Karijini

We set off at 0730 and covered 630 Km to a freecamp near Karijini:  We stopped at Nanutarra Roadhouse for lunch and met up with Vida, another solo Grey Nomad traveling around the country counter clockwise and now on the way to Perth.  The Pilbara is an ancient land, some 3,500 million years old.  It is a wildly beautiful place, with large open flat areas out of which arise hills & mountains, showing red bands of the iron rich rock that abounds in the area.  There are flat areas with (relatively) small heaps of rock, looking to all intents as if they were dumped there, but on closer inspection, the size of the rocks themselves are much larger than the largest trucks about today:  Perhaps like everything else in the days of yore things were bigger.  Within some of the ranges are deeply cut gorges and some of the best in the region are in Karijini.

We arrived at Dales Camp Ground in Karijini, booked a site for three nites and went to the well set up Visitors Centre.  Then off to explore Dales Gorge;  we walked along the top, then descended into the Gorge to Circular Pool at one end.  This is a pool at the bottom of a sheer circular cliff and is quite spectacular.  It also is a popular swimming pool, as evidenced by those doing just that (Heidi joined them).  From here we walked along the bottom of the gorge about two Km to Fortescue Falls, at the other end of the gorge.  This gorge is narrow, steep and beautiful, being cut through layers of rock, mainly rust red but with some yellow as well.  The bottom has a creek flowing thru it supporting a range of vegetation.  Surprisingly, there are fig trees growing here, remnants from the rainforest era, we were told.  There are large melaleuca trees, as well as the white snappy gums.  This is pretty well the pattern for all of the gorges we visited.  A short walk upstream from Fortescue Falls is Fern Pool, a lovely swimming pool with twin waterfalls off a ledge on the far side. 

The following day we drove to Weano Gorge over a diabolically corrugated road, avoided after this day.  There is a lookout here where four gorges come together:  You look straight down into the steeply cut gorges, which is awesome.  We then set off for Handrail Pool, which involves a bit of wading, a walk through a very narrow section and steps with a handrail down into the aptly named pool.  Early on, the water was a bit higher than normal, so a swim or spiderwalk along a sheer section of gorge was involved:  I waded over to the spiderwalk area but didn't feel confident to traverse it so turned back (at worst I would have fallen into the water but didn't have waterproofing for my camera, thus negating swimming across the pool also, which I could have done easily).  Heidi continued to the end, which she described as phenomenal!  

The next day we drove to Kalamina Gorge.  On descent into this gorge, you arrive at a picturesque waterfall and pool.  We met a couple here who were taking photos for the NP Service on a volunteer basis.  He seemed totally involved in the business, ignoring his wife who followed along as best she could.  We then followed the valley downstream to Arch Pool, the end of the trail.  While some were swimming in this pool, it was well shaded and cool.  We met some trekkers returning from further on but they said it was rough and unspectacular so we returned along the same track, heading for a more pleasant pool we passed earlier.  Here we had a pleasant rest which involved lunch and a swim for Heidi.  While here, we saw aforementioned  photographer single mindedly striding back  - but we never saw his wife.  We arrived back at camp with enough time to visit Fern Pool again and a very pleasant swim.

 Our last day, we packed up and left the Dales Camp Site and drove into Tom Price as we needed petrol.  We checked at the Visitors Centre, as one option I had was going north along a gravel road to Millstream Chichester NP and I wanted to check the road condition - it was badly corrugated & rough so I canned that option.  We then went to Hammersley Gorge, which was a fitting finale as it was superb!   The rock layers are much thinner, more varied in colour and bent & twisted into fascinating forms.  There are two pools for swimming, the top one finishing in a grotto where the water has cut a short tunnel through the rock.  Again Heidi swam, I ate lunch & took photos. 

And then it was time to leave.  We stayed at the Tom Price Caravan Park and the next morning drove to Parabardoo, where Heidi caught her flight to Perth.  In the ten days we covered some 3,100 Km and had some unique and wonderful experiences.  I returned to Karijini for three nites, then intend heading towards Port Headland & then turn east. 

So far this year my travels have covered 13,873 Km (8,648 miles) and have a minimum of 5,631 Km (3,513 miles) to Brisbane.