Tour Australia

Today we left De Grey Rest area and made our way into Port Hedland. We ended up at a park adjacent to the mouth of the river which services the port and had morning tea. We enjoyed watching a massive ship be guided by a couple of tugboats through the river and out to sea. After a brief look around we left Port Hedland and headed toward Karijini National Park.

We arrived at Karijini National Park in the early afternoon and went to the visitors centre. The visitors centre is a 4million dollar building with some fancy displays and information. After talking to a staff member we headed for the campground, booked in for 3 nights and set up camp. The campground is quite basic and are managed by volunteers; for $10 per person per night you get a nice campsite and pit toilets. It seemed a bit rough considering the money that was poured into the visitors centre but we enjoyed our stay.

Karijini Day 1

We had big days planned for our stay in Karijini. Today we drove across on the unsealed road, which was very corrugated, to Weano Gorge. On our way out we almost ran over a large snake, possibly a Mulga Snake? We did the Weano Gorge walk first which takes you out over the escarpment and then down into the gorge and back towards where you start. The gorge was beautiful with very red rock walls and a small creek running through the middle and at least one plunge pool. It was not very difficult and did not take very long.

Once we reached the end we kept going and headed down to Handrail Pool. This section of the gorge closes up and is absolutely spectacular. There are a couple of sections where we needed to scramble around the rock ledges to get past some water but it wasn’t too hard. The walls and smooth and made up of hundreds of layers of rock.

The last section down into Handrail Pool, as the name suggests, has a large handrail attached to the rock wall and some steps to help you down. The pool was nice and there were only a few other people but the water was very chilly. We ate lunch and got ready to head further down the gorge which requires a swim.

 

We entered the water and swam further down the gorge until we reached the part of the gorge where you are not allowed to proceed past. This section of the gorge is again very beautiful and before you reach the end the gorge almost completely closes over to create a small tunnel section. The water in here was so cold though so be prepared!

We made our way back to the carpark and met a snake on the path just before we did the last ascent out.

We walked back to the carpark and then made our way down Hancock Gorge. The walk is a bit steeper down as it partly follows a dried up creek/cascade bed. At the bottom there is a staircase due to a substantial drop. We continued down the gorge and arrived at the place where you have to wade through water. I took my shoes off and started walking through the pool. The rocks were slippery so I was making every effort to avoid them. I looked up and greeted a couple walking our way, as I looked down I stepped on a rock and slipped over. I dunked my shoes under water to try and stay up, at the same time I tried to lift my camera up but it was in a toploader camera case. Unfortunately it was attached to my backpacks waste strap so was dunked under water. The toploader case was unzipped so water rushed in. I stood up and made my way out of the pool. I opened the toploader case and was disappointed to see my camera floating in a bag full of water. I promptly pulled it out, turned it off and tried to dry it off as best as possible.

We dumped our stuff off onto a rock and jumped into the next pool of water. We swam down and got out of the water. We walked down and had a look at the Amphitheatre. It is a natural rock formation where there are steps leading up to the edge of the gorge wall and are nicely rounded.

 

We continued down the gorge into the Spider Walk. This is a very narrow section over a small amount of water where you can spider walk your way down by using both your arms and legs on either side of the gorge. You don’t have to do this, you can simply walk in the water if you like.

After Spider Walk is Kermits Pool. It is a picturesque blue pool in the gorge which looks inviting for a swim. We both had a swim but not everyone does as the water is very cold.

We made our way out of the gorge and back to the Jeep. We drove a short way and had a look at the lookouts which are nearby and overlook the gorges. They were quite amazing and gives you a good indication of just how steep and high the gorge walls are. We ended our day there and went back to camp via the sealed road.

We arrived back to camp and I opened up my camera case and moved the lens and camera into the sun to try and dry it.

Karijini Day 2

Today we made our way back across the unsealed road and went to Kalamina Gorge. This is an easy walk down into the gorge and then following it down to The Arch. The gorge isn’t very deep but has nice rock walls and a beautiful stream of water flowing through the middle. There is a waterfall just upstream from where you enter the gorge and a few pools along the way.

 

We left the gorge and walked back to the Jeep. We drove to Knox Gorge and had lunch at the top. We decided to do the gorge walk which takes you down to the bottom and further down the gorge. The walk is very steep and loose.

 

Once we were down the bottom the walk is fairly easy and takes you past some pools finally to where the gorge closes up and you are not allowed to proceed further. The gorge has steep, high walls which are made up of hundreds of layers of red rock.

We made our way back up the gorge and did the hard slog to the top. We did the short walk to the lookout and enjoyed the view from the top.

We then drove around near to the resort and went to Joffre Falls. It is a bit of a climb to get down to the bottom of Joffre but it didn’t take too long. The water was freezing cold and very shaded so we did not swim. We walked around to the falls and sat there for a while.

   

We made our way back out of Joffre Falls and up to the Jeep. By this time we were feeling quite tired and went back to camp for the night.

Karijini Day 3

We packed up camp and drove around to the day use area for Dales Gorge. On our way out we spoke to a volunteer ranger about our day and he highly recommended going up to Hamesley Gorge.

We set out on our walk, first going to the lookout over Circular pool and then making our way down the bottom of the gorge and up to Circular Pool. The walk down the bottom is absolutely beautiful and unique. As we sat at Circular Pool a very friendly native mouse came and was scaviging on the rock we were sitting on. It was very cute and we enjoyed its company.

We walked back down the gorge and made our way around to Fortescue Falls. The walk is amazing and is well worth it. There is a very precarious rock which looks to be propped up by a column of stacked rock, it is quite impressive! Fortescue Falls is very nice and a good spot to have a rest.

 

We made our way up to the top of Fortescue Falls and then up to Fern Pool. Fern Pool is the best place in Dales Gorge for a swim. It is sunny, the water is an amazing blue colour and the water fall feels warm. We enjoyed a dip in this pool to cool off.

We made our way up and back to the Jeep and then headed to Tom Price. We had lunch in Tom Price and dropped in to the Visitors Centre to ask about Hamersley Gorge. We made our way up to Hammersley Gorge from Tom Price. The roads were in very good condition and it took us around 45 minutes to get there.

On arrival we parked and made our way to the signage. We were very disappointed to find a paper sign stuck to the map of the area outlining that all the upper pools and Spa Pool are no longer accessible to the public. We were disappointed that there were no signs in the Karijini Visitors Centre that were obvious, that the Parks and Wildlife officer we spoke to failed to mention this, that the volunteer ranger didn’t mention this, that the lady in the Tom Price visitors centre didn’t mention this and that there were no signs in the Tom Price visitors centre alerting the public. We had come up to Hammersley Gorge to see Spa Pool. Spa Pool is used on a lot of the advertisements for Karijini and a lot of the flyers.

Feeling disappointed we walked down to the bottom of the gorge and had a swim. We looked around and enjoyed the large swimming area at the bottom. The rock walls are quite spectacular and are made up of hundreds of layers of rock, some parts of the rock have been bent and folded in really amazing ways. They are definitely worth a look if you’re here.

  

We made our way back to the top and left, heading back to Tom Price. We refueled, filled the caravan with water and headed out of Tom price staying at a rest area that evening.