From Karijini to Port Hedland

We left Karijini after changing our plans from originally going to Millstream-Chichester National Park to go to Port Hedland in the hope to catch the stairway to the moon (a natural phenomenon where the full moon rises reflecting on the mud flats) on one of the last days of the full moon.  It was a family choice (perhaps a little influenced by the fact that friends who we were camping with at Karijini were going to Port Hedland, and the kids were keen to keep hanging with them, and to see to the staircase). 

We drove through some incredible cuttings to get out of the ranges, and the pictures that Matt tried to take offer it no justice.  All I can say is that it was awesome to look at and I am sure that the guys at Top Gear would love to race any car around there in any weather. 

Lunch at a roadside stop where, as usual we had to hide behind a spinifex to wee!  Fine for the boys, prickly for me...

The boys learnt how to get the trucks to toot their horns and thought that it was the best while we had our lunch...then on to Port Hedland to try to find a place to rest... but that's another story!

Gorge – ous Karijini National Park

Karijini is one of those places that we had heard about even before we had left home, however, we thought when we left home that not many people would be here…. Once we started on the road, we began to realise that it was one of “those” places that you “have” to go. We don’t usually like to go those places because I think we are frankly becoming hermits and also because we are secretly wishing that we could see something that other people hadn’t… Anyway, we knew that we had to come here because it is the second largest National Park of WA and the word was that it had the best gorges. The word on the road was also that it was hard to get into the camp ground…these common rumours spread to stress people out, especially people like us who take hours to pack up and unpack…

Anyway, because we did the Mt Nameless drive on the way, we didn’t get to Karijini until about 4pm, and the Brieffies were already there. The (unfriendly) campground host told us we could camp at a site (apparently the only other one) another suburb away from the Brieffies, or next door to them in the “genie” (generator) site… We chose next door to them, so at least our kids could play, and I have ear plugs anyway.

It all turned out fine as the host was the strictest I have ever known and rode around on his bicycle telling everyone off for everything, so no-one used their generator more than they needed to.

Gorges, what can I say! First one we looked at was the Dales Gorge, right next to where we camped. We walked to Fortesque Falls, then up to Fern Pool where we swam in the chilly waters. It really was beautiful and peaceful. The steep walls of the gorge were incredible with the slices of colour twisting along. The huge old fig trees and paper barks stopped me in my tracks as I could not even fathom to think of their age.

The next one that we looked at was Weano Gorge which unfortunately was spoilt by the drive along the worst road in WA, yet. It was 46 km of hard corrugated road that made us all feel that the doors were going to fall off. We looked from the top and were awed at the immensity of the meeting of the 3 gorges. When we walked down to Handrail Pool, we were taken through the most incredible colour ways of rock corridors that have been worn away over the years. The kids swam through some of the pools, and walked through others. It was great to share the time with the Brieffies as it certainly made it more fun.

A bit of a Russell Coight moment

On the last day we went back through Dales Gorge and did the whole circuit, around the top, down to Circular Pool – which was the most serene and incredible waterfall pool I have ever seen – then all the way back through the gorge to Fortesque Falls up to Fern Pool ending with a swim.

We were really lucky to see the World Bentley Club as they were making their way from Perth to Darwin. We also saw the partial eclipse of the moon on our last night.

Gorged out? Not yet. Karijni is a beautiful place, however, it is very busy, and I am sure that it will only get busier, with only one camping site which does make it difficult to sit back and relax properly…