We ummed and arred about going to Karijini NP as it involved
an extra 500km round trip. In the end we
decided to go and had 5 nights in the park.
The 250km drive from Port Hedland to the park was interesting as the road had been closed for a day due to bushfires so there was a buildup of vehicles. We passed (in opposite directions) over 100 Triple B roadtrains carrying equipment from Newman Mine and there were even more travelling in our direction.
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| There were dozens of these oversized roadtrains carrying prefabricated mine components. |
Karijini NP, on first appearances, is scrubby and uninteresting looking,
but it hid some of the best gorges we’ve come across. We did so much walking we were all in bed and
asleep by 8.30pm and on our final night we were all in bed by 7.30pm! Unheard of for me.
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| Kate's grown so much on this trip! |
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| Fortesque Falls |
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| Unusual wave patterns in the rocks. |
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| Fortesque falls and swimming hole were beautiful - just a brief steep walk in and out. |
On our final day, we went to ‘Kermit’s Pool’ which involved a steep descent into a gorge, a
scramble along the gorge floor crossing backwards and forwards over the water,
then a swim or some impromptu abseiling through a narrow gorge (Larry and Kate
swam while Elizabeth and I managed to cling precariously to the wall), then
a scramble down a small waterfall, over some boulders, then do the spider walk
(walk with legs spread apart on each side of a narrow section of the gorge),
then arrive at this lovely little pool called Kermit’s Pool. What an adventure getting there! Larry gave us all a fright by slipping off one
of the walls and landing heavily in the water but he was OK. On the way back I decided to swim the gorge
section. We all agreed it was a top day
out but combined with the other gorge walks and swimming we had done over the
previous 4 days, we were all knackered, hence the early night! Karijini is a top national park, and yet
again, proves that to get the most out of the park you have to be
active. You need to be physically
capable to undertake the walks and swims - this is not a national park to be
left until you have dodgy knees, ankles or hips!
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| The start of the walk. First you had to get down to the water. |
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| I was trying not to get wet but swam this section on the return journey. |
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| If you didn't want to swim parts of the walk, this was your alternative! |
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Our destination - Kermit's Pool. The walk did continue but you needed ropes and hard hats. Not
items we normally carry in our daypacks! |
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| Chilling out on the return journey. |
We did make a detour into Tom Price, the iron ore town and did the
mine tour. It was interesting, but I
think we’ve done enough mine tours now – bauxite at Weipa (Q), uranium at Roxby
Downs (SA) and now iron ore at Tom Price (WA).
I do intend for us to do the Port tour at Dampier though, just so we can
see the final part of the process, but then that’s it for mine tours!! I don't think I'll get any complaints from Elizabeth and Kate who think mine tours are one big yawn after the first 10 minutes or so.
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Hard hats and safety glasses. At least we didn't need long pants and collared shirts
like some other tours. |
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| The General Mine Manager at Tom Price is a woman who began as a truck driver! |
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| Just one of many, many, large trucks we saw working at the mine. |
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| The main ore body almost exhausted. There are plenty of other deposits within the mine lease area. |
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| 8 bay vehicle maintenance shed. There are two men standing in front (centre) of this dump truck. |
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We never saw a single vehicle this colour at the mine site! All the processing equipment is
also painted yellow or orange and the only time you see the colour is after a downpour. |
Elizabeth had her 11th birthday while we were in the
park. I made a double tiered cake with
melted dark and white chocolate mixed with cream as the icing, and about $40
worth of Lindt chocolates on top! While it was Qld school holidays, it wasn't for WA, so the park didn't have a lot of kids.
I think she was really feeling not having the usual family members
around to celebrate. Anyway, during one
of the gorge swims she met two girls from Adelaide and they and their mum came
over for afternoon tea and to share the cake.
It felt a bit like rent-a-crowd, but made the occasion a bit merrier for
her. Her main gift was a Kindle so
hopefully that will solve our constant challenge of having enough books for her
to read. When we left the park and
finally got reception (about 1 km out from Auski roadhouse), she had 8 messages
from family.
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Given we weren't having a party, I'm not sure why we decided to make these rice puff balls. Made
with rice bubbles and nutella, they tasted like chocolate crackles. The girls were very excited
about having nutella for the first time. |
After leaving the national park, we decided to spend a night at the caravan park attached to the
Auski roadhouse about 70km away. In the last 12 months over 30 caravan sites have been converted to a demountable accommodation camp for approx 200 workers. They have all their meals in the restaurant at the roadhouse and travel by bus over 100km each way to their mine. Must be a mine field of a different type for the roadhouse owners!
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| Old mine truck tyres used as insulation around the generator shed at Auski roadhouse. |
We were desperate to clean the car, van, do washing, mop the floor etc. The red dirt of the Kimberly and Pilbara is driving us all crazy. Clothes are dirty as soon as you put them on and don’t let me get started about dirty feet!!!
Travel tip: Unpowered camping is
available at Dales campground ($18 for 4 of us), it has clean toilets but no
showers but you can swim every day at nearby Fortesque Falls. One section is set aside for campers with
generators. You can pay for camping at either the Information Centre or with
the camp hosts based at Dales. You can't book ahead. The other gorges (Weano, Hammersley) are an easy
day trip from Dales.
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