MARBLE BAR

28^th July, 2012

We’re retracing our steps north out of the Hammersley Ranges towards Port Hedland.  One hundred and thirty kms up the

Great Northern Highway

we turn onto a dirt road that will take us to the town of Marble Bar.  We stop to let some air out of the tyres to make the ride softer for the van.

Wok lets the tyres down on the road to Marble Bar

We are always a bit wary about travelling on dirt roads as they can get awfully rough with corrugations and washed out creek beds.  We have 150 kms to travel along the dirt road until we get to Marble Bar.  If we go via the tarred road the distance is 350 kms.  It doesn’t take a maths genius to work out that the dirt road option is 200 kms shorter than the tarred road.  We are pleasantly surprised to find that the dirt road isn’t all that bad and we can average about 80 kms per hour and it’s just as well that there isn’t much traffic because we are putting out quite a dust storm behind us.  The landscape is hilly and very scenic and as we round a bend we come face to face with a ‘bustard’ sedately strolling across the road.  Now we have seen bustards before along the way (two in Cape Range National Park and two in Karijini National Park) and on both those occasions the birds were too quick for us and we had no chance of getting a photo.  This ‘bustard’ took one look at us screaming to a dusty stop and made a beeline for the bush.  In desperation we managed to get a photo of his/her rear end as the ‘bustard’ disappeared into the scrub.

Can you spot the 'bustard'?  It's that black stick looking thing in the middle of the photo.

These birds do inhabit the plains and arid bushland areas as well as coastal areas of the tropical north and you would think that they would be easy to spot as they stand about 1.2 metres tall and can weigh up to 14kgs.  Their colouring however lets them blend into the landscape and are very difficult to detect unless they are out in the open.  As we near the town of Marble Bar we pass the Comet Gold Mine.

Comet Gold Mine

In 1890 gold was discovered in the area and one year later 5,000 people had arrived to seek their fortune.  The town of Marble Bar was established and today 194 people call it home.  We had intended to just fill up with fuel and continue on our way but it was Saturday afternoon and the roadhouse was closed and wouldn’t reopen until the morning.  With the next fuel stop 250 kms away it was a ‘no brainer’.  We checked into the local caravan park and decided to also spend the Sunday as well.  This would give us time to catch up on some much needed laundry and take in the sights of Marble Bar.  The town has the dubious honour of being the hottest place in Australia.  For 160 days in 1923/1924 the temperature never fell below 100 degrees Fahrenheit and summer days can often be 113 degrees Fahrenheit or above.  Thankfully we are here in winter and the days are mild and the nights cool.  Sunday morning and the roadhouse was open (until 1pm that is) so we filled up Mitzi’s tank and went exploring.  Our first stop was at the lookout which gave us an excellent view of the town.

Marble Bar - Caravan Park in the foreground

Then we stopped to have a look at the Old Courthouse which was built with local stone.

The old courthouse

Today one end of the building is used as the police station.  The oldest building in town is the Irconclad Hotel erected in 1890 during the gold rush.

The Ironclad Hotel

The hotel is built of corrugated iron and the American gold miners named the hotel.  They said it reminded them of the old American ironclad ships.  Americans also played a big role in the area during World War II when US Army Air Force and RAAF heavy bombers were stationed at a secret air base at Corunna Downs 25 kms south of the town.  From this base the planes bombed Japanese targets as far away as Borneo.  A few kilometres out of town is Marble Bar Pool and it is here that we can see why the town was named Marble Bar.

Jasper deposit

The early prospectors to the area thought that the deposits of Jasper were Marble – hence the name.  When we splash the rocks with water the colours of the Jasper come to life.

Jasper stripes

This rock in the pool had wonderful swirls of red, white, grey and black.

Loved this large Jasper rock in the middle of the pool

We climbed around the outcrops of jasper for quite a while before finally heading back to Mitzi and then back to the caravan park.  Well … for a place that we were only going to stop at to get fuel Marble Bar has been a pleasant surprise.  We now take back all those bad things we said about the roadhouse not being open on Saturday afternoon …..