After leaving Kalamina Gorge in Karijini National Park (due to heavy rains the park closed), we headed towards Newman to find some place to stay there for a night. We dropped in at the information centre for the kids to buy souvenir coins and for us to get information on the road conditions, as well as some possible places to camp. It was still raining heavily when we left Newman and at 5.30pm it looked quite dark. The ladies at the Information Centre shared with us local’s secret spot – Sandy Creek.
Travelling on Great Northern Highway from Newman we turned onto Marble Bar Road and travelled for approximately 24.5km before turning right (after Kalgan Pool track) onto unmarked track. Travelling for about 600 meters we have arrived at what looked like a campground. Ahead of us was a creek which under the rain and in the dark we did not want to attempt crossing. So we followed the track on the right. There was a 4WD Landcruiser Troopy with a pop top and we parked not far away from it.
It rained the whole night but the rain stopped in the morning giving us a much needed break to get out of our very tight and full of stuff dwelling.
The kids measured the depth of the crossing. It was too deep to wet our boots.
We found a narrower passage further away and jumped over it onto the other side. Sandy Creek was actually further away. It looked like a small river with so much water in it after it rained.
The place looked very beautiful and quite magical even though everything was wet. We decided to get some rest and stay here for another night.
Kids were busy the whole day building houses, bridges (in fact, the whole village!) out of what they found on the ground – stones, leaves and branches.
I went for numerous walks around with my camera looking for more insects and flowers to take pictures of.
And Brian cooked a nice “Sandy Creek roast” for us.
We also drove through the first creek to see what was on the other side. That is where we saw the actual Sandy Creek. There was another camper, a lovely couple, who parked just near the creek. They told us that Sandy Creek was formed because of the water that has been pumped out by the local mine. The first crossing before Sandy Creek was the overflown water from heavy rained that gathered in the ground holes.
It was a lovely respite for us. Being on the road for many hours we really enjoyed a day of not driving and going anywhere but simply resting and enjoying the place as it was. A true outback experience.
