Karijini National Park

We hadn’t even left Port Hedland when a huge road train full of iron ore flicked up a stone and cracked our windscreen.  It had the power & noise of a gunshot. We were certainly thankful for laminated windscreens as I would hate to think where the stone could have ended up. The windscreen was only replaced about 6 months ago – bugger!

4 hours later we arrived at the spectacular Karijini National Park with its banded iron formations, 100m deep chasms, dramatic waterfalls and clear fresh pools. 3 nights of bush camping with no power was a great change from the busy caravan parks.

Back to bush camping

We stayed at the well organised Dales Campground. At this gorge we were able to explore from both the top and base of the gorge with some amazing lookouts and fun trekking over rocks and small streams. Dales Gorge is famous for Circular Pool (which is cold – only 20min of sun at the base each day), Fortescue Falls and the Fern Pool. We travelled downed to Fern Pool twice to experience a refreshing swim with the small fish. The girls did not last too long, but Darren & Matt made it to the falls.

Circular Pool from the cliff

The walk down to Circular Pool was worth it

Walking the base of Dales Gorge

Three gorges meet at this lookout

Fortescue Falls

Fortescue Falls from the base

Fern Pool

Fern Pool - very refreshing!

Good tree for a perch

Away from our Campground we visited Kalimina Gorge, which was an easy walk down a rocky trail to be rewarded with a nice waterfall at the base. It was quite exotic with the palms.

Kalimna Falls - very small (if you can see it!)

One of the most spectacular gorges in the park was Joffre with its amazing falls. Although you can’t climb into the gorge we could see it from both ends to get some inspiring pictures. The kids enjoyed the climb down to the top of the falls. Matty didn’t want any help, which was typical of all our walks. Top job Matt!

Joffre Falls

Our final Gorge that we visited before returning for a swim was Knox Gorge. This one was quite spectacular too where for the fit and trained you can abseil in sections to the base. It looked great from the photos.

We also travelled to the Visitor Centre which was well blended in with the environment. It was an opportunity to learn the history of the area, local wildlife and aboriginal culture from the traditional owners (Banyjima Yinhawangka & Kurrama tribes). Karijini is also known for Death Adder snakes, but thankfully they were not on our tracks. It was also too cold for them at nights.

It was an awesome few days! We were so proud of the kids trekking abilities, as some of the walks and climbs were quite challenging.