Apart from the North West Coastal Highway and the Great Northern Highway (further inland) there are very few bitumen roads in the northern half of WA. We really wanted to travel some different roads and see places we didn't go last time, so we tossed around the idea of going further inland to Mount Augustus, but that would be all on dirt - over 500kms of it! The rain band that came through before we got to Kennedy Range actually came from the north west, which meant that the falls were a lot heavier to the north and east of us, and all the roads to and from Mount Augustus were closed for a few days.
The main road up to Kennedy Range was in quite good condition and we were able to comfortably average 50kph, so we decided that if the roads opened when we were leaving we'd go to Mount Augustus. Well, the roads opened, so we set off for more dirt road adventures!
Much of Ullawarra Road was quite featureless at first glance, but the types of rock changed a few times.
This is a view of Mount Sandiman.
There was also one section that had some rounded granite outcrops.
We eventually got a glimpse of the mountain we'd come all this way to see.
The view from Emu Hill Lookout.
Some views of the mountain from the campsite.
Sunset
Sunrise
We decided that the summit walk of 12.5km with 650m of elevation gain was not going to be conducive to photography, so picked the shorter trail to Edney's Lookout.
There were some petroglyphs at the start of the walk.
It was rather windy at the top, so I left Dazz up there to take photos from the summit.
This was the only section of the park where there were some gum trees. Clearly there was a bit of underground water there.
Once we were down the mountain it wasn't quite so windy, but it was still hard to spot birds because the trees were moving around a lot. Thornbills are really difficult to identify without a photo. I thought I saw a flash of brown through my binoculars, but the bird app said this could still be one of two types, depending on the eye. Fortunately Dazz managed to get a good enough photo to identify it as a Chestnut-rumped Thornbill.
We did the walk quicker than the shortest suggested time (most unusual for us - we usually take the upper limit because we stop for photos!) so had plenty of time for the other short walks. Our next stop was the Mundee petroglyphs.
The Flintstone Rock Trail had some more petroglyphs under a slab of rock.
The rocks in this area were quite water-worn and really pretty.
Before we started the walk we had heard a bird in the parking area and I had glimpsed it hiding under some thick bushes, but it went silent when Dazz came over with his camera. After the walk we went back to the same bushes and heard it again. This time the Spiny-cheeked Honeyeater sat up in the branches for a photo.
Our last stop for the day was the short Corella Trail at the Cattle Pool. We were hoping for a nice waterhole with lots of birds, but it was quite green and there were not many birds around.
