Auski to Capricorn

Capricorn Village is a rather superior roadhouse just south of Newman. It has lots of accommodation, mainly leased out to workers on mine sites. You can even place a sign on your door that reads “Night shift”. There is a swimming pool, but even with a big improvement in the weather, it might be a bit too cold to give it a go. The wi-fi is brilliant, unlike Auski’s which was non-existent. Its name comes from the fact that it’s on the Tropic of Capricorn.

When I woke up early this morning, the temperature was only 6 degrees, but in no time at all it had reached 16 and now (just after lunch) it’s 23. Leaving Auski, I only had a 2-hour drive, so I had plenty of time to stop and take photos:

Driving south, the scenery is as dramatic as that inside Karijini.

Spinifex: this is as close as you want to get!

A bit further south is the Albert Tognolini lookout, a rest stop on top of a hill:

From here, you can look down into the gorge and the road through it.

Albert Tognolini was a friend and colleague of JL. He used to organise annual gatherings of the civil engineers who had worked together in the early days:

I’m not sure that JL ever saw this monument to him.

Lovely views on all sides.


When I reached Newman, I went to the shopping centre to pick up a few supplies. Everything is expensive up here but the price of blueberries is astronomic:

P.S. As I was driving south this morning, I heard on the radio that the highway at Fitzroy is cut again. The heavy rain over the past view days has caused river levels to rise above the temporary low level crossings. Some of the gravel footings have also been washed away. Grey nomads and others trying to get to Broome are now stranded on the wrong side of the river and may be there till the weekend. The Gibb River Road is also still closed. So it looks as if I made the right decision to turn back.