Week 32: Karijini National Park WA - Nanutarra WA

 Stats Overview

Kms Travelled: 1230

Kms Hiked: 11

No. of Camps: 5

The Adventures

We can finally tick off Karijini NP and we have to admit it is definitely up there as one of our favourite NP's we have visited on our trip so far! The gorges are so beautiful, although very different to the ones we explored in the Kimberley. We also quickly realised that the pleasant swims in the warm waters of the Kimberley are far behind us because the water in Karijini is freezing!

This week in Karajini we explored Kalamina, Knox, Weano, Hancock and Hamersley gorges. One of the good things about Karijini is that none of the hikes are very long (as you can see from our hiking total). However, to explore the gorges, you first have to get down into the gorge, and the path down the gorge walls are very steep and mostly unstructured. We made the mistake of completing four of those gorges in one day, which meant our poor glutes and legs could barely function the day after! Our two favourite gorges were definitely Knox and Hamersley as they were both so beautiful and had plenty of different pools and areas to explore. However, our favourite hike was to Kermits Pool in Hancock Gorge, as it was a fun adventure to make it to the pool. There were lots of people trying to avoid the water crossings by scaling the rock walls, however, we figured that we were doing the hike to go for a swim, so we made our way through all the water crossings as we figured we were going to get wet sooner or later! The most challenging swim we had was at Handrail Pool in Weano Gorge. Due to the height of the gorge walls, the pool rarely gets any sun and was absolutely freezing! Will somehow managed to get into the water slowly so he could adjust to the icy temperatures and go for a swim. I had the unfortunate experience of making a public spectacle of myself by sliding in uncontrollably on the slippery rocks, with the shock of the cold water making me nearly scream the place down. Needless to say, a lot of people had a good laugh at me. Although a few who were on the fence about getting in suddenly decided they would stay nice and dry!

After our stint in Karijini we headed down to Tom Price, which is one of the mining hubs of the Pilbara. We were keen to explore some more of the mountains in the area and were pretty excited when we found a couple that had 4WD tracks, so we could make it to the summit without having to hike them! We had a lot of fun taking Bertie out for a spin, however, the track up to Mount Nameless was certainly very wild. We thought we would stay up at the summit to watch the sunset but quickly decided we did not want to be doing the descent in the dark, as we can't afford to spend any more money on our equipment! Our next stop was to Dampier, where Will discovered there was a short cut we could take on a rail access road owned by Rio Tinto, as the mine at Tom Price is connected by rail to the port at Dampier. As is typical of the mining industry, we had to do the safety module to obtain a permit in order to be able to drive on their gravel road. The safety module made the road sound like it was going to be one of the worst 4WD tracks in the country (people can die out here the video kept re-iterating) but of course being a mine owned road it was one of the best roads we have ever driven on and was definitely worth the time we spent to get the permit!

We are now making our way down the coast with our next destination being Exmouth and Cape Range NP. We are very excited to be hitting the Ningaloo reef and making it to a place where it is finally safe to swim in the ocean!

Kodak Moments

I think this photo speaks for itself! - 
Knox Gorge

We climbed into and out of way too many gorges. - I honestly can't remember which one this was!

Wonder where they got the inspiration for the name of this swimming hole? - Handrail Pool

Somehow Will braved the icy water to go and explore further up the gorge. - Handrail Pool

The hike to Kermits Pool was definitely the most fun! - Hancock Gorge

So many fun parts of the gorge to get through to make it to Kermits! - Hancock Gorge

When we finally made it! - Kermits Pool

Will said he wanted to get a photo of his sheila on Mount Sheila...I realised too late that he actually meant the car! - Mount Sheila

Hands down the prettiest (and warmest) pool at Karijini NP! - Spa Pool

The Spa Pool definitely deserves 2 shots. We braved the cooler temps in the morning to get it to ourselves because it is very popular! - Hamersley Gorge

After exploring the Spa Pool we also discovered we could swim through a chunk of the gorge, which was so much fun (and beat hiking up over the rocks)! - Hamersley Gorge

Looking out over Tom Price after surviving the hectic 4WD track! - Mount Nameless

My biggest haul to date! 

We are starting to see some wildflowers out in bloom. This is the Sturt Desert Pea which was one of the flowers I was most excited to see in WA! - Dampier

Only in Australia would we fan-girl over a dog...but Red Dog is pretty special! - Dampier