Sacred Earth Safaris

You will be col­lect­ed from our cen­tral Ade­laide pick up at 1pm this after­noon for your 11 day 4WD Safari along the Ood­na­dat­ta, Birdsville and Strz­elec­ki tracks. This first leg of our South Aus­tralian Out­back adven­ture, takes us to Port Augus­ta, sit­u­at­ed at the head of the Spencer Gulf and known as the ​“Cross­roads of Aus­tralia” and Gate­way to the Flinders Ranges, the out­back and Spencer Gulf. After spend­ing the after­noon get­ting to know each oth­er, we’ll enjoy our first din­ner togeth­er as a group, in the hotel restau­rant. Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- motel room with en-suite, Port Augus­ta Day 2 (B,L,D)
Our des­ti­na­tion today is the opal cap­i­tal of the world, Coober Pedy and it will take us all day to get here. En-route we’ll stop for lunch and have a look at the salt lakes in the region includ­ing Lake Hart. We also take a look around the Her­itage Muse­um and Mis­sile Park at Woomera, which holds a spe­cial place in Aus­tralian Nation­al her­itage as it was the 4^th coun­try in the world to launch it’s own satel­lite- after the US, Rus­sia and France. The Woomera Rock­et Range was estab­lished in 1947 as a joint British / Aus­tralian project for devel­op­ing and test­ing exper­i­men­tal rock­ets, weapons and mis­siles. Nowa­days the Woomera Pro­hib­it­ed Area (WPA) is the largest land test­ing range in the world. Coober Pedy is as famous for it’s under­ground homes as it is for it’s opals and 50% of the pop­u­la­tion live under­ground (in homes called ​“dugouts”), as well as using under­ground shops and church­es. Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- under­ground motel room with en-suite, Coober Pedy (2 night stay) 

Day 3 (B,D)

There’s some free time this morn­ing for you to have a wan­der through the town

After lunch we take a guid­ed tour through a work­ing Opal Mine, where we get an insight of what it means to be an Opal Miner. 

Late this after­noon, we make our way out of town to the near­by Break­aways Reserve, offer­ing a strik­ing & unique exam­ple of arid scenery. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Coober Pedy 

Day 4 (B,L,D)

This morn­ing we depart Coober Pedy and head across the Moon Plain to the Paint­ed Desert (Arckaringa Hills). 

We’ll cross the Dog Fence for the first time today.The longest fence in the world, at 5300km’s, it stretch­es across 3 states. 

The Paint­ed Desert is an ancient Inland Sea bed where the hills are the result of rain, weath­er and erosion. 

After view­ing the Paint­ed Desert from the look­out, we con­tin­ue through to Ood­na­dat­ta. Famous for it’s pink road­house, the town was orig­i­nal­ly cre­at­ed when the Over­land Tele­graph Line was laid and then became the north­ern ter­mi­nus for the Cen­tral Aus­tralia Railway. 

After lunch we join the 615km unsealed Ood­na­dat­ta Track, which is lit­tered with ruins of old town sites, sta­tion ruins, homes, cairns and rem­nants of the old rail­way line, the short-lived gold rush and the Over­land Tele­graph Line. En-route to William Creek, we stop at Alge­buck­i­na Bridge his­toric site. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion — motel room with en-suite, William Creek Pub Hotel 

Day 5 (B,L,D)

There’s time this morn­ing for option­al 1 hour scenic flights over Lake Eyre (own expense). 

Depart­ing William Creek, we make our way out to Hal­li­gan Bay at Lake Eyre North for a look at the mag­nif­i­cent lake with it’s incred­i­ble colours and pat­terns. Lake Eyre is Australia’s low­est point, the largest inland lake in Aus­tralia and the largest salt lake in the world ! 

We con­tin­ue explor­ing the Ood­na­dat­ta Track this morn­ing, head­ing south towards Mar­ree, stop­ping en-route at the nat­ur­al arte­sian springs with­in Wab­ma Kadar­bu Mound Springs Con­ser­va­tion Park and the Lake Eyre South look­out. We then reach Mar­ree, which is sit­u­at­ed at the cross­roads of the Ood­na­dat­ta and Birdsville Tracks and you have some free time to look around the town or vis­it the Tom Kruse Museum. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion – motel room with en-suite, Mar­ree Pub Hotel 

Day 6 (B,L,D)

Depart­ing Mar­ree, we now trav­el north on the famous stock route, which is the Birdsville Track. the 517km track was estab­lished in the 1860s as the main stock route to bring cat­tle from cen­tral Queens­land to the rail­way in Mar­ree. En-route, we have a look at the ruins of the Lake Har­ry Date Plan­ta­tion, stop at the Coop­er Creek Cross­ing and Munger­an­nie pub and wetlands. 

Cross­ing into Queens­land, we arrive into Birdsville and then take a local­ly run tour out to ​“Big Red”, the largest and most famous sand dune in the Simp­son Desert. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- motel room with en-suite, Birdsville Pub Hotel 

Day 7 (B,L,D)

This morn­ing we head south again, through Cat­tle Coun­try and back into South Aus­tralia to Innam­inc­ka, made famous by Vic­to­ri­an explor­ers Burke and Wills and their ill-fat­ed explo­ration across cen­tral Australia.

En-route we enjoy the view at Deon’s Look­out and vis­it The Dream­time Ser­pent – a work of art rep­re­sent­ing a series of path­ways trav­elled through Coun­try to con­nect the riv­er sys­tems in the Chan­nel Coun­try of the Dia­man­ti­na Shire. 

On arrival into Innam­inc­ka, we vis­it the famous Burke and Wills Dig Tree (camp LXV). 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- motel room with en-suite, Innam­inc­ka Pub Hotel 

Day 8 (B,L,D)

We depart Innam­inc­ka this morn­ing and head south to join the last of our leg­endary Out­back Tracks- the Strz­elec­ki Track, named after Pol­ish explor­er and geol­o­gist Paul Edmund de Strzelecki. 

Our first stop today is the view­point at the Moom­ba oil and gas­fields. Nat­ur­al gas was first dis­cov­ered in the region in 1966 and was fol­lowed by the dis­cov­ery of oil in 1970. Moom­ba is now a major sup­pli­er of both for Aus­tralian and over­seas markets. 

We con­tin­ue down the Strz­elec­ki Track and turn off towards Arka­roola Wilder­ness Sanc­tu­ary. The pri­vate­ly owned sanc­tu­ary was found­ed in 1969 by Reg Sprigg, Biol­o­gist, Oceanog­ra­ph­er, Con­ser­va­tion­ist, sci­en­tist and pio­neer of eco-tourism. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- motel room with en-suite, Arka­roola Wilder­ness Sanctuary 

Day 9 (B,L,D)

This morn­ing you’ll take Arkaroola’s famous Ridgetop tour- an unfor­get­table encounter with the time­less ter­rain and unique nat­ur­al beau­ty of Arka­roola Wilder­ness Sanc­tu­ary. Learn from your Arka­roola guides about Arka­roolas 1600 mil­lion year old geo­log­i­cal his­to­ry as they nav­i­gate the steep slopes and hair rais­ing ascents of the Ridgetop Track. Inspir­ing images of red gran­ite moun­tains and gold­en spinifex cov­ered hill­sides give way to a breath-tak­ing view across the Freel­ing Heights, Lake From and the desert beyond. Take in the 360 degree panora­ma as you enjoy morn­ing tea at Sillers Look­out- a lofty pin­na­cle at the end of the track. 

Depart­ing Arka­roola, we make our way today into the cen­tral Ikara- Flinders Ranges, known for their unique beau­ty, indige­nous his­to­ry, ancient geo­log­i­cal for­ma­tions, rich colours and tex­tures and abun­dant wildlife. The Ikara-Flinders Ranges are home to a huge array of plant species, birds, rep­tiles and mam­mals and the vibrant colours of the 800 mil­lion-year-old quartzite and lime­stone out­crop that is the Flinders, are tru­ly spectacular. 

Con­di­tions per­mit­ting, we’ll take the back road and stop en-route in the old min­ing town of Blinman. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Wilpe­na Pound Resort- stan­dard room with en-suite (2 night stay) 

Day 10 (B,L,D)

This morn­ing you have the option of tak­ing a walk into Wilpe­na Pound or take a scenic flight (at own expense). Walk along the beau­ti­ful Wilpe­na Creek, framed by huge riv­er red gums, into Wilpe­na Pound. Walk­ing on to the Old Hills Home­stead, you can learn about the hard­ships the Hills fam­i­ly had to face at the turn of the cen­tu­ry with the option of walk­ing up to the Wan­gara look­out to see the mys­ti­cal heart of the Ikara-Flinders Ranges with stun­ning views over Wilpe­na Pound. There is a shut­tle avail­able to short­en the walk,that can take you up and back again (extra cost- approx. $5 each way). 

After lunch we depart for an after­noon of explor­ing. Our first stop is the Bun­yeroo Val­ley and Gorge, where we stop for pho­tos at the spec­tac­u­lar Razor­back Look­out. This leads us through the Hey­sen Ranges onto the Brachi­na Gorge Geo­log­i­cal Trail, a trail that pass­es through 130 mil­lion years of earth his­to­ry, includ­ing mete­orite debris, stro­ma­to­lites and fos­silized plant and ani­mal life. It offers an insight into past cli­mates, the for­ma­tion of the ranges and the evo­lu­tion of ear­ly forms of life. It’s also an impor­tant refuge for the rare and endan­gered Yel­low-foot­ed Rock-wallaby. 

To take us back to Wilpe­na Pound, we take the Moralana Scenic Dri­ve, which con­nects the Wilpe­na and Leigh Creek Roads and is known as one of the best dri­ves through the Flinders Ranges. We’ll see stun­ning scenery fea­tur­ing the south­ern wall of Wilpe­na Pound, Black Gap Look­out, red Range, Elder Range and more. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Wilpe­na Pound Resort- stan­dard room with en-suite 

Day 11 (B,L)

Depart­ing the Ikara-Flinders Ranges, we head south towards Hawk­er, the hub of the Ikara-Flinders Ranges and a thriv­ing rail­way town until the line was relo­cat­ed west in 1956. 

After a quick look around the town, we take the RM Williams High­way for a scenic dri­ve through Orro­roo, Jamestown and Clare. In Clare, we vis­it a local cel­lar door / bak­ery for tast­ings and lunch before con­tin­u­ing to Ade­laide. We arrive at approx­i­mate­ly 6pm and you will be dropped off at your accommodation. 

END OF TOUR 

B= Break­fast L= Lunch D= Dinner

Upon arrival into Perth, please call our Perth Air­port hotel for a com­pli­men­ta­ry pick up to the hotel. 

The rest of the day is at your leisure until din­ner this evening, which will be our first as a group. Your dri­ver guide and tour escort will run through the itin­er­ary with you for the next week and this is a great oppor­tu­ni­ty to get to know your fel­low travellers. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- The Ingot Hotel at Perth Air­port- motel room with en-suite 

Day 1 – 19^th Aug (B,L,D)

We depart the hotel at 7am to begin our 11 day Wild­flow­ers Pho­to tour. The wild­flower col­lec­tion in West­ern Aus­tralia is the largest on Earth. With more than 12,000 species, over 60% of which are found nowhere else on Earth, they colour the land­scapes from coast to for­est and city to out­back. The six-month flow­er­ing sea­son begins in the north in June and July on the vast out­back plains of the Pil­bara, Gold­fields and Coral Coast where vibrant blooms con­trast with pin­dan earth, rugged canyons and turquoise sea. By Sep­tem­ber, it has moved south and reached Perth’s botan­i­cal gar­dens, nature reserves and nation­al parks, fin­ish­ing with a flur­ry in Octo­ber and Novem­ber through­out the forests and coastal heaths of the South West. 

Our first stop is the town of Moo­ra, approx. 2 hours from Perth and sit­u­at­ed on the banks of the Moore Riv­er in the Wheat­belt Region. Rare and beau­ti­ful species can be found along the Moo­ra Wild­flower dri­ve, with nice views and plen­ty of excel­lent pho­to opportunities. 

We now trav­el west to Badgin­gar­ra NP, renowned for its incred­i­bly diverse bush­land that becomes ablaze with the bril­liant colours of wild­flow­ers dur­ing late win­ter and spring (August- Novem­ber). You have the option here to take the Iain Wil­son Nature Trail (for­mer­ly named the Badgin­gar­ra Nature Trail), which is a 2km/​2 hour trail (with an option­al 1.5km look­out detour), fea­tur­ing many species of wildflowers. 

The Park is also home to numer­ous rep­tiles, emus, kan­ga­roos and a vari­ety of bird life includ­ing bus­tards and wedge-tailed eagles. The trail has numer­ous oppor­tu­ni­ties to view the sur­round­ing land­scape and wild­flow­ers as it ris­es to its high point. It is rugged coun­try with a steep hill climb and two look­out van­tage points. 

Our des­ti­na­tion this after­noon is the town of Cer­vantes, the gate­way to the Pin­na­cles Desert and Nam­bung NP. 

After check­ing in and drop­ping our bags off, we con­tin­ue 17kms south to Nam­bung NP, made up of 17,000 hectares of coastal heath­land and home to a vari­ety of native plants and ani­mals. The Pin­na­cles are amaz­ing nat­ur­al lime­stone struc­tures, some stand­ing as high as five metres, which were formed approx­i­mate­ly 25,000 to 30,000 years ago, after the sea reced­ed and left deposits of sea shells. Over time, coastal winds removed the sur­round­ing sand, leav­ing the pil­lars exposed to the ele­ments. Whilst dri­ving around this park, we may also see wildlife includ­ing Kan­ga­roo and Emu. We’ll take the 1.2 walk through the park and we’ll stay in the park for sun­set pho­to opportunities. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Motel room with en-suite in Cer­vantes (3 night stay) 

Day 2 – 20^th Aug (B,L,D)

Our first stop today is Lesueur Nation­al Park, which is home to over 900 plant species – 10 per cent of West­ern Australia’s known flo­ra. Lesueur Nation­al Park is a bio­di­ver­si­ty hotspot and ranks as one of the most impor­tant reserves for flo­ra con­ser­va­tion in WA. We take the one-way 18.5‑km scenic dri­ve loop, which has many oppor­tu­ni­ties to stop and take a clos­er look or fol­low marked trails deep­er into the bush, up Mount Lesueur or down into Cock­leshell Gully. 

The park is also home to a wide vari­ety of fau­na includ­ing 122 species of birds, 15 species of native mam­mals, 52 species of rep­tile and a vari­ety of insects includ­ing 29 species of the colour­ful jew­el bee­tle, all of which are pro­tect­ed. These insects can be dis­tin­guished by their bright metal­lic colour­ing, usu­al­ly yel­low, blue, red or orange. One insect we need to be pre­pared for is the bush tick, so we’ll all need to wear insect repel­lent today! 

Our next stop is Alexan­der Mor­ri­son Nation­al Park. In ​‘break­away’ coun­try, this park is renowned for its incred­i­ble diver­si­ty of endem­ic wildflowers. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Motel room with en-suite in Cervantes 

Day 3 – 21^st Aug (B,L,D)

Today we’ll take the Car­namah-Ene­ab­ba Wild­flower Dri­ve, which pro­vides one of the largest and most spec­tac­u­lar wild­flower dis­plays in West­ern Australia. 

Along the dri­ve we turn off into Tathra Nation­al Park, which in the local Nyan­gar peo­ples’ lan­guage means ​“beau­ti­ful place.” This open sandy coun­try is called the ​‘kwon­gan’. The kwon­gan con­tains over 2600 species of plants, over 70% of the species in south­ern West­ern Aus­tralia. Many kwon­gan species have spe­cialised adap­ta­tions to grow in the low nutri­ent soils of this region and have deep root sys­tems to obtain sub-sur­face mois­ture and spe­cialised feed­er roots in the humus layer. 

We con­tin­ue into his­toric Car­namah. The Car­namah Bell (pic­tured) is an endan­gered wild­flower found only with­in a 100km radius of Car­namah. Also known as the Har­le­quin Bell, this wild­flower is a dwarf shrub with green, red or yel­low coloured bell-shaped flowers. 

Next we vis­it Coorow and will either take the Coorow farm wild­flower trail, or hunt for wreath flow­ers, depend­ing on what is best at the time. 

Our final stop today is Three Springs, renowned for its pic­turesque town­scape and old style wheat silos, vis­i­ble from all roads lead­ing into town. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Motel room with en-suite in Cervantes 

Day 4 – 22^nd Aug (B,L,D)

Today we trav­el to the town of Min­genew, where we can take the Min­genew Wild­flower Walk, locat­ed south west of the Min­genew Recre­ation Cen­tre. This is an ide­al place to expe­ri­ence many vari­eties of wildflowers. 

Next is the rugged reserve of Depot Hill, a short 12km dri­ve north­west of Min­genew via the Allanooka Springs Rd. As well as the range of wild­flow­ers, you may like to walk the bush track up to the his­toric WW2 Army Rifle Range (30 mins). 

Near­by Coalseam Con­ser­va­tion Park is a renowned site for its car­pets of native pink and white ever­last­ings and yel­low pom pom wildflowers. 

The area was named the Coalseam after the Gre­go­ry broth­ers dis­cov­ered coal in 1846. This marked the first dis­cov­ery of coal in West­ern Aus­tralia, but only nar­row seams of poor qual­i­ty coal were found and the site was aban­doned. The park still has rem­nants of its min­ing his­to­ry as well as the many marine fos­sils embed­ded in the river­bank and the mag­nif­i­cent lime­stone cliffs from the Per­mi­an Ice Age, 250 mil­lion years ago. 

But Coalseam Con­ser­va­tion Park is best known for its annu­al dis­play of wild­flow­ers, which come in a wide range of annu­als and peren­ni­als due to the park’s diverse habi­tat range and loca­tion between sand­plain and arid country. 

At the River­bend site, a sec­tion of the Irwin Riv­er has carved a strik­ing cliff face into the Vic­to­ria Plateau. A cross-sec­tion of the under­ly­ing rock lay­ers is exposed, offer­ing an insight into the inter­est­ing geol­o­gy of the park. The lay­ers of rock span five evo­lu­tion­ary peri­ods and pro­vide valu­able visu­al evi­dence of how the local land­scape was formed. From the Min­ers pic­nic area, you may like to take the 700m / 30 mins return walk to a view­ing plat­form over a dis­used mine shaft with signs explain­ing it’s history. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Motel room with en-suite in Dongara 

Day 5 – 23^rd Aug (B)

It’s a short dri­ve to Ger­ald­ton today and en-route we take a look around the Cen­tral Gree­nough His­toric Set­tle­ment, which are now con­served by the Nation­al Trust of Aus­tralia (WA). They pro­vide a rare insight into the ear­ly set­tle­ment of agri­cul­tur­al lands. 

We also stop to pho­to­graph the lean­ing trees of Gree­nough. Buf­fet­ed by pre­vail­ing souther­ly winds, the trees (Euca­lyp­tus Camal­d­u­len­sis or Red Riv­er are found through­out south­ern Aus­tralia grow­ing along water­cours­es and on flood plains. It is only on the windswept Gree­nough Flats that the tree devel­ops its dis­tinc­tive lean­ing shape. 

We reach Ger­ald­ton before lunch and you have the rest of the day at your leisure to look around the town- per­haps vis­it one of the muse­ums, St Fran­cis Xavier Cathe­dral, the HMAS Syd­ney II memo­r­i­al, Old Gaol Muse­um and Craft Cen­tre or vis­it the Chap­man Riv­er Region­al Park with its vast array of flow­er­ing plants, bird and ani­mal life. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Ocean Cen­tre Hotel, Ger­ald­ton- hotel room with en-suite. Locat­ed right next to the beach. 

Day 6 – 24^th Aug (B,L,D)

Our first stop today is the charm­ing 1860s her­itage-list­ed Oak­a­bel­la Home­stead, which has been beau­ti­ful­ly restored. Sit­ting on 1,000 acres of lush farm­land, the site also includes its orig­i­nal unique barn and restored shear­ing shed. We’ll have a stroll through the shear­ing shed and sta­bles, fol­lowed by morn­ing tea. 

A lit­tle fur­ther north is Port Gre­go­ry and the near­by Lyn­ton town­site, a his­toric set­tle­ment built by con­victs in the mid-19^th cen­tu­ry. This con­vict hir­ing sta­tion employed con­victs to work at the local Geral­dine Mine and local pas­toral stations. 

Port Gre­go­ry pro­vides a beau­ti­ful scenic dri­ve through hills and val­leys and wild­flow­ers in Spring. The shel­tered waters and exposed reef at low tide are a fea­ture of the end­less white beach and are adja­cent to the stun­ning Pink Lake. 

Depart­ing the Gre­go­ry area, we con­tin­ue north to Kalbar­ri Nation­al Park and explore the parks coastal Gorges includ­ing Island Rock and the Nat­ur­al Arch, which pro­vide spec­tac­u­lar views of this rugged piece of coast­line. The ocean here has carved out mas­sive chunks of soft lime­stone coast and cre­at­ed tow­er­ing cliff for­ma­tions approx­i­mate­ly 100 metres high, strange rocky shapes, seclud­ed beach­es and colour­ful lay­ered sands and silts com­pact­ed and lay­ered in stone. 

Begin­ning in late June, the dry sand plains and coastal gorges of Kalbar­ri Nation­al Park trans­form into a vivid dis­play of colour. In the 5 months that fol­low, over 1,100 species of West­ern Aus­tralian wild­flow­ers will burst into bloom across the Kalbar­ri region. Many of these are endem­ic to the region. 

Look out for wild­flow­ers on the coastal cliff tops and in the gorge coun­try. Most com­mon places to find wild­flow­ers on the Kalbar­ri Coastal Cliffs are between Rain­bow Val­ley and Mush­room Rock with orchids at Nat­ur­al Bridge and Red Bluff sites. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Kalbar­ri Edge Resort in Stu­dio rooms with en-suites (2 night stay) 

Day 7 – 25^th Aug (B,L,D)

We spend this morn­ing explor­ing the inland gorges of Kalbar­ri Nation­al Park. 

Dri­ving through the park, the Murchi­son Riv­er Gorges slash abrupt­ly through the Sand Plain. It is esti­mat­ed that these tum­bla­goo­da sand­stone walls were cre­at­ed 400 mil­lion years ago on the tidal flats of an ancient sea. Fos­sil tracks and sea fos­sils can be found in many places along the riv­er. Rip­pled sur­faces can be seen around Nature’s Win­dow, formed dur­ing ancient times by waves mov­ing over tidal flats in a shal­low sea. 

A 400m walk from The Loop car park brings you to one of WA’s most icon­ic nat­ur­al attrac­tions, Nature’s Win­dow (pictured).This nat­ur­al rock arch frames the riv­er view per­fect­ly and is a must-snap pho­to­graph oppor­tu­ni­ty in Kalbar­ri Nation­al Park. 

**please note that the Kalbar­ri Sky­walk is cur­rent­ly under con­struc­tion at West Loop Look­out. This should be com­plet­ed by our vis­it but as fees have not yet been advised, if you wish to take the sky­walk, this will be at your own expense** 

There will be some free time this after­noon for you to take a look around Kalbar­ri and then late this after­noon, we’ll take a 2.5 hour pri­vate sun­set cruise on the Murchi­son Riv­er. The low­er reach­es of the riv­er are home to a num­ber of species of birdlife includ­ing Ospreys, Kites, Pel­i­cans, Egrets ​‚Aus­tralian Shell Ducks, Black Swans and our local White White Breast­ed Sea Eagles. As well as Emus, Kan­ga­roos and Goats are often seen on the river­banks. The riv­er at times can be 40mm deep with mul­let jump­ing, small fish and crabs. 

The Murchi­son is a very vital ecosys­tem and what is seen on each cruise is always different 

At the turn around point some­times there is time to pull up to the shore and take a stroll along the river­bank, then on the return jour­ney plen­ty of time to relax, take pho­tos and enjoy. 

The cruise comes to and end at the Murchi­son Riv­er Mouth, one of WA’s most treach­er­ous. It’s impres­sive to watch the water move through chan­nel and boats come and go. 

**please note the cruise is sub­ject to tides** 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Kalbar­ri Edge Resort in Stu­dio rooms with en-suites 

Day 8 – 26^th Aug (B,L,D)

We depart Kalbar­ri today and dri­ve south to the town of Mulle­wa, one of the few places in the world that the wreath flower grows (pic­tured).

We arrive at lunchtime and take the Wild­flower Walk is a pic­turesque 2,820 metre cir­cuit through bush land renowned for its stun­ning wild­flower dis­plays. This easy to fol­low trail starts and fin­ish­es on Lovers Lane oppo­site the car­a­van park and takes between 40 and 70 min­utes to complete. 

This after­noon you have free to wan­der around the town. You may like to take the 2.3km / 1 hour Mulle­wa Bush­land Trail which offers an insight into the land­scape via a num­ber of inter­pre­ta­tive pan­els. It looks at bush tuck­er, the geol­o­gy of the region, the mul­ga and salt­bush and pro­vides pos­si­bil­i­ties to see kan­ga­roos, euros, lizards and bun­gar­ras (goan­nas) and plants used for bush med­i­cine. Anoth­er option is the Rail­way Her­itage Loop, cov­er­ing a dis­tance of 1.4 km (about 30 – 40 min­utes). Inter­pre­ta­tive pan­els tell the sto­ry of the open­ing of the rail­way from Ger­ald­ton to Mulle­wa in 1894; the inland line to Northam in 1915; and the rail­way hous­es which devel­oped in Mulle­wa in the 1940s. The loop has thir­teen infor­ma­tion boards and includes the Sta­tion Mas­ter’s House, the Rail­way Insti­tute and the Rail­way Station. 

The Mulle­wa Town Her­itage Walk is a 1.1 km loop (it takes 30 – 40 min­utes) around the town cen­tre which pass­es 22 places of inter­est. There are also a range of his­toric build­ings in the town, built by WA archi­tect-priest Mon­sign­or John Hawes. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Motel room with en-suite – Mulle­wa Rail­way Hotel **please note that sin­gle rooms here have king sin­gle beds only and the price reflects this** 

Day 9 – 27^th Aug (B,L,D)

Con­tin­u­ing south today, we arrive in Morawa, known as the Heart of the Wild­flow­ers and one of the most pro­lif­ic areas for native flow­er­ing plants. Car­pets of ever­last­ings are a fea­ture and attrac­tion how­ev­er the area is known world-wide for the unique and dis­tinc­tive Wreath Flower (Leschenaultia macrantha). 

Our des­ti­na­tion today is Dal­wallinu and en-route we stop in Peren­jori, at Wubin Rocks and Bun­tine Rock. 

Some of the many wild­flow­ers we may be lucky enough to spot in the Peren­jori dis­trict include car­pets of Ever­last­ings, unique and dis­tinc­tive Wreath Flower as well as the bright orange Wild Pomegranate. 

The pho­to­genic Bun­tine Rock pro­vides panoram­ic views of the sur­round­ing coun­try­side and around the rock are dis­plays of Ever­last­ings, sev­er­al types of Orchids, Wat­tles and Melaleucas. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- room with en-suite – The Old Con­vent Dal­wallinu **please note that sin­gle rooms here have king sin­gle beds only and the price reflects this** 

Day 10 – 28^th Aug (B,L,D)

We spend today in the Won­gan Hills region, in the Wheat­belt dis­trict. The name Won­gan Hills comes from the Abo­rig­i­nal words ​‘Won­gan Kat­ta’, which trans­lates to ​‘Talk­ing Hills’, refer­ring to the wind whis­per­ing through the hills which rise North-West of the townsite. 

Gath­er­cole Nature Reserve is locat­ed just out­side of Won­gan Hills and offers a short five minute scenic walk to view some fas­ci­nat­ing sculp­tured rocks and fur­ther along the trail you may see native ani­mals and superb dis­plays of wild­flow­ers includ­ing rare flo­ra. Views across the farm­land and into the dis­tance are avail­able along the walk. 

The 2.5km Christ­mas Rock Walk is on the out­skirts of Town. Wan­der along the rock wall used to divert water to the town dam, lis­ten to the many birds and see the vari­ety of colour­ful wildflowers. 

The 1km Won­gan Wildflower/​Christ­mas Rock Walk is locat­ed in the town area. Enjoy a leisure­ly stroll around the track, read the inter­pre­tive signs and enjoy the wild­flow­ers. You may even see an Echid­na or two on your travels. 

A lit­tle fur­ther afield, Mount Matil­da is the high­est point of the Won­gan Hills Nature Reserve, at 434m. These hills are the largest sin­gle area of nat­ur­al veg­e­ta­tion remain­ing in the north­ern wheat­belt. The area is extreme­ly diverse with more than 1400 species of flow­er­ing plants and 24 species are unique to the Won­gan Hills. We won’t have to do all the trail walk but will be able to do some of it which includes look­outs, huge­ly attrac­tive gim­let trees and the pos­si­bil­i­ty of see­ing Mallee fowl and their nests. These birds are rel­a­tive­ly rare and are remark­able in that they build nest mounds filled with vegetation. 

Our accom­mo­da­tion this evening is in his­toric York, the first inland Euro­pean set­tle­ment in WA and sit­u­at­ed in the Avon Valley. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Ter­race motel room with en-suite –The York Palace Hotel and Terraces 

Day 11 – 29^th Aug (B,L,D)

This morn­ing you may like to take a short walk to the York Bush­land Gar­den, which is run by the local Branch of the Wild­flower Soci­ety and con­tains a wide range of wheat­belt plants. 

We now begin our dri­ve back to Perth call­ing into John For­rest Nation­al Park en-route. Sit­u­at­ed in the Dar­ling Scarp this was the 1^st nation­al park in West­ern Aus­tralia and the sec­ond in Aus­tralia after Roy­al Nation­al Park. John For­rest Nation­al Park is set in jar­rah for­est still large­ly in its nat­ur­al state. The uplands are dom­i­nat­ed by jar­rah and mar­ri. The val­ley floor fea­tures flood­ed gum, swamp pep­per­mint and paper­barks. The park has 10 species of native mam­mal (one declared rare), and 91 species of bird (two con­sid­ered to be in need of spe­cial pro­tec­tion), 23 species of rep­tile and 10 species of frog. 

A slow dri­ve along the full length of Park Road will show you many of the 500 odd species of wild­flow­ers record­ed for this park. 

We’ll park in the main pic­nic area (due to our vehi­cle size) but the rest of the park is large­ly unde­vel­oped for those who enjoy the wilder­ness. You can access Hov­ea Falls by strolling about 800 metres east of the main pic­nic area while Nation­al Park Falls is 700m along the John For­rest Her­itage Trail, which is a 2.5km loop walk in total. There is also the option of tak­ing the Wild­flower Walk or Glen Brook trail. The Wild­flower Walk is a 4.5km / 2 hour loop walk that high­lights the diver­si­ty and colour of the many wild­flow­ers in the park. The Glen Brook trail is 2.2kms / 1 hour- fol­low the path up the val­ley to the Glen Brook Dam dis­cov­er­ing wild­flow­ers, birds and pos­si­bly a kan­ga­roo head­ing in for a refresh­ing drink. Expect some steps, short steep sec­tions and slip­pery sur­faces on both walks which are both classed as mod­er­ate­ly difficult. 

Depart­ing the park, it’s now only a short dri­ve into Perth and we head back to our accom­mo­da­tion with time to fresh­en up before our final group din­ner together. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- The Ingot Hotel at Perth Air­port- motel room with en-suite 

Depar­ture day from Perth- 30^th Aug (B)

After check out, please make your way to Perth Air­port for your onward flight. A free shut­tle ser­vice is avail­able at the hotel. 

For any­one stay­ing on an extra day or two, Kings Park in Perth CBD has an excel­lent wild­flower dis­play in its Botan­i­cal Gar­dens with free guid­ed walks at 10am and 2pm (sub­ject to change). 

Upon arrival into Devon­port, please make your way to our hotel. 

This evening we’ll meet for our first group din­ner, where we’ll run over the itin­er­ary and you have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to get to know your fel­low travelers. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Qual­i­ty Gate­way Inn- Exec­u­tive room with en-suite 

Day 2 — Thurs­day 11^th Nov 2021 (B,L)

We’ll depart the hotel at 7.30am this morn­ing to begin our adven­ture through Wild Tasmania. 

We head south to Lev­en Canyon, a spec­tac­u­lar 250m-deep ravine worn over tens of thou­sands of years by rains and the Lev­en Riv­er which flows at its base. It is esti­mat­ed that between 45,000 and 70,000 kilo­litres of water roars through the canyon every day, which can be viewed from a cliff-face view­ing plat­form, acces­si­ble by a short rain­for­est walk. Or take on the chal­lenge of 697 for­est stairs ! 

Then onto near­by Gunns Plains Caves, where we take a 1 hour tour through the cave, formed by an under­ground riv­er that still flows and con­tains fresh­wa­ter cray­fish, fish and eel. Platy­pus sleep and nest in the sandy banks along the riv­er. It is renowned for its mag­nif­i­cent for­ma­tions, includ­ing cal­cite shawls and flow­stones, and has a glow-worm display. 

We now dri­ve along the north­ern coast towards our accom­mo­da­tion tonight in Stan­ley. En- route, we vis­it Dip Falls and Big Tree. The beau­ti­ful Dip Falls can be viewed from a view­ing plat­form and a path leads down some steps to the base of the falls and its unique rock formations. 

From the car park you can also walk 5 min to the Big Tree in the Big Tree Reserve, which dwarfs the sur­round­ing trees with it’s cir­cum­fer­ence of near­ly 17m ! 

Our des­ti­na­tion this after­noon is fur­ther west, to Stan­ley, famous for The Nut, an ancient extinct vol­cano 152 metres high which offers spec­tac­u­lar views over the Bass Strait and 360 degree views of the township. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Stan­ley Seav­iew Inn- motel room 

Day 3 — Fri­day 12^th Nov (B,L,D)

We explore Stan­ley this morn­ing. You can choose to walk to The Nut plateau (10−20 mins each way) or take the chair­lift (extra cost- cur­rent­ly $16 pp return).Once at the top, soak up the incred­i­ble views and there’s a 1 hour cir­cuit track around the Nut plateau. 

This after­noon we trav­el to the west coast and Gar­diner Point, known as the ​“Edge of the World” The sea west of Tas­ma­nia is the longest unin­ter­rupt­ed expanse of ocean on the globe. From Argenti­na the cur­rents sweep unim­ped­ed more than halfway around the plan­et until they hit this point. The wild roar­ing for­ties (strong west­er­ly winds) bat­ter this coast from across the Great South­ern Ocean, mak­ing you tru­ly feel you are at the edge of the world. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Tall Tim­bers Hotel, Smithton 

Day 4 — Sat­ur­day 13^th Nov (B,L,D)

This morn­ing we explore the Tarkine Wilder­ness. Our first stop is Trowut­ta Arch, which was formed by two col­laps­ing cave sys­tems, the arch to one side is filled with water and the oth­er with gigan­tic Man Ferns. Here we take an easy 10 minute walk to the arch for fan­tas­tic pho­to opportunities. 

After stop­ping at a cou­ple of look­outs, we con­tin­ue south along the West­ern Explor­er dri­ve to Corin­na. The West­ern Explor­er joins the north and the south­ern ends of the Tarkine, tran­sect­ing the world’s largest remain­ing stretch of tem­per­ate rain­for­est. From coastal tea tree to but­ton grass plains, from tow­er­ing euca­lypts to the soft myr­tle beech and man ferns, from coastal and moun­tain land­scapes, the West­ern Explor­er takes us around and over the Nor­folk Ranges and is an expe­ri­ence in itself. 

We arrive in Corin­na, a remote set­tle­ment on the banks of the Pie­man riv­er where we’ll spend the next 2 nights. As this is tru­ly the wilder­ness, there is no mobile phone recep­tion or inter­net ser­vice. Your guide has a satel­lite phone in the event of an emer­gency and of course there is a pub/​restau­rant as well. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Corin­na Cot­tages, with en-suites (2 night stay) 

Day 5 — Sun­day 14^th Nov (B,L)

This morn­ing you’ll take the Pie­man Riv­er Cruise to Pie­man Head on the Arca­dia II, a mag­nif­i­cent 17m craft built of huon pine in 1939. The skip­per pro­vides com­men­tary on the unique his­to­ry, flo­ra and fau­na, and takes the Arca­dia close enough to the banks for guests to actu­al­ly touch the ancient rain­for­est, includ­ing many spec­i­mens of huon pine. 

This after­noon is at your leisure to relax and enjoy your sur­rounds. There are a vari­ety of walks avail­able to you from 5 mins to sev­er­al hours and the for­est is also rich in bird life and wildlife, includ­ing the Tas­man­ian Devil. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Corin­na Cot­tages, with en-suites 

Day 6 — Mon­day 15^th Nov (B,L)

After break­fast we dri­ve to the small town of Waratah, locat­ed on the edge of Lake Waratah. The town has a rich min­ing past and a mag­nif­i­cent water­fall in the town cen­tre ! Once home to the rich­est tin mine in the south­ern hemi­sphere, we can now vis­it the restored Stam­per Mill. 

Our des­ti­na­tion today is the Cra­dle Moun­tain, Lake St Clair NP and there should be some free time this after­noon, before we depart for the Tas­man­ian Dev­il Sanc­tu­ary for an evening guid­ed tour. Dev­ils are pri­mar­i­ly a noc­tur­nal species there­fore far more active at night, so envi­ron­men­tal­ly sen­si­tive light­ing is used with a focus on the social inter­ac­tions and feed­ing habits of these unique car­ni­vores. The sanc­tu­ar­ies Tas­man­ian Dev­il pop­u­la­tion forms part of the nation-wide Cap­tive Breed­ing Pro­gram, they have a Field Mon­i­tor­ing Pro­gram and Orphan Reha­bil­i­ta­tion Program. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Pep­pers Cra­dle Moun­tain Lodge, Pen­cil Pine Cab­ins with en-suites (2 night stay) 

Day 7 — Tues­day 16^th Nov (B,L)

You have the whole day to explore Cra­dle Moun­tain at your leisure. There are a range of walks avail­able from short walks under an hour to longer walks of 4- 5 hours, includ­ing the famous Dove Lake Walk ( approx.2 hours) . We would also rec­om­mend a vis­it to ​‘Wald­heim’, the rus­tic chalet that was once home for Gus­tav Wein­dor­fer, the found­ing father of the Cra­dle Moun­tain — Lake St Clair Nation­al Park. Stop by, and let the dis­plays inside the build­ing tell you the sto­ry of its past. The area in which the chalet is set is sim­ply beau­ti­ful. So you can explore at your leisure, today you’ll be pro­vid­ed with shut­tle bus tick­ets for the loop bus which oper­ates every 30 min­utes through the day mak­ing it easy to explore the park. 

The park is also fan­tas­tic for bird watch­ing and photography. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Pep­pers Cra­dle Moun­tain Lodge, Pen­cil Pine Cab­ins with en-suites 

Day 8 — Wednes­day 17^th Nov (B,L,D)

Head­ing fur­ther south today we trav­el through the min­ing town of Rose­ber­ry to Zee­han, where we vis­it the inter­est­ing West Coast Her­itage Cen­tre, a muse­um ded­i­cat­ed to the his­to­ry and pio­neers of the West Coast of Tasmania.The muse­um attrac­tions include pho­to gal­leries, loco­mo­tives, min­ing machin­ery, black­smith shop, marine dis­play, Mason­ic Dis­play, crocite cav­ern, pio­neer wom­ens gallery, the his­toric Gai­ety The­atre (Edwar­dian films play­ing dai­ly) and a world class min­er­al collection. 

We now make our way to our accom­mo­da­tion for the next 2 nights in Stra­han, a pret­ty har­bour-side vil­lage with a dark and fas­ci­nat­ing con­vict past, set on the edge of the Tas­man­ian Wilder­ness World Her­itage Area. Nes­tled on the shores of mas­sive Mac­quar­ie Har­bour, Stra­han is the gate­way to the World Her­itage list­ed Franklin – Gor­don Wild Rivers Nation­al Park. 

We have some free time in the town this after­noon, for you to browse the shops along the water­front, enjoy the beach, walk to the Water Tow­er Hill Look­out or through the rain­for­est to Hog­a­rth Falls. You may also like to see the ​“The Ship that nev­er was” ​‚a 1 ¼ hour play telling the dra­mat­ic and hilar­i­ous true sto­ry of the Great Escape from Sarah Island. The play is staged every night at 5.30pm for approx $25 pp. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Stra­han Vil­lage, Stan­dard Hill­top rooms (2 night stay) 

Day 9 — Thurs­day 18^th Nov (B,L)

Today you’ll take a 6 hour cruise on the Gor­don Riv­er from 9am- 3pm. See some of Australia’s old­est con­vict ruins on Sarah Island, a set­tle­ment which pre-dates Port Arthur by decades. Cre­at­ed to put the ​‘fear of God’ into the con­victs of Van Diemen’s Land, this tiny out­post of 18^th Cen­tu­ry British penal his­to­ry hides a fas­ci­nat­ing tale of human tri­umph over adver­si­ty, brought vivid­ly to life by expert guides. 

Hear the intrigu­ing sto­ry of Mac­quar­ie Har­bour and its settlement; 

Pas­sage through Hells Gates the nar­row entrance to Mac­quar­ie Har­bour named by the con­victs on their way to Sarah Island; See high-tech aqua­cul­ture where hun­dreds of thou­sands of Tasmania’s famous Atlantic Salmon and Ocean Trout are farmed; Cruise past the majesty of the rugged moun­tain ranges in Tasmania’s World Her­itage list­ed South West Wilder­ness Nation­al Park; Spend two hours in the seren­i­ty of the impos­ing Gor­don Riv­er, com­plete with a stroll into the rain­for­est, which reclaimed the land after the last Great Ice Age. 

Lis­ten to the nar­ra­tive, which brings the riv­er and its rich his­to­ry to life com­plete what is an unfor­get­table expe­ri­ence on the Gor­don Riv­er. Enjoy a sump­tu­ous buf­fet lunch fresh­ly pre­pared on board — includes smoked salmon, cold meats, a selec­tion of sal­ads, fresh fruit, Tas­man­ian cheeses and local bak­ery bread in Stra­han, Tasmania. 

Din­ner this evening is at your own arrange­ment and expense. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Stra­han Vil­lage, Stan­dard Hill­top rooms 

Day 10 — Fri­day 19^th Nov (B,L)

This morn­ing we’ll trav­el to Queenstown….by steam train ! We’ll take a ride on the West Coast Wilder­ness Rail­way from Stra­han, includ­ing the King Riv­er Gorge, the ​“rack” sec­tion of the rail­way track, mag­nif­i­cent rain­for­est and all sta­tions along the way. 

Your dri­ver guide will meet us in Queen­stown, the Largest town on Tas­ma­ni­a’s West Coast and orig­i­nal­ly devel­oped to ser­vice the boom­ing cop­per fields of Mt Lyell. Where­as Tas­ma­nia is know for it’s green­ness, Queen­stown is orange/​red !

After view­ing the decom­mis­sioned Iron Blow Mine (now filled with emer­ald water) over it’s spec­tac­u­lar look­out, we’ll con­tin­ue east through the Franklin Gor­don Wild Rivers NP to Der­went Bridge. 

-route we take a short easy walk to Nel­son Falls. 

We check into our accom­mo­da­tion and then make our way out to Lake St. Clair, at the south­ern end of the world famous Cra­dle Moun­tain-Lake St Clair Nation­al Park and part of the Tas­man­ian Wilder­ness World Her­itage Area. Carved out by ice dur­ing sev­er­al glacia­tions over the last two mil­lion years, this is the deep­est lake in Aus­tralia and the head­wa­ters of the Der­went Riv­er, upon which the cap­i­tal city of Tas­ma­nia is locat­ed. There are a range of walks on offer here. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Lake St Clair Lodge, motel room with en-suite 

Day 11 — Sat­ur­day 20^th Nov (B,L)

Just out of Der­went Bridge is the Wall in the Wilder­ness, Aus­trali­a’s most ambi­tious art project under­tak­en in recent years. The beau­ti­ful­ly carved wood pan­els depict the his­to­ry, hard­ship and per­se­ver­ance of the peo­ple in the Cen­tral High­lands and pay homage to the indi­vid­u­als who set­tled and pro­tect­ed the area. 

We con­tin­ue through the Der­went Val­ley to West­er­way and then trav­el west towards Gor­don Dam, set in Tas­ma­ni­a’s wild south-west wilder­ness and ringed with rugged moun­tain ranges. Lake Ped­der and its com­pan­ion Lake Gor­don, togeth­er com­prise the largest inland fresh­wa­ter stor­age in Aus­tralia, cov­er­ing more than 500 square kilo­me­tres and hold­ing more than 37 times the vol­ume of water than Syd­ney Har­bour. Gor­don is the largest pow­er sta­tion in Tas­ma­nia. The water in Lake Ped­der pro­vides around 40% of the water used in the Gor­don Pow­er Sta­tion and the orig­i­nal Lake Ped­der was flood­ed as part of the Gor­don pow­er scheme. There was wide spread oppo­si­tion to this action from con­ser­va­tion groups. 

After a walk along the dam wall, we head to our accom­mo­da­tion for the evening at our accom­mo­da­tion on the banks of Lake Pedder. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Lake Ped­der Wilder­ness Lodge, motel room with en-suite 

Day 12 — Sun­day 21^st Nov (B,L,D)

Our final stop in the wild south-west wilder­ness is Mt Field Nation­al Park, one of Tas­ma­ni­a’s most loved nation­al parks. Here we can take part of or all of the water­falls cir­cuit, com­pris­ing of Rus­sell Falls, Lady Bar­ren Falls, Horse­shoe Falls and the tall swamp gums, amongst the tallest trees in Australia. 

After a stop in New Nor­folk, we con­tin­ue into Hobart, Tas­ma­ni­a’s cap­i­tal city and the sec­ond old­est cap­i­tal in Aus­tralia, after Syd­ney. Locat­ed at the entrance to the Der­went Riv­er, its well-pre­served sur­round­ing bush­land reach­es close to the city cen­tre and beach­es line the shores of the riv­er and estu­ary beyond. 

Our final din­ner tonight, as a group, is in the hotel restaurant. 

Overnight Hobart accom­mo­da­tion- Stu­dio apart­ment with en-suite at the Old Wool Store Apart­ments, locat­ed in the his­toric Sul­li­vans Cove area 

END ITIN­ER­ARY

B= Break­fast L= Lunch D= Din­ner Itin­er­ary is exclu­sive to Sacred Earth Safaris, sub­ject to avail­abil­i­ty road, weath­er and cul­tur­al conditions 

Upon arrival into Kar­ratha, please make your way to our hotel. 

This evening, we’ll meet at the hotel restau­rant for our first din­ner as a group and your dri­ver guide will run through the itin­er­ary for the next 6 days. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Kar­ratha Inter­na­tion­al Hotel- motel room with en-suite 

Day 1 (B,L,D)

We’ll depart our Kar­ratha hotel at 7.30am this morn­ing to begin our 5 day 4WD tour through the Pilbara. 

We spend today in Mill­stream-Chich­ester Nation­al Park, which is a lush oasis of deep gorges and palm-fringed rock pools which pro­vides a stark con­trast to the sur­round­ing land­scape of rocky escarp­ments and rolling spinifex-cov­ered hills. 

We enter the park from the north and have a swim at Python Pool, a per­ma­nent fresh­wa­ter plunge pool at the base of a cliff in the Chich­ester Range escarpment. 

We also take a walk to the top of Mount Her­bert, where we are treat­ed to a splen­did view of the savan­nah lands, includ­ing Pyra­mid, Sher­lock and Waram­bie stations. 

Depart­ing the park, our des­ti­na­tion this evening is Tom Price, the high­est town in WA at 747 metres above sea level. 

Din­ner tonight is includ­ed at the hotel restaurant. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Tom Price Hotel Motel- motel room with en-suite 

Day 2 (B,L,D)

This morn­ing you’ll take a guid­ed tour to the Rio Tin­to Iron Ore Mine site, one of the world’s largest open cut iron mines. The 1.5 hour tour will take you into the heart of the mine site oper­a­tion and includes view­ing of the Haul Truck work­shop area, vis­it the main pit area, view work­ing trucks, shov­els and drills, the crush­ing and screen­ing plants and the train load out area. 

After the tour, we con­tin­ue into Kar­i­ji­ni Nation­al Park, in the Hamer­s­ley Range. Kar­i­ji­ni is West­ern Australia’s sec­ond largest nation­al park, encom­pass­ing some 627,442 hectares of spec­tac­u­lar, rugged scenery, ancient geo­log­i­cal for­ma­tions and a vari­ety of arid-land ecosystems. 

Mas­sive moun­tains and escarp­ments rise out of the flat val­leys. The high plateau is dis­sect­ed by breath­tak­ing gorges, and stony,tree-lined water­cours­es wind their way over the dusty plain. The slow process of ero­sion has carved the shape of the land out of rocks that are 2,000 mil­lion years old, to form this intrigu­ing land­scape and com­plex ecology. 

A vari­ety of ecosys­tems are rep­re­sent­ed in the park and these are home to a range of wildlife includ­ing a vari­ety of birds, native rodents, native mar­su­pi­al car­ni­vores (such as the Pil­bara ninguai- res­i­dent, but noc­tur­nal and shy), red kan­ga­roos, euros, Rothschild’s rock wal­la­bies, bats, din­goes, rep­tiles and amphib­ians such as frogs, geck­oes, goan­nas, drag­ons and leg­less lizards. Ter­mites and the peb­ble mound mouse also make their homes here in the form of mounds. 

Our first stop with­in the park is Hamer­s­ley gorge, where we’ll find amaz­ing coloured band­ed iron for­ma­tions. Take a dip in the nat­ur­al spa pool at the Gorge and enjoy a spa treat­ment the way nature intend­ed – sur­round­ed by amaz­ing rock for­ma­tions almost as old as the Earth itself. 

We make our way to our accom­mo­da­tion and after check­ing in, you make like to walk to near­by Jof­fre Look­out where rock steps take you down to the look­out to view this spec­tac­u­lar curved water­fall form­ing a nat­ur­al amphitheatre. 

Din­ner for the next 3 nights is includ­ed at the Eco- retreat 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Kar­i­ji­ni Eco Retreat, in eco tents with en-suites (3 night stay) on a Din­ner, bed and break­fast basis 

Day 3 (B,L,D)

We trav­el to the west­ern side of the park today, to Dales Gorge, through to Fortes­cue Falls, Fern Pool and Cir­cu­lar Pool. 

Have a refresh­ing swim in the spring-fed per­ma­nent falls of Fortes­cue falls, ram­ble along the gorge floor to the love­ly fern framed Fern Pool and enjoy the hid­den gar­dens of Cir­cu­lar Pool. 

This after­noon we take a walk through Kalam­i­na Gorge, one of the most pic­turesque in Kar­i­ji­ni. A short walk takes you down a steep track to the base of the gorge to a small per­ma­ment pool, com­plete with water­fall and drap­ing ferns. There is a longer, more dif­fi­cult walk for those who feel ener­getic. If you fol­low the trail deep into Kalam­i­na Gorge, you will be reward­ed with a love­ly walk down­stream, past rock pools and beau­ti­ful rock walls, fin­ish­ing at Rock Arch Pool. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Kar­i­ji­ni Eco Retreat, in eco tents with en-suites 

Day 4 (B,L,D)

This morn­ing is spent explor­ing Handrail Pool, which is reached by walk­ing through Low­er Weano Gorge. We also enjoy the scenery at Junc­tion Pool and Oxer Look­out, locat­ed at the junc­tion of four mighty gorges and offer­ing one of the most stun­ning panora­mas in WA. 

This after­noon we explore Han­cock Gorge, where we climb down a lad­der and walk deep into the gorge, through nar­row cham­bers and to beau­ti­ful rock pools, for a swim. 

We fin­ish the day at Knox Look­out, where we’ll take the steps down to the look­out and watch the view spread out in the distance. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Kar­i­ji­ni Eco Retreat, in eco tents with en-suites 

Day 5 (B,L,D)

We depart Kar­i­ji­ni this morn­ing and dri­ve north to the min­ing town of Port Head­land, one of the largest and busiest iron ore ports in the world. 

We’ll arrive mid- after­noon and after check­ing into the hotel, it’s time to jump on our pri­vate har­bour cruise, oper­at­ed by the Port Hed­land Sea­far­ers Cen­tre. This tour con­sists of a quick pre­sen­ta­tion at the Sea­far­ers Cen­tre, fol­lowed by a lap around the har­bour in one of the work­ing Sea­far­ers Launch Ser­vice boats. You will be accom­pa­nied by an infor­ma­tive mem­ber of the Sea­far­ers Cen­tre Staff who will pro­vide com­men­tary and answer any of your ques­tions, while pick­ing up sea­far­ers wish­ing to come back to the Sea­far­ers Centre. 

Tonight we have our final group din­ner and say farewell to our new friends. 

Overnight accom­mo­da­tion- Port Hed­land, hotel room with en-suite 

Day 6 (B)

Your tour fin­ish­es after break­fast. Please make your way to Port Hed­land Air­port for your onward flight. 

END ITIN­ER­ARY B= Break­fast L= Lunch D= Dinner 

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Cancellations must be received in writing.

Unless otherwise advised cancellations for 2- 5 day tours will incur the following charges:

• Cancellations outside 45 days - no charge

• Cancellations between 45 and 30 days prior to tour departure – incur 50% total tour cost

• Cancellation within 30 days prior to tour departure - no refund

• Disembarkation from tour once the tour has started- no refund

Unless otherwise advised the following charges apply for extended scheduled and private charter tours over 5 days:

• Cancellations between 90 and 60 days prior to tour departure – incur 50% total tour cost

• Cancellation within 60 days prior to tour departure - no refund

• Disembarkation from tour once the tour has started- no refund

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