Entry 9 – 2026 – April – Carawine Gorge, Marble Bar region, Western Australia
Around a couple of hundred kilometres further inland from Marble Bar is the much-publicised location of Carawine Gorge.
Carawine Gorge features in a lot of various social media presentations. The main focus on a large water way with one side bordered by a long, large cliff face. Most presentations show people swimming, canoeing or paddle boarding with a backdrop of the magnificent cliff face.
Travelling further inland we were expecting the day time temperatures to increase a bit. We were looking forward to our Carawine Gorge experience with expectation of many cool down dips in its water.
En-route the scenery alternated between long open flat terrain and eye pleasing sections of raised spinifex covered peaks.
There were still ore transport road trains to contend with, thankfully at a lesser volume than we had experienced along the Port Hedland to Marble Bar road.
At the entrance track to Carawine Gorge, we air downed our vehicle tyres. It was 14 kilometres of dirt road to the gorge.
There was a bit of a steep descend into the gorge, stopping at a T junction we looked right and then left. Left got the nod.
As we travelled along the track, we saw no cliff face or water edge. It was camouflaged by mature tree growth. When the going started to get soft we stopped, continuing on foot. The surface was covered by river stones and felt like we were walking on soft sand. It was tough going.
The soft surface had been well documented, showing many vehicles, getting bogged in the river stones.
Getting near the water’s edge required quite an effort negotiating the dense tree under growth. It was similar to many water ways with edges lined by trees making it quite hard to obtain a clear view of the water way. We found a couple of spots where we could get a restricted view of the gorge.
We set camp for the night amongst the shady trees.
Steve was up early in the morning having a walk about to obtain some nice photographs of the rising sun on the cliff face.
It was a magnificent setting, very pleasing viewing. Unfortunately, all that picturesque photographic footage promoting Carawine Gorge cannot be seen in real life by one’s eyes. Adding to the slur there was the illusion people could enter the water for a swim quite easily. Most of the small clearing at the water’s edge was either too steep or a lot of soft mud to wade through. It was the year 2026 and nearly the full length of the lagoon there was a lot of weed to wade through along the water’s edge.
Each year the setting has a potential to be a little different. Unfortunately, for us we had just come from Doolena Gorge. Doolena Gorge had ticked all of our wish list boxes and provided even more. And yet most comments about Doolena Gorge were negative with minimal positivity. 2026 may have been an exceptional year for Doolena Gorge.
With the ongoing hot ambient daytime temperatures, Mary had been especially looking forward to immersing herself in the cool waters with the spectacular backdrop of the cliff face.
In the morning, Steve set off on foot to explore the area, hoping to locate an acceptable camp location. It was quite an expansive area, taking him a bit over an hour to evaluate other Carawine Gorge possibilities.
When he returned, he showed Mary pictures for a couple of options. He tried his best to pacify Mary. “We can’t compare this with Doolena Gorge. Let’s embrace Carawine Gorge for what it is.”
We moved to the opposite end of the gorge; a location we hadn’t seen any promotional about. It required a water crossing and driving over a section of the river flood plain seemingly to feel firm.
The caravan was positioned to maximise the views from the caravan windows. The water was quite shallow as we were nearby where the water ended and the river bed was dry as far as we could see. We didn’t enter the interior of the caravan, till Mary tested the water.
Once the √ had been given, we headed into the water for a cool down dip. We managed to float about in the deep section of the lagoon, though it did feel a little creepy sliding over the water weed/reeds.
It was another spectacular setting.
Gratefully the daily maximum temperature actually dropped by a couple of degrees, hovering around 36 C. It was amazing, how our bodies felt more comfortable with the minor drop of temperature. We no longer felt like the heat was sucking out all of our energy. We still had one to two dips in the lovely temperature waters each day. We rarely ran our caravan air-conditioner and then, it was only for short periods when the temperature seemed to spike.
We were on another station property with plenty of nice green pasture around the lagoon. There was the constant presence of cows.
The gorge bird life was delightful viewing.
When the daily light wind took a rest, and coincided during the period with the morning sun lighting up the gorge cliff face, the viewing was sensational.
There was a steady light flow of new arrivals. We were amazed many only stayed for one night. Carawine Gorge was a one-way detour of about 400 kilometres off the main highway. Possibly we weren’t the only ones deflated by the setting and disappointed with the construed information provided by social media.
There were a few small openings amongst the trees providing water front views. Nearly all were at the end of the gorge where access was via the soft river stone surface. Those which were occupied, were by a single vehicle. If by chance one managed to get their caravan to one of these viewing areas we suspected it would feel like other campers would be entering your property via the front door and out the back door so they could get to the water for a swim or look?
On a reasonably still morning Steve did obtain some nice pictures. He did obtain permission from the site occupants to enter, allowing him access to obtain some photographs.
As each day passed, we became more enchanted by our Carawine Gorge setting. When we opened our eyes in the morning the first thing we saw was the delightful scenery.
We decided it would be ok to stay a second week. There was plenty of food in our freezer and pantry.
When we were ready, we planned to retrace our route back to the town of Port Hedland. It was the last town with all the supplies available we require for our everyday living. Our next target destination was about 800 kilometres up the road.
On our return to Port Hedland, there was contemplation for another week at Doolena Gorge.
For us, we loved the scenery and serenity around the Marble Bar region.
As stated previously we try to minimise drama scenarios. Unfortunately, our modern electronic world is appreciated but it can be frustrating when things go haywire.
Starlink has been a game changer with the ability to use a phone where ever you are in the world. It had been acceptable you could be beyond phone range/communication for extended periods.
Over the last couple of weeks our wi-fi calling with our phone via starlink had been playing up. A change of power leads seemed to have addressed the problem. Once our phone was operating correctly, we became aware of problems with our bank account. There were several days of phone calls back and forth.
We had been given two phone appointments where we were hoping to progress with an appropriate outcome. It was a Thursday and by late afternoon with no phone calls coming we discovered our phone wasn’t working again.
There was a need to address this problem urgently. We packed up camp, leaving on sunset. The closest town with the appropriate shops was Port Hedland around 400 kilometres up the road. We were hoping to camp for the night at Doolena Gorge, rise early with an aim to be at Port Hedland late morning.
Driving on outback roads around sunset can be a nerve-wracking experience with vehicle destroying kangaroos coming out for their night time feed. Luckily, we didn’t encounter any kangaroos. But it got worse. We have never seen so many cows near the roadway.
At one stage we came up behind an ore carrying road train. He was going up a hill, so slowly. On the two-way radio we asked if he would like assistance with a push. With a laugh they responded they were about 200 ton’s and suspected we wouldn’t be capable of providing assistance. When we are fully loaded, we are around 7 ton’s and it takes a while to get up to cruising speed.
We ended up following this road train for a while and they yelled out a warning when they spotted any hazardous cows.
We were up at sunrise and jumped into the Doolena gorge water for a rousing wake up dip.
We arrived at the Port Hedland, Telstra phone shop late morning. Initially we tried our luck for suggestions for a fix. Unfortunately, they were also stumped. We obtained a new phone with a new plan, at quite the expense. Fingers crossed we don’t discover the real problem was with our starlink equipment.
Some cost statistics for our Marble Bar Region
We spent 21 days in the Marble Bar Region. Including two nights at the Marble Bar caravan park. The rest of our stays were at no cost locations.
Caravan Park costs $110.
We travelled about 900 kilometres. Our fuel tank was full when we departed Port Hedland. We topped up twice at Marble Bar and refilled back at Port Hedland.
Diesel costs $849
Our fridge and pantry were full of food when we departed Port Hedland. We topped up with some food at Marble Bar.
We did utilize some of our long-life food supplies we maintain in our pantry. We’ll give our pantry food figure a $100.
Food costs $422
Full costs $1381 = $460 per week, or $66 per day.
