Living in Karratha can often be fairly monotonous. In a town centred on work and containing little diversion other than the great outdoors which, all too often, it is too hot to enjoy, rarely do you get the opportunity to do something different. It is always nice to be surprised, and occasionally the remote outback town does just that. Hearing that the recent heavy rains had created an impromptu waterfall on the Burrup Peninsula, we drove out there on Sunday to take a peek. Parking up by the road, we hiked up to the rocky outcrop and began to climb the boulders. I kept imagining snakes slithering out from between the rocks, fangs bared and ready to bite me, or perhaps a giant spiders web, the sunlight rendering it invisible as I walk straight into it and watch helplessly as an eight-legged monster slowly crawls across my face. Luckily, we saw no snakes and although I did in fact walk into a web (and screamed only for an understandable length of time given the circumstances and my already deeply entrenched fears), the spider appeared not to be at home.
However, what we did find made it all worthwhile. Water cascading down the rocks, collecting in pools and then falling again. Dragonflies mating mid-flight, just above the surface of the water. A lizard basking in the sun whilst clinging vertically to a rock. Virtual meadows of grass and wildflowers that have sprung up almost overnight thanks to the wet ground. And, best of all, Aboriginal rock art dotting rocks everywhere you looked. A warrior, a lizard, a giant turtle, a row of people holding hands, a kangaroo, all decorated the rocks, probably thousands of years old. Who’d have thought that just minutes from the road is a whole other world, tucked away from sight. It just goes to show that Karratha does have its secrets and can surprise you every now and again. You just might have to put up with the interminable flies and potential death by spider or snake bite.
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