Tom Price
We stopped at Tom Price to stock up and do some washing before
we headed into Karijini National Park. They
run tours of the Rio Tinto mine site (also called Tom Price) so we donned our hardhats and safety goggles, ready
to see some really big trucks. We were
not disappointed. The huge dump trucks
are worth about $4m each, with each
of their 8 tires costing $40,000. The
trains that take the iron ore from the mine to the docks are 2.3km long and
their drivers earn about $240k. They
took us to the edge of the enormous hole in the ground and at each end there is
a mountain. The guide explained that the
two peaks used to be joined and they have excavated the whole middle section of
the mountain. The amount of rock and
iron ore that has been removed is mind boggling.
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| This dumper is actually a bit smaller than the modern ones! |
Karijini – most
beautiful place on Earth
We drove to Karijini National Park and checked out the
visitor centre before heading to Dales Campground. Just about everyone we have spoken to before
and during this trip has raved about Karijini so we had great expectations. We were met by our camp hosts Amanda and John
who gave us an update on all the gorges and allocated us a site.
After we set up we went for a walk around the campground and
realised that we were camped right next to Barbara , Ross and Daniel who we had
first met in Red Bluff and then again in Exmouth. It seems that everyone on these big trips
just takes turns at following each other around. It was really great to see them again – they
are fantastic people. Ben was keen to
teach Daniel to play his favourite card game, Sleeping Queens and they also
roped Ross and Jenny into a Uno session.
We set out for our first hike at Kalamina Gorge, which is
about 25km along a corrugated dirt road.
We’d been hearing a faint ringing/rattle for the previous few days but
had checked all the straps, nuts and bolts we could see without being able to
identify the source. About 200m into the
corrugations the faint ringing became a loud rattly clinking and it was
definitely a sound not to be ignored. Just
then I noticed that the UHF antenna mounted on the bullbar was wobbling crazily
so we stopped and I jumped out the check it.
The bolt holding it onto the bullbar was really loose and about to fall
off so I tightened it as much as I could with my fingers and then realised that
we did not have a 19mm spanner with us to tighten it properly. Luckily, most people slow and/or stop when
they drive past a car stopped on these dirt roads so we soon borrowed a spanner
from a passerby and set off again, happy that we had finally identified that
annoying rattle.
Rattle rattle clink
clank
Oh. That hadn’t been the
cause of the rattle.
After a some slow driving and careful listening, Jenny
identified that the noise was coming from underneath the car near the front
right wheel. We stopped, had a look
underneath and saw that a ring from the bottom of the shock absorber had unscrewed
itself completely from the coil and was jingling around freely on the metal
arms below. Lying in the dirt, Jenny managed to screw it back about a
third of the way up to where it should have been and then we turned around and
drove carefully back to the caravan.
After a great deal of brute force, half a can of WD40 and using a tent
peg for leverage she managed to get the ring right back up to the top. We still weren’t sure if that had done the
trick though so we drove all the way back to Tom Price, had it properly
repaired by a mechanic and then drove all the way back to Karijini.
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| Patch up fix |
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| More patching up |
The Gorges
We hiked and swam in most of the beautiful gorges in Karijini. They are all so amazing that words can’t
adequately describe how spectacular, rugged, ancient and unique that each one
is. They all have something different to
show you. We spent 6 days doing really
challenging hikes over sharp loose rocks and wet slimy rocks, through ankle
deep water and neck deep water, under ledges, over edges, above and below
waterfalls, through trees and scrub, up and down ladders and around enormous
boulders. We swam in cold pools with
waterfalls, clear pools with tiny fish that nibble your toes, deep blue pools
with little leaches and pools that open out and allow you to swim through the
gorge as far as you dare. It was truly
magical. Still being in iron ore
country, the rock has a real metallic feel.
It is heavy and sometimes shiny, more like a polished bronze in
places. In others it is red and the
flowing layers look like a cake or the black lines of ore are so compressed
they reminded me of a telephone book. Here are some pictures – they don’t do it
justice but should show some of the amazing things we were able to do.
Kalamina Gorge
We were going to take all our swimming gear for a swim in
the gorge but as we were starting out a family coming back up told us that it
was pretty slimy and not that nice. We
ended up putting towels back in the car and just doing the walk.
Fortescue Falls and Fern Pool
These two spots are close to the campground so it didn’t
take long to get there. We were
undecided as to whether we should take Ben’s Wahu floaty vest and thought that
he wouldn’t need it. The walk to the
falls is over some rocks and then down a fairly lengthy, steep set of
stairs. You then walk about 300m through
some trees on a dirt trail before you reach Fern Pool. Jenny and Ben jumped in and then realised
that it would be much easier for Ben to swim across the pool to the waterfall
on the far side if he had his Wahu vest.
Guess who had to hot foot it back through the trail and up all those
stairs to the car and back down again?
Yep, the slow Mummy who hadn’t got in the water yet. At least it was a good workout and there was
a nice cool swim at the end of it.
We met up with a family who had camped next to us back at
Tom Price so Ben had a good play with their 2 kids. Allan, Deb, Grace and Jack were also staying
at Dales Campground (although in another section) and they invited us over for
a drink later that evening. It was a
great night. They also had some other
friends with their 2 kids over so Ben had a great gang of playmates (who also
knew how to play Sleeping Queens!). They
ended up feeding the kids and then we were most impressed that they were able
to throw together a delicious stir fry for 4 unexpected additional adults. Their other guests supplied fruit and rice
cream while we contributed a giant block of chocolate. We are meeting some awesome people on this
trip and these impromptu gatherings and sharing between almost strangers is
brilliant.
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| Fern Pool |
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| The gorge |
Hamersley Gorge
Hamersley Gorge is a 100km drive from the campground but is
totally worth the time and effort to get there.
There is an upper waterfall which flows down a gentle incline into a
pool which then narrows off and flows through the gorge. We swam in the pool and then about 100m into the
gorge before Ben got too cold.
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| Heading into the gorge |
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| Rest stop |
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| Amazing layers of rock |
Joffre Gorge
We didn’t intend to climb into Joffre Gorge but when we got
to the lookout and saw the fantastic views below we decided that we had to go
down there and see it up close. From up
high we saw an adventure tour group preparing to climb into tire tubes to float
down the gorge. It looked like great fun
and when Ben is older (no kids are allowed) we will all go back for that fun! The hike into Joffre Gorge was probably the
most challenging yet as you need to clamber over big rocks and down steep walls
and ledges to get to the bottom. We kept
a careful eye on Ben but he was totally fine and we all really enjoyed the
climb. We had a swim and explored the
waterfall before climbing all the way up again.
We dropped into the Karijini Eco Retreat, which is a more expensive
campground because it is a fully equipped resort with restaurant and showers
and cabins (all frightfully costly). We
had a coffee and decided we were too tired to hike into another gorge that day
so we went to a couple of lookouts and then headed home.
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| Climbing like Spiderman |
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| View down the gorge |
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| Looking down into the gorge |
Hancock Gorge
Hiking in to Hancock Gorge was a huge adventure! We took Ben’s wetsuit and Wahu vest as we’d been
told that there is a section where the water is chest deep and most people with
kids just swim through. If you want to
avoid getting wet the alternative is a dangerous climb along a narrow ledge
above the water and it wasn’t recommended.
We had to climb down three levels of metal ladders to the floor of the
gorge and then make our way over rocks and through trees to our first water section. This was only knee deep so we just took off
our boots and carried them through. We
had a waterproof bag for our car keys and towels so when we got to the next
water section we left our clothes, boots and bag there and waded in. It was actually easier to swim through as the
rocks beneath were pretty slippery. We
emerged from the water at a beachy area called “The Amphitheatre” which is
shaped as its name suggests with levels of rock ledges in a semi-circle facing
a pond. Off to one side of the pond is a
narrow opening that the water flows through.
It is called “Spider Walk” as to get through it you need to put feet and
hands wide, touching each side wall and shuffling your way down so that you don’t
slip over on the slimy rocks in the middle.
Spider Walk brings you to “Kermit’s Pool”, a beautiful green pool in the
shadows of overhanging rock walls. The
water then flows over a huge waterfall, which is roped off (presumably to
prevent stupid tourists falling to their deaths).
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| Wading / swimming through the gorge |
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| At Kermit's Pool |
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| The waterfall and gorge continuing after Kermit Pool |
We beat a hasty retreat and made our way back to the car,
sure that one of them was going to kill themselves. We bumped into a man in the carpark not long
afterwards who had left Kermit’s Pool after us and he said that he saw one of
them lying face down in the water unconscious until his friends pulled him out. He woke up and the mayhem continued.
We went back to the van and packed up ready to journey to our next destination. We really didn't want to leave.
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