Day 163–166 2nd to 5th Sept. Karijini National Park

Port Hedland is the hub for all the iron ore that is mined from Newman. However we were keen to get to Karijini and so did not worry about spending time doing the port tour or any of the mining related stuff. This being the case, we used it as a jump off point to get to Karijini N.P. which was some 300 km to the south in the Pilbara. We left Pt. Hedland at around 11.30 and made it to Karijni by mid afternoon. Coming out of town for the first 100 k’s or so landscape was pretty plain and flat, but as we drove further south the landscape began to change gradually as mountain ranges became more common. The mountains in The Pilbara take on an almost purple hue as the sun strikes them and are really quite beautiful and stark, especially as this colour contrasts so vividly with the rich red coloured rock that dominates the landscape. These national park itself is situated right next to the mining town of Tom Price, which has 2 of the highest peaks in W.A., right next to it. We were gradually gaining altitude the more we travelled. We were headed to the Dales Gorge Campground, which is the main camping area in the National Park and being bitumen all the way is very popular with all types of campers. We were allocated a pretty campsite and the camping area had drop toilets and some gas b.b.q‘s, but there was no water available, so no showers and bring your own drinks! Wednesday morning dawned and it was Daisy’s 4th birthday. We had a beautiful morning with her and she was so excited about the whole thing. We had decided that we would explore the gorges around Dales Campsite on this day. I was quite surprised when I found out that we were actually camped within about 400 metres of them. From where we were camped it just looked like we were surrounded by savannah type grasslands with no hint that there were these fantastic gorges any where nearby. We thought that we would allow a couple of hours to explore them, thinking that this would be enough for the younger kids, but ended up spending about 6 hours doing so. We visited Circular Pool, which was fed by water from underground springs, where I had a swim and then walked along the gorge through which the small stream flowed. The gorge was lined with lush grass, reeds and paperbark and river red gums. We continued our walk until we reached Fortesque Falls which had a lovely plunge pool. We had a short rest and then headed on a further 200 metres to Fern Pool. This gorgeous pool about 50 m by 40 m, was filled with light blue coloured, pristine water that flowed over a 4-5 metre waterfall. It had a board edging and ladder at one end, so that entering and exiting the water was a breeze. All of us enjoyed a swim at this pool. It was difficult to comprehend where the water to fill these pools was coming from because above the gorges there was no indication that there was any water nearby, or had been any water nearby for a very long time. That evening we celebrated Daisy’s birthday with a dinner of Burritos and white chocolate mud cake, accompanied by party hats and whistles. Thursday we headed off for 50 km’s along the dirt road to the other gorge section of the park known as Weano Gorge. This gorge section is quite different from the Dales area. The gorges are a lot narrower and more diverse and in many ways more spectacular, but not necessarily better! They are also more complex and more difficult to enter, so we were mindful of how much we might be able to negotiate before Jassy and Daisy found it too difficult. Most sections of the gorge walks required feet getting wet and a few required total immersion in order to reach your destination. The little ones however, once again rose to the occasion and were able to complete most of the walks and enjoyed them as well. Both Jas and Daisy have become remarkably sure-footed and dexterous when it comes to negotiating rocks and steep, slippery inclines and as for Liv & Ruby, they just love the challenge and the experience. We didn’t manage to complete all the walks in this section of the park, but we were very happy with what we managed to do n the time that we had. It would however be easy to spend 4 or 5 nights in this beautiful place, even without showers!!!
The next morning we were heading for Exmouth, a distance of some 750 km, which we had decided to attempt in one day.