Karijini National Park - back on the red dirt

 

Travelling over 400kms, we reached Eco Retreat in Karijini National Park around 3pm. We were greeted by reception and were told that they had given us their best site as someone was celebrating a special birthday! Woo-hoo. The site, #105 in Mulga View, was sensational. Well away from other campers and with an uninterrupted view of the mountains and the sun setting– jackpot. As we settled in to watch our first golden hour, we heard the dingoes begin to howl. We had been warned at reception not to leave anything out overnight as the dingoes may attempt to carry it off. During our week stay we saw a couple around the campsite and a few on the road, but they didn’t approach us – thank goodness. We were happy to know we were safe inside the BT every evening – as they howled every night – sometimes to the early hours of the morning.

Day Two Sippy let down the tyres, as we were back on the corrugated red dirt to travel 14kms to Weano and Hancock Gorges. What a fun day! The hike into both of these gorges was reasonably challenging, with many a rock scramble and ledge climb over quite slippery rocks. After viewing Weano Gorge from the Oxer Lookout we headed into the gorge and down to Handrails Pool. A handrail had been installed to help people access the pool, as the narrow entry was on a slope and was very slippery. Signs instructed you to grip the rail with both hands and reminded you that several fatalities had occurred in the area. The pool was very cold with the few brave swimmers coming out bright pink and shivering.

After completing the rim walk, we headed over to Hancock Gorge and commenced the descent. The guide books described this walk as a ‘journey to the centre of the earth’. It was aptly described!
After climbing down a series of ladders, we wandered further into the gorge which narrowed into a huge chamber with small rock pools and marbled walls. We continued on to perform the ‘spider walk’ (stretching out arms and legs to staddle both rock walls) to Kermit’s Pool. Well, Cathy did, Andrew just walked through the freezing water to get there.

Cathy then took the plunge into the freezing waters of Kermit’s Pool, to swim across to the other side for a view into the next gorge. This section is then roped off as deemed too dangerous to continue on. While towelling down we saw two people fall heavily, one young girl flat onto her back and an older man straight down smacking both his knees. It was incredibly slippery. Cathy got low, considering it was less distance to fall if already crouching. We sat in the sun, enjoying snacks and cool water, before venturing out – making it back to the car in one piece.

Day Three we made the 90km journey back along the Warlu Way to the Dales Campground and stopped at the visitor’s centre. This was a lovely new building in the shape of a goanna. We then hiked down the long metal staircase to reach Fortescue Falls and Fern Pool before walking 2km through the bottom of Dales Gorge. We really enjoyed the stunning scenery of red rock walls with a beautiful meandering creek running through this gorge. We climbed up the many, many rock stairs to exit and hiked along to view the Circular Pools. After a flat 2km walk back to the car park we headed for a well-deserved picnic lunch at Dales Picnic area. As we arrived back at Eco Retreat later that afternoon, we were pleased to find that the severely corrugated red dirt road into the campground had been graded! What a difference – happy days.

Day Four was a massive day – climbing the summit of Mt Bruce (Punurrunha). This is WA’s second highest mountain with a height of 1,235m. The walk was only 10km in total – but the climbs at times were very steep and involved lots of concentration, as every step was either on rocky ground or traversing deep drops – rather scary at times. The last section of the climb was particularly challenging as were in the full sun and the going was steep and rocky underneath – but we made it and were rewarded with amazing panoramic views. Many a young person turned back on the walk, so we were quite proud of ourselves that we conquered this vigorous climb. The walk took 5 hours in total, spending approx. 40minutes at the top with a few short drink stops along the way.
After falling into the car with a cold drink from Sippy’s esky, we headed to Tom Price, the ‘Top Town’ in WA, standing 747m above sea level. We had heard of Tom Price from Ted Bachor, (Sippy’s work mate) who was employed as an electrician in his young days in the late 60’s (making lots of money) as they set up the infrastructure for mining. We needed to go into Tom Price for fuel and to gain a permit for travelling on the Rio Tinto Rail Access Road to Millstream. This involved watching a 20 min safety video at the visitor’s centre and having Sippy’s license recorded.

We arrived back at the campground late in the afternoon. Boy did we sleep well that night!

Day Five we had a lazy morning with a full cooked breakfast of bacon, eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes. We then walked through the campground to Joffre Gorge and did the class 5 descent (via lots of metal ladders) down to Joffrey waterfall. The spectacular curved rock walls creates the shape of a natural amphitheatre. Whilst there was only a small trickle of water coming over the edge, the waterhole was still quite full and Cathy braved the freezing water for a quick swim to the other side. We had to wait for a bit, but finally got the waterhole to ourselves to enjoy the awe of its scale and take photos.

Day Six we packed up in the morning and were on the road to Hamersley Gorge by 8:30am. One of the most remote gorges in Karijini, Hamersley Gorge has ancient rock formations which show a kaleidoscope of colours, patterns and textures, making for some great photographs. There was a beautiful swimming hole at the bottom, but as we were pressed for time (as driving onto Millstream NP) so we gave it a miss (next time).