Red Dirt Roaming: Millstream Chichester National Park

We left our camp at Balla Balla & headed towards Millstream National Park. We turned off the North West Coastal highway onto the Roubourne Wittenoom road. The scenery soon became stunning, big red hills covered in spinifex & Sturt Desert Peas flowering profusely. The red flowers light up the landscape.

It wasn't long before we reached the border of the national park & made our way into Python Pool. After a short walk from the car park, you come across Python Pool & it is just beautiful. As we hadn't had a shower in a couple of days, we jumped straight in the water, it was cold but so refreshing. Finches & other birds zipped around us, it was a magical place to have to ourselves for an hour or so. We finally dragged ourselves away, unfortunately the campground near by (snake creek) has been shut, so we headed further south west towards the other campground. The northern part of the park was just beautiful & we were so excited to see what else we could find.

Python pool above & below

The drive through the hills was amazing with sweeping views, but started to flatten out as we continued on.

We arrived at the Stargazer's campsite & did a quick drive around. It was okay, there were no other campers there except the camp hosts. The sites were pretty small, gravel & most had no shade. We decided to have a look at the other campsite as well to see if it was as any better. It was just up the road & called Miliyanah. We drove in, it was much the same, but some of the sites backed onto a creek bed, so there was a few trees, it was much busier, so we decided to go back to Stargazers because it would be quieter. We paid for 2 nights & set up camp. It was pretty hot with no shade, so we used the car awning. We figured we would check out the rest of the park the next day, so had a quiet afternoon. Only 2 other camp sites were taken, so it was a very peaceful night.

The next day we were up early & went for a drive. Soon we were crossing the Fortescue River & it was lovely, with lots of water & a family were canoeing. We kept driving & were going to call into the other campsite for a look (Murlunmunyjurna) unfortunately it had also been closed, despite it looking like a great campsite. We moved on towards Deep Reach Pool, the last thing to look at, it was only 9.30am. We decided we may as well go back & pack up & move on. We went back to camp, told the camp hosts we were leaving as we had seen it all & they weren't suprised, we couldn't get our camp fees back though for that night.

It had been a pretty basic camp, so we we were packed in just over half an hour. Once packed, we headed out & called into Deep Reach Pool also on the Fortescue River, for a look & swim on the way out. Wow, what a fantastic spot, we dived straight in the inviting waters, it was much warmer & just heaven to wash the dust off. The river was really wide but the water was pretty clear & little fish swam around. It was a great spot. If only they let you camp down here, we would stayed for a lot longer.

Deep reach pool above & below

After our swim we hit the road, this time travelling back north on the bitumen road that brings you out just south of Dampier. The road follows the railway line & also the main water line back to the north & was an interesting drive. The water for Karratha & surrounds comes from the artesian basin under Millstream. Millstream national park has some really great spots, including Python pool & deep reach pool, the northern end was just spectacular. We were a bit disappointed you couldn't access more of it though. I still can't believe we only stayed one night. You can definitely see it all in a day if you wanted to. Camping was $10 per person per night. The campgrounds had drop toilets & a water tank of non potable water. There were some walks you could do, but they all seemed pretty uninspiring. Especially when all the good bits are only 200 meters from the car parks.