Hickman Crater

Hickman Crater drone footage from Andrey Klochkov

Hickman Crater is a meteorite impact crater, 35 km north of Newman in Pilbara, Western Australia. It was first discovered in 2007 by Dr Arthur Hickman by chance as he browsed Google Earth. At 260m wide and 30m deep, this almost perfectly circular hole is Australia’s most recently confirmed meteorite impact structure, according to Australian Geographic

After a quick trip to Newman to fill up diesel and obtain mud maps from Tourist Information Centre, we went back onto the corrugated road we used to get to Cobbah Downs River Crossing. But this time the route was slightly different.

We stopped many times on the way there…. Kids found various entertainments during the trip, while adults took pictures of the corrugated road from various angles.

How to get to Hickman Crater

Travelling south (from Newman) on Great Northern Highway, we turned left onto Marble Bar Road and covered approximately 28 km before turning left onto Kalgan Pool Road. Shortly after turning onto Kalgan Road, there is a fork junction. To get to Hickman Crater, we turned right onto access road and travelled approximately 31 km along the BHP Billiton Access Road (good dirty road).

Traveling for 31 km along BHP Billiton Access Road

At 356km rail peg we turned left onto the track rated 4WD only.

We travelled approximately 13km until we reached a fork. Straight ahead was Punda Rock Art which we were going to visit afterwards, so for now we turned left to get to Hickman Crater. Having covered approximately 9.6km of bulldozer made track we reached a tree and a sign indicating GO STRAIGHT AHEAD. These last 3km is a definitely 4WD only track. It is very rocky up hill and corrugated. Having tried to go ahead, eventually we stopped and turned back, because our friends Iulia and Sergei in a non 4WD vehicle couldn’t make it. 

The bulldozer made track to Hickman Crater

We did make it to the Crater eventually – just without caravan and the other car (our friends decided to hike instead). Taking the left turn from Y junction, the track took us to the Letter box right on the edge of the crater and below was the Crater itself.

Drone footage from Andrey Klochkov

We stayed there for a while, enjoying the solitude, the vast view from the edge of the crater and the heat. Kids were practicing a perfect throw of small stones inside the crater.

Camping near Hickman Crater

So, not in a crater itself as I hoped, but roughly 3km from Hickman Crater we set up our camp just off the track. This is how the place looked like 😊.

Our Hickman Crater campground

Pilbara region (and this place in particular) is characterized by two things: iron ore rich stones – red in colour and producing metal sounds when you hit them – and spinifex.

Spinifex and iron ore rich stones

Spinifex is an iconic Australian bush plant – very hardy, with needle like sharp leaves, growing in clusters. Spinifex when it grows among those red stones looks very unique but it doesn’t feel pleasant when you accidently touch its spikes with your feet.

The kids, as usual, were collecting wood for the evening fire and found that spinifex burns quite well. They were desperate to dig as many of the plants as possible while making space for our campground. The adults were preparing meals.

Sausages grilled over the fire and boiled potatoes in the pot tasted delicious!

As we were preparing for the night – part of our team cleaning the dishes and the other part supervising kids taking shower at the back of the caravan – we heard the howling of dingoes in the distance. We could neither see them, nor distinguish by sound how many of them were around. Having cleared the table, kept the food and prudently stored away all the rubbish, we settled for the night in our tents and caravan. Dingoes howled one more time. Laying in bed and looking out of the window, I saw quite distinct outlines of the scarce bushes, our cars and friends’ tents. It was nice and cozy inside the caravan. I felt protected from the unlikely invasion of dingoes and almost wished they would come closer, so I could see them in the moonlight. An encounter with wild dingoes near Hickman Crater in Pilbara! That would have been a nice story to write about 😊.

The next day at Hickman Crater

Before I knew it, the night gave way to day. We were up early, preparing and eating breakfast, then quickly packing up as to avoid the midday heat and annoying flies. There was a long trip back to Newman (nearly 2 hours) but we wanted to stop half way to see Punda Rock Art. Read about it in our next post.

P.s A permit is required to travel on BHP Billiton Access Road to get to Hickman Crater, as well as Cobbah Downs River Crossing and Punda Rock Art. It can be obtained from Newman Tourist Centre for a gold coin donation.

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Anna Lakshmi

We are a family of four and are nuts about traveling. Our name reflects this! We love sharing the joy and love of traveling and adventure! Let's the fun begin!

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