provided a degree of confidence in some of the boggier sections.

It wasn't long until we saw our goal, rising some 800 metres above the surrounding plain and standing in total 1006 metres above sea level, Mount Augustus.  The mountain, known as Burringurrah to the local aboriginal people is the worlds largest monocline - or simply worlds biggest rock.  Some two and a half times larger than Uluru, we approached from the southern side, where it rises steeply to an impressive ridge.

Mount Augustus

We took the southern tourist loop road, and stopped to explore some aboriginal petroglyphs.  Carved by the Wajarri people, it was humbling to sit in the shade of the rock overhangs, and look out towards Mount Augustus.

Aboriginal Rock Art

Looking back towards Mount Augustus

We continued on the loop road, and it was when coming to see the northern face of Mount Augustus that we could see its absolute majesty and grandeur.  Its northern face is capped with sheer cliffs and the red sandstone is carved with gorges and canyons.  It is an ancient and weathered relic of an even older sea bed.

Mount Augustus

Unfortunately Mount Augustus has put to bed a theory of mine.  My darling wife enjoys lining garden beds, paths and so on with rocks.  She will often spend a whole day moving rocks around to achieve her aim - and often enlists the rest of the family on her mission.  Apparently with such an exercise, large rocks are preferable to small ones - however the penalty is the large rocks are heavy.  Sometimes really heavy.  My theory has been that she should content herself with planting smaller rocks in the ground and water them.  It was standing in the shadow of Mount Augustus that I have seen the folly of my ways.  If the biggest rock in the world has been formed in a desert environment - rocks obviously don't need water to grow. Darn.  I guess I'll just have to get used to moving big heavy rocks around!

We refuelled at Mount Augustus Station and contemplated staying for the night, but the day was still young, and we had a long way to go if we were to make to to Exmouth the next day, so we decided to push on.  We took one last look at Mount Augustus - before crossing our fingers and heading west.

Rocky and the biggest rock in the world

We had checked the road conditions again at Mount Augustus, however none of the web sites had been updated and the information was less than inspiring.  With a full tank of fuel, and some 350km to go to the blacktop, we decided to head off and see how we fared. Our main fear was crossing the Lyons River - near Lyndon Station - so we pushed on into the evening.  Finally around 5.30pm we had crossed the Lyons, and found a great spot to pull of the road and set up camp for the night.  As the sun set over the plain, we quickly set up and made dinner.

Camped at last

As we sat around a nice little camp fire, we paused and took stock on the previous few months of touring.  It is funny, but we thought we would be doing a lot more camping like this - on our own in the middle of no where.  As it was, our last night camping like this seemed a lifetime ago in South Australia on the Oodnadatta Track.  Perhaps it is the nature of such a trip where you want to see all the big tourist things, it is inevitable you will camp in camp grounds - but this camp was just a little bit special to us, and we enjoyed it thoroughly.  

Bush camp - bush man's fire

As the colours in the sky changed and finally faded away, the stars came out made for a beautiful evening.  Magic.

Sunset - glorious

The following morning we were on the road nice and early.  There was one important ceremony to complete as we crossed an invisible line on the road.  This is where we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn.  We are now officially in the tropics!

The Tropic of Capricorn

We made it to the black top after a some 650km of red dirt road driving.  It had been a fantastic excursion and we had thoroughly enjoyed our little adventure off the beaten track.  Both the Kennedy Range and Mount Augustus were incredibly beautiful and worthy of some more of our time.

As it was however, we had an appointment to keep.  We had a booking at Cape Range National Park that we were now two days overdue for - and The Little Fisherman had a particular challenge ahead of him.  We did a quick food, fuel and water shop in Exmouth before heading over the other side, and soon had our feet in the water as we watched the sun set.  Ahh, bliss!

We made it! Sunset over Ningaloo Reef.