4-11 August 2023

Well, what can I say, this last week has been incredible. Karijini certainly lived up to it’s hype with many hikes (some more challenging than others), spectacular views and super cold water holes to swim in. We spent 7 nights across 2 separate camp sites to enable easier access to all of the gorges. Originally we had planned to stay 7 nights at Dales Campground on the eastern side of the park, but after speaking to a lovely couple a few months back, we changed our plans to be able to split our time between Dales and Karijini Eco Retreat on the western side of the park.

Day 1- Today we drove the 500km from Cleaverville into Karijini. If you’ve been following closely, this was our biggest day on the road in our 4 ½ months away. The drive took us south along the Great Northern Highway, where we felt like the tiniest of ants, as we weaved our way through the ranges all around us. We were expecting the dreaded road trains to be everywhere, but we only had 1 pass us. Most were heading north with their 4 dollys of ore or other goods headed for the Kimberly region. We finally arrived at Karajini mid afternoon. The volunteer camp hosts at Dales are very passionate about their job. They are so knowledgeable and love to share stories and their photos of the local wallabies, bats and quolls (we didn’t see any though). The camp ground is basic and sites spread apart. The best part is that it has a walk track to the hike trails so there is no need to drive the car. After driving all day today, we settled in and made plans for the rest of the week.

Day 2 & Day 3 – Across day 2 and day 3, we hiked the 4 trails at Dales Gorge, all either a class 3 or 4 trail: Jabula (Fortescue Falls), Jabura (Fern Pool), Gorge Rim and Dales Gorge. We spread these across 2 days to allow our bodies to recover from the shock of some actual exercise, which we haven’t done much of in the last 4 ½ months. A set of 287 stairs waited for us to get into and out of the gorge and the legs certainly felt it. Fern Pool was our favourite place here, with a beautiful swimming hole and small water falls. The water cascading over the rocks into the pool was really warm, heated by the sun and rocks. The Fortescue Falls were full of water and looked very impressive from both the lookout and the gorge floor.

Day 4 – Today we moved on to the Karijini Eco Retreat. We booked 4 nights, allowing plenty of time to see the rest of the gorges on this side of the park without being rushed. It is also nice to have hot showers and toilets with a little more room than we have in the caravan. The sites are huge and surrounded by shrubs, birds and plenty of red dirt. Joffre view, Joffre Waterfall and Joffre Lookout, are all accessible from the camp ground by a short walk. These hikes are classes 3, 4 and our first class 5. We thought this would be a good idea to do in the late afternoon out of the heat of the day (good call). The waterfall was only a very small trickle but the sheer size is impressive and would make for quite the speckticle when it is in full flow. It took many many many ladders to get down to the bottom. Going down was the easy part, it’s the getting back up again that puffs you out and works the legs.

Day 5 – Today we headed to the Weano Recreation Area and hiked the Upper Weano Gorge (class 4), Lower Weano Gorge and Handrail Pool (both class 5). Handrail Pool was certainly the trickiest hike I have ever done. You had to cling to the sides of the gorge and shuffle across and change out of the hiking boots into reef walkers to wade through water to get near the end. Once you were at the end of the walk, you then climb down the inside of the gorge straddling a pole. Thankfully, a lady at the bottom helped to guide my short legs to the stepping rocks heading down. There was no dignified way down (or up for that matter) but the swim at the end was well worth the effort. The walk overall was a lot of fun. On our way out, a tour bus full of young American and British travelers was leaving the carpark, but somoeone forgot to shut the rear hatch which had all of their luggage. A lady was trying to flag them down but the driver just thought she was waving. We followed the bus looking for all of the lost luggage as we drove the 10km of corrugated roads. We found a pair of dive flippers and a sleeping bag before we finally caught up with them and flagged them down. The driver was so grateful and I bet the sleeping bag owner was too! Tonight we enjoyed happy hour and live music at the bar with all of the other travelers.

Day 6 – Today we headed to Hancock Gorge, Spiderman Walk and Kermits Pool (class 5) also in the Weano Recreation Area. This took over as the hardest hike to date. There were ladders from the top all the way to the bottom of the gorge. It made going down a lot easier, but was still hard going back up all those steps. The walk was amazing, with soaring gorge walls, several water crossings (yep, had to take off the hiking boots again and leave them with the backpacks half way along). We past the ‘ampitheatre’ along the way to Kermits Pool, but to get to the pool, you had to pass through Spiderman Walk. This is in theory where you have to walk with both hands and feet above the water on the gorge walls and shuffle along. We found it was just easier to walk in the water as it was moving fast, but the rocks were not slippery. If we were a bit younger, I think it would have been really fun to slide all the way down on your butt. The water at Kermits was super cold, probably the coldest yet. That same afternoon, we drove to Kalamina Gorge to hike the class 4 walk. This was probably the least impressive of all of the walks so far, but the swim at the waterfall was very nice although very short.

Day 7 – Our last day saw us visit Hamersley Gorge Waterfall (class 4) and Spa Pool (class 5) via 55km of unsealed and 30km of sealed roads. The walk to Hamersley Gorge is easy enough, just a pile of uneven rocky stairs to get down (like all the others gorges) with a beautiful large swimming hole at the bottom. To get to spa pool however was a challenge (for me). You had to climb up the very steep angular rocks, hanging onto the cliff face as you went. Pete had to help me a few times, but we got there…eventually. I must say that all of the little kids we saw at the hikes made it look easy. I attribute that to youth, flexibility, agility and long legs! The swimming hole was big and not too cold. At the end of the pool was a little ‘spa’ that you climbed up the slippery rocks into and could float under the warm water of the waterfall. From here, the water runs down stream and cascades over a series of rocks and mini waterfalls. We decided to fuel up while the caravan wasn’t attached so drove to Tom Price for fuel and a snack. After a long day, we visited the onsite restaurant and bar with a fabulously yummy meal and a few beers. I had the kangaroo fillet and vegetables and Pete had the sirloin steak and vegetables. We can highly recommend the food if you happen to visit.

There are many things we learned about Karijini (and ourselves) including the fact that asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral found in the layers of the rock. It is bright blue in colour and is everywhere. The rock formations and geology differs greatly between Hamersley Gorge and the rest of the park. Most of the park has the appearance of flat layers of slate or bricks with wild fig trees growing between the layers. Hamersley has swirly, gnarly layers of rock pushed and squashed together over millions of years. Dingos are everywhere here, with many warning signs to not feed or approach. You could hear them howling at night, but we only saw 1, which was in a car park at Weano. Wildflowers of all colours and sizes are everywhere around the park this time of year. Flowers in all shades of blue, purple, yellow, pink and white cover the floor. The photos do not do justice to the amazing views and colours, so please come and see it for yourself. Finally, I learnt that I am more capable than I thought, completing all of the class 5 walks without giving up…even if I wanted to at times.

From here we spend our last 2 weeks of this trip (yes this is only the beginning) heading down the Great Northern Highway exploring the little and not so little towns along the way. We plan to catch up with some friends and family before finally getting home and quickly preparing for our next trip, but Where2Next?