Pleased to be out of congested caravan park, we set out today for something completely different, bush camping in a National Park. We will spend the next 2 days at Karajini at Dales Campground, run by the National Park. Facilities are a space to set up camp and long drop toilets.
As we get further into the 340 km drive, the scenery starts to change dramatically as we climb up into the ranges.
The only stop along the way is at Munjina, where there is a roadhouse, Auski Roadhouse, offering fuel, a caravan park and a restaurant. We dropped in for fuel and a cup of coffee, as there is no fuel in the National Park, and our next option is Tom Price. We drive through Munjina Gorge on the highway before turning off to Karajini about 20km from Munjina.
To get a camping spot at Karajini we booked months in advance. They sent us a map of the campground and our site number, so we were able to drive in and set up without any further administration.
The yellow dot is our site
Set up took no time, as there is nothing to connect to, so we had lunch and headed for the Visitors Centre, about 12 km away to develop a plan for the next 2 days. A very helpful older gentleman helped us work out a plan which involved exploring Dales Gorge and surrounds this afternoon and tomorrow explore the gorges on the Western side of the Park.
If we have time in Tom Price, we will visit Hamersley Gorge from there in 3 days time.
With a solid plan now worked out, we head straight to Dales Gorge and park at the Fortescue Falls Lookout carpark. It is only a short walk to the lookout from the carpark, with various warning signs along the way.
First is a map highlighting the walks at Dales Gorge (you can also see how close our campground is, the grey loop roads)
No surprises here it is the Australian Bush
At the Northern edge of Karajini National Park is Wittenoom, the site of our old employers once owned Blue Asbestos Mine. So it should be no surprise that there are other deposits in the park. The warning is clear, leave it alone and there is no risk.
Arriving at the lookout with all warnings duly noted, the enormity of Dales Gorge reveals itself, and at the far end we can see Fortescue Falls with still a good flow of water.
Dales Gorge
Fortescue Falls
Now we have a tough decision to make. To really appreciate the gorge, you need to go down to the falls. An amazing set of steps has been erected to make this possible, but it is a long way down and then you have to come back up. An alternative is to do the rim walk along the top of the gorge. We decide to take on the stairs.
They are quite an engineering feat, hanging off the side of the cliff. Whilst we didn't count them we were told there were more than 200.
Taking the stairs down turned out to be a great decision as you were up close to the amazing geology in this region.
As we get closer to the falls we see the huge plunge pool that is a very popular swimming spot. Unfortunately we hadn't come prepared for a swim, but the water was a bit on the cold side for us.
However, this is not the best swimming spot, along a further few hundred metres of rocky trail is the Fern Pool which really was the ideal swimming spot with it's own waterfall.
The trail to Fern Pool
Fern Pool with swimming platform and stairs
We made our way back up the stairs, gradually, and drove off to another 2 lookouts a little further down the road before returning to our van.
The first was the Circle pool Lookout overlooking a Circular Pool surrounded by the gorge.
Circular Pool Lookout
Not far from there was another lookout called 3 ways which showed a junction where three arms of the gorge come together. Down on the gorge floor we could see a small group who had obviously opted to walk the bottom of the gorge, another walking option.
Three ways lookout
Hikers on the bottom of the gorge
We have had a great afternoon in this fascinating place, we look forward to tomorrow's foray to the Western Gorges.
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