Karajini National Park

Wow! This park has to be on your bucket list. The gorges are amazing (even after being gorged out!), the wildflowers are sensational and the walks are fantastic. After a very difficult check in (in-experienced campground hosts tried to get us to park our caravan in a site too small on a difficult curve = a little car damage L) we finally got set up and headed out to Mt Bruce (2^nd largest peak in WA). 

Mt Bruce

Class 5 billy goat iron ore section!

Marandoo Iron Ore Mine

The wildflowers were in full force due to bushfires regenerating the area late last year. I thought you could drive a car up to a lookout or something….which is rather different to the actual 3-4 hr walk we were faced with when we got there IN THONGS. So we all trekked through the wildflowers for as far as we could like billy goats up the mountainside. We are proud (or stupid) to say that we did all of the class 4 walk and even half of the class 5 walk in inappropriate footwear. We also got to see the Marandoo Iron Ore Mine from the lookout and watched a 2.7km train pull out heading to Port Headland. We watched the beautiful sunset again over the Pilbara mountain range.

The next day we headed out early to Dales Gorge – to complete a loop of 3 waterholes – Fern Pool, Fortescue Falls & Circular pool. The walk along the bottom of the gorge varied from vertical cliffs to amphitheatre to stepping stones over creeks. Fern pool was our favourite – it was beautifully set and lovely swimming temperature. There were even fish that lovingly nibbled Kieren’s toes (:-P) unfortunately a lady slipped in the waterfall injuring her shoulder. We weren’t sure if she was badly injured or just seeking attention from the 2 male backpackers who swam her to the steps. But 100m further on (of a good few km’s) she was in obvious pain. So Kieren & I had to try and immobilise her shoulder with a disposable sling. Lucky we pack a first aid kit with every walk and remembered some first aid essentials! Lesson learned – it now has Panadol & nurofen in it too. By the time she got back to the vertical ladder, she was in good need of some morphine. The ranger was also helping up the ladder an elderly lady with Parkinsons who had also injured her shoulder. Not really sure why she’d been attempting class 4/5 walks!!!  After we left the injured in the ranger’s capable hands, we headed around to Circular Pool. It was stunning…except for the leeches everywhere! I was pretty happy not to swim here :P

This is how we roll sometimes..

 

Fern Pool

Circular Pool

The next day we went out to Weano Gorge – this walk was a class 5 – down to Handrail Pool. Some of the walk required wading in icy cold water, rockclimbing along the creek and spidering in between rock faces. Heaps of fun! We made it down to the handrail but I made the call that it was too dangerous for Miss T to attempt (she probably would have been fine but I was feeling extra cautious after the previous day’s events). The rock where the water has streamed over for years is practically iron and super slippery. Kieren, Miss E & Master J completed the handrail walk – you have to haul yourself down slippery rock and around to the side of the pool. One of them slipped….can you work out which one?

Handrail Pool

Gorge Lookout

On the way back, we encountered a very large Pilbara Olive Python who looked just as freaked out as we were to be meeting! So proud of our kids who handled the snake incident  with a lot more aptitude than the funny French tourists who screamed beside us then rushed towards it with cameras :-O

On the way back to the campsite we looked at a couple of other gorge lookouts – Knox & Joffre. We were pretty gorged out by then. As we got back into the campsite we realised it was Sunday and there was a travelling church service in the campground. So we gobbled down some toasted sandwiches and joined Rev John from the Uniting Church Frontier Service for a bush church. There was us and another family there in our campchairs and with torches. Rev John  told the kids a bit about what he does – he serves a parish as big as Victoria – from Kununurra to Fitzroy Crossing down to below Tom Price. Music was via the car stereo (and was from the 80/90’s as far as I could tell!) and his service had to be adapted for the 7 kids 12 yrs & under (as opposed to the grey nomads he was probably expecting). Not every day you get to go to church in the middle of the Pilbara.

Some of the cheeky wildlife - a lot cuter than the dingoes!

 The next day we had to leave (read water tanks running really low!) so we filled up on groceries at Tom Price (a mining town where the population revolves nearly every 18 months!) and headed to Parabadoo (another mining town). Parabadoo has a caravan park owned by Rio Tinto where for a whole $25 you not only get to camp there, but you get FREE washing machines, dryers and showers. Needless to say anything that could be washed was and we were all very thankful for Rio Tinto’s generosity after 6 days of free camps/national parks ;) We also loved their public library where we did “school” one afternoon. (Yay they even had learner readers for Miss T!) We also ran into a couple from the Hunter Valley who we met in Kununurra – they own a coffee van and work the mornings in the caravan parks before sightseeing the rest of the day. Have you guessed I MISS MY COFFEE?! I was pretty happy to see them! 

This truck is a bit big for Miss E to climb into!