Tom Price (The Pilbara) with a view of Mount Bruce and a side trip to Mount Nameless

17^th August

Headed out from Karijini this morning (past all the people lining up for a campsite) and started to make our way towards Tom Price. On the outskirts of the National Park is Mount Bruce (they could have thought of a more inspiring name for this impressive mountain – the aboriginal name is Punurrunha) which you can climb (9km uphill) but we were satisfied with just seeing it from a distance. 

Our gorge days were not over just yet and we stopped in at Hamersley Gorge which we viewed from above at the lookout and then climbed down into the gorge to a small waterfall and an even smaller little rock pool. The water in this pool was surprisingly warm given that it seemed to be bottomless and was a beautiful light blue colour.

 

We arrived at Tom Price mid-morning and booked a room at the pub. We would have arrived about 15 minutes earlier but got held up at a level crossing waiting for a train. When you arrive at a level crossing in the Pilbara you may as well turn off your engine and have a cuppa as the trains can be up to 2km long. It is quite a sight to see. Stephen counted 236 cars adjoined to an additional three diesel engines hauling them.

Tom Price (established in only 1962 and the highest town in WA at 747m) itself is a nice place serving the mines around the area (predominantly Rio Tinto) and the town has a lovely plaza area, great visitor info centre, a few pleasant parks and lots of grass which is nice change as the Pilbara red dust has impregnated everything we own. The town was named after Thomas Moore Price who arrived in the 1960’s from the USA to appraise deposits of ore and was instrumental in convincing the mining companies that it was worth mining in the area.

Stephen was also very impressed with the hardware store (Muzzy’s Hardware) which stocked just about everything (we bought masks and snorkels there for the next leg of the journey) and all the spanners, wrenches etc were mega sized to cater for the mines.

We couldn’t check into our room till 2.30pm so took a drive about 5km out of town and then made the steep and rocky ascent to the top of Mount Nameless (height 1,128m). The aboriginal name for the mountain is Jarndrunmunhna meaning ‘place of the rock wallabies’.  It is the highest accessible mountain by vehicle in WA. The track was really quite challenging 4x4 driving, all in low range but the view at the top was terrific. 360 degree views taking in the surrounding Pilbara area, the town of Tom Price and the vast open cut Rio Tinto mine. The harshness of the mine was juxtaposed by some lovely wildflowers at the top.

Back in town we busied ourselves with housekeeping stuff – washing, shopping, water, fuel etc and I managed to find a good coffee and a beautician. Up until now on this trip we have filled our car water tanks with a bucket which is a slow, tedious process but does the job. When we arrived at the spot in town that supplies drinking water to travellers, we had to wait while the person in front of us finished filling up. They then had trouble getting their fitting off the tap so Stephen had a tool to assist. They then offered us the use of their hose to fill up our tanks which we kindly accepted – so much easier and quicker with a hose so Stephen immediately went back to that great hardware store and we are now the proud owners of a blue hose!

The other thing we needed while in town was a permit to travel on the Tom Price Railway Road tomorrow to get to our next destination. The permit is free at the Visitor’s Centre but you have to sit through a 20 minute safety DVD before they will give it to you. The road is owned and maintained by the mines and therefore lots of huge mining vehicles use it. You need to be well versed in driving etiquette with road trains and other rules and regulations that apply to the use of this road such as sticking to the 80km speed limit and a 0.0 blood alcohol level for both the driver and the passenger.

Interesting dinner at the pub. We both ordered pasta which came with garlic toast which was exactly that – two slices of white bread spread with butter and garlic seasoning and toasted.