Tom Price

12 – 15 October 2022

We had changed our Karijini National Park booking and had three days to travel from Cape Range so we were unsure where we would spend the time. After fuelling up – ourselves and the car - we drove back the way we had come to reach the North West Coastal Highway. Still back-tracking we stopped for lunch at Yannerie and then continued on to Nanutarra where we turned off towards Tom Price.

We decided to try to make it to Tom Price, even though it would be about a 7 hour journey from our starting point. We stopped in at a couple of rest areas that allow 24 hour camping. While they looked ok we thought it would be better to make our way to a caravan park in Tom Price. We arrived just after 5:00pm and were set up with a cold drink in our hands within about ½ hour.

As well as being in close proximity to Karijini NP, Tom Price is home to a grasswren that can be found on Jarndunmunha (also known as Mount Nameless), the highest accessible mountain by 4WD in Western Australia. Mick is collecting grasswren photos so this was high on the agenda. We spent our first day in Tom Price attending to so small repairs and restocking some consumables from the tool kit. We also treated ourselves to a lovely lunch at the pub – typical huge meals at reasonable prices. As usual we stopped at the Visitor Information Centre and collected some local information and asked about the drive up Jarndunmunha. This is a 4WD track and we were keen to obtain any local knowledge available before attempting the drive.  

We set the alarm for 5:00am so that we could drive up to the summit as early as possible. We left the caravan park and made our way to the top along the very rough, rocky and sometimes tricky road. We heeded the advice and took it slow, reaching the summit without incident. The views from the top were magnificent but the grasswren was nowhere to be found.

We set off to drive back down the mountain and stopped at a spot to chat to a couple of other birders. They had just photographed the elusive bird so Mick fetched the camera and went on search of – and this time he was duly rewarded with some great shots. The Rufous Grasswren even put in an appearance on the rock just near where I was sitting so I can now add that one to my list.

We returned home and had an early morning tea then set off in search of the water treatment plant – otherwise known as the poo ponds. We found the spot but the area was completely fenced off so not ideal for photos.  Later in the day we drove to Kings Lake which is quite a large recreation area with nice grassy lawns and picnic areas. Apart from the reed warblers there weren’t many birds to be photographed there.

We enjoyed our three days in Tom Price. Even though it is a mining town, it has a nice “village” feel and has all the shops and amenities required. The caravan park was well situated, out of town, with a nice view to Jarndunmunha. Refuelled and restocked, we left for Karijini National Park, where we had a campsite booked for the next three days.