Karijini National Park

Karijini National Park is huge, a massive slice of the Pilbara region, crisscrossed with gorge systems which we visited over five days. Beautiful vistas unfolded of spinifex grasses, red dirt, late spring flowers, and snappy gums. Bush at its best.

Dales Gorge provided a bush base camp for a couple of nights to get our first taste of graded walks, the highest difficulty being grade 5. The nearby water tank kept us in water and attracted masses of native bees that luckily coexisted peacefully whilst they swarmed round the tap and hose.

Fortescue Falls was reached with ladders that brought us down to the pool at the base of the gorge. Large slabs of rock formed lovely cascades. A leafy walk upstream brought us to Fern Pool, a shady swimming spot.

A short drive took us to Lookouts with impressive towers of rock soaring above the cool shadows of the gorges below.

Circular Pool was a steep class 5 descent to the gorge floor, then pleasant rock slab skipping to the pool. Here, and throughout the park, there were beautiful blue strata of naturally occurring blue asbestos. The park rangers provided very conservative walk times which cheered us up as we took our time and still had half as much time to spare.

Water and fuel and supplies are within reach at the 1960s mining town of Tom Price where we stopped before heading down corrugated dirt roads to Hamersley Gorge. The mid afternoon temperature hovered in the high 30s, so a dip was bliss in the pool at the foot of smooth water slides surrounded by folded rock wave patterns.

 

A cool eco bush resort has tents, solar showers, and bushcamp sites laid out close to
Weano Gorge - just the spot for three nights nursing our fridge and esky for cool drinks and ice.

Our strengthening leg muscles got us down Kalamina Gorge where the end of the season meant less water and more algae, but striking rock formations and a red flash of algae on the riverbed.

Gen's Birthday called for a special grade 5 hike down to the icily refreshing pools of Hancock Gorge. Not bad for 61 years young!

To polish off the day, we drove very potholed, corrugated unsealed roads to Oxer Lookout - fingers crossed, we survived without punctures.

For our last day, we took the grade 5 hike descending very steeply to Knox Gorge. We explored the gorge before stripping off for a swim, the dislodged red dust adding classy red streaks to our hair. On the climb up, we met a guide with his abseiling team who joked we didn't have ropes.

Lastly, we stopped at Joffre Gorge, just opposite the eco resort. From the lookout we could see the waterfall cascading far below.

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Karijini National Park, Hancock Gorge, WA, Western Australia, Pilbara, Dales Gorge, 
Fortescue Falls, Fern Pool, Circular Pool, Kalamina Gorge,