Karijini National Park, Western Australia, AustraliaKarijini
Arrived and did not do much for the
first day as the other couple were getting their training.
Things work a little differently here,
we work in a little office at the start of the camping area.
We work officially from 8-5 two days on
2 days off. This does not happen , yes its 2 days on 2 days off but
you generally start about 7 am to empty night honesty box of late
arrival campers and then go find the ones who did not put anything in
the honesty box.
One stays and opens office and changes
all the signs to point to the office, while Larry usually checked on
what was empty and that it was correct with the list of campsites
occupied.
We usually found a couple each morning
that had not paid.
We have the use of a buggy to get
around the camp site and the use of a Hyundai car to go into Tom
Price shopping or go the 12 km to the information centre or to Ranger
Headquarters to use the phone or satellite internet. We also got a
ranger 4 wheel drive ute to go to other gorges on dirt roads on our
days off.
Our job was to take payment of campers
and a lot them a campsite. One of 144 sites in 6 different loops.
Some sites are bigger for big vans or for groups , then there are
areas for the campers who need to run generators and one loop for
tour groups.
The charges are by person adults $11 a
night, kids between 6-16 =$3.00 under 6 free, and pensioners pay $7.a
night each. We take money , a lot sites and give receipts and we can
be flat out all day as we also have to give directions and
information about the park and its Gorges.
Which is a standard National Park fee
when there is only bush toilets provided.
Here because we are in the office all
day we do not clean the toilets , the rangers do that each day.
It can be that busy that , you make a
cup of tea and maybe hour latter you might get to drink it . Lunch is
when you can a bite at a time.
All this will change on the 1st June as
we leave as it will be only on-line bookings like Cape Range and a
few other parks.
I'm glad we not going to be there for
the change over as it will be a bit hectic with some not knowing the
changes.
So anyway Dales campground is the only
campground apart from a commercial camp site on the westside of the
park, that is a lot more expensive , but has showers.
Dales Gorge is just a short walk from
the campground so its the go to for a swim.
You still have to go down about 270
man made steps at the Fortescue Falls end to get down for a swim
which means you have to get back up again. So you can swim at this
end at the falls and at Fern pool which also has small waterfalls and
is deep with a ladder to get in and out. This is where I usually
swam. There are little fish that hang around the ladder and eat your
dead skin cells from your feet as you get in. Fun.
You can walk along the gorge floor to
the other end or walk the track at the top of the gorge. At this end
is Circular pool, named because the gorge wall circles the water. The
water seeps from the rocks and after rain there is a waterfall here.
The water here is very cold as the gorge walls shade the water for
most of the day. I did swim here but not for long. To get in or out
the gorge this end its a rocky uneven trail in the side of the gorge
wall.
Kalamina Gorge is 37km away down a dirt
road which also goes to Joffre, Knox, Handcock and Weano Gorges.
Kalamina has a 3km 3 hour return walk
in the gorge. Its a rock descent at the bottom is a pool with a
small waterfall with the creek flowing down the gorge. You follow
this creek on the walk, crossing it a couple of times, like in the
other gorges. This is a pretty gorge and is family friendly not
getting to more than 4 on the hardness walking trail guide.
We went to Joffrey and Knox lookouts
but because it has been a dry year up here, not much monsoon /summer
rains for a couple of years the waterfalls that can be quite big at
Joffrey are not flowing. We did not walk down to the pool as it
looked as though it needed a good flush of rain water.
There was road works on the dirt road
to Weano and Handcock so the gorges were cosed for over a week, we
had to wait to get in.
Larry got to go though as he went on a
Canyoning adventure tour for the day.
Start at 7.20 in morning to get gear on
and finish around 5 pm. Long day.
So get fitted out with harness ,
helmet, wetsuit, and footwear ready to hike, slide, abseil, tube,
climb traverse cliffs, around in Red Gorge. They say you have to be
over 14, have good level of fitness and be able to swim. I did not go
as I would not be strong enough in the hands and legs to climb what
they, I would have loved to go.
The tour is in Red Gorge class 6 and
enters in Knox Gorge class5 and returns through Hancock Gorge class5,
in parts that are closed to the public.
This area is closed to the public
because a few years ago the SES and Rangers where in the gorge to
perform a rescue . They rescued one person then were called in again
and while they where bringing him out on a stretcher a flash flood
happened. It washed them down the Gorge but they managed to save the
person from being carried away in the flood , but 1 Search and rescue
man died and 3 or 4 ses and rangers where hurt. After the inquest the
gorge walk rating system came into force and Red Gorge was closed and
the pool in it was re-named after the ses man who died.
The only way people can go into this
area is with the West OZ active team and they have to stick to a lot
of safety rules.
So look at the photos and see the
amount of equipment Larry is wearing . He enjoyed himself even
though the harness straps between his legs made him sore the wetter
he got. He ended up in the water swimming a bit more as with all the
stuff he was wearing he could not manage getting in his tube had to
carry when they were in the water. He kept falling out. He managed
the climb up the wet wall , abseil down the gorge wall but not
sliding into his tube in the water.
I don't know but 2 days latter he had a
bad cold and cough and I think he was a bit down after getting tired
, strained and wet all day and maybe someone was in the office and
had a cold, because we do not get colds much.
Weano Gorge-
The upper walk is class 4 and for
experienced bushwalkers. Its a formed track with obstacles including
large rocks. Has short steep sections with no steps.
The lower Weano gorge walk trail takes
you to Handrail pool. Irregular and steep with obstacles.
The pool area is class 5 its steep
rough surface , has handrail to hold onto to get in pool as rock
entry very slippery.
Handcock Gorge has the hardest walks
as its class 5 all the way with ladders on straight drops.
At the end of 1.5 km you get to Kermits
pool. After walking through some water , which after rain can be
chest high or more, you reach Kermits pool. This is where the
Canyoning ends and Larry had his last swim by accident he fell in
from small ledge.
We did not go into Knox and Joffre
gorges.
We did use the ranger ute to go back to
Hamersley Gorge with its rock formations. Too many people there so we
did not swim , we drove the other side of the gorge on a narrow track
and around to Wittenoom. This is where asbestos was mined so its
drive through to look do not stir up the dust.
There are a couple of people still
living in the old mining town but the rest is abondoned.It wpold be
one of the best Gorges if it did not have Asbestos in it.
We stopped at Mount Bruce one day so we
could ring a few people as you get Telstra reception on the mountain.
Mount Bruce or Punurrunha is the second
tallest peak in WA. The first lookout overlooks the Marandoo iron ore
mine, which started in 1994.You get to see the 240 carrage ore trains
from up here. You can walk a 3 hour trail or to the summit which
takes 6 hours. We stopped at the first and sat and made our phone
calls.
One night we went to the Remtrek
astronomy.It is a 2 hour look at the very clear night sky. Phil who
owns it has 3 big telescopes and is very good. His knowledge and
funny explanations of things make for a good experience . I even got
a very good picture of the moon with my old phone through one of the
telescopes. Phil made fun of my old phone but it still took good
photos.
We saw heaps and learnt a lot and got a
chocolate milky bar at the end of the evening.
The only thing wrong in Karijini is it
has gone onto Optus and so has Millstream NP. Its strange all us
with Telstra can pick up in most places but here nothing and the odd
few travellers that have optus are laughing with phone reception in
the campground.
I did buy a optus phone card thinking
it would work in my phone but it was not to be . I would go to
rangers office and contact optus but nothing they did worked.
We are sad but happy we had to leave as
our next place is waiting for us. Sad because of the nice people we
met Rangers and staff but glad to be not there when the internet
booking starts.
So its a 2 ½ day hot long drive to
Get to Broome and the Bird Observatory.
June jones
2019-06-05
You tough aussies. Look after yourselves. Good luck we r still near Warwick
Lyn
2019-06-14
Love your photos and the stories..keep them coming..