We’re here! We have finally made it to Karijini National
Park. There is a certain amount of
trepidation… our expectations are high… what if the park fails to deliver and
we are left disappointed?
First up, our accommodation.
There are two camps in the national park. One on the west side which is part of the Eco
Retreat and one on the east side. The
obvious choice is to stay at each one to cover the gorges and pools in the near
vicinity. However, we consulted
WikiCamps about each site. For anyone
who doesn’t know, WikiCamps is a user OPINION based database of accommodation
spots. Anyhow, we checked out the camps
on WikiCamps and the western one at the Eco Retreat had some bad reviews…
people complaining about the cost, the facilities and the state of the
facilities. So, we debated about where
to stay, could we put up with a 60km drive on a rough unsealed road at the end
of a busy day after climbing up and down gorges?
We ended up choosing the most practical option which is to
stay at one then move onto the other.
Our first stop, the western end camp.
As a result we learned a valuable lesson… “Haters gonna hate, hate,
hate, hate, hate” – Taylor Swift. It
turns out there is absolutely nothing wrong with the facilities… there are
flushing toilets (pretty special in a national park in the middle of nowhere)
and showers, both of which were neat and clean.
I don’t understand why people are so negative? Yes, we got home late on the first day when
there was no ‘solar’ left to power the solar showers. The showers were cool but with three of us in
there commentating as we showered and Aiden running around outside saying, “Is
it hot? Is it hot? Is it hot?” It was
all a bit of fun and part of the adventure.
You can choose to be a hater or an adventurer… we choose adventurers…
We only had a few hours left of the afternoon to go
exploring. So we picked Joffre and Knox
Gorges simply because they were the closest to us. First gorge, Joffre Gorge. Today I learned something new… I had always
imagined that to see a gorge you had to climb/drive to the top of a peak and
look down on it. Obviously, I thought
they were formed as the ground rose into the air… I was wrong. I truly had no idea that you are walking on
normal, flat ground then all of a sudden the ground simply falls away leaving a
massive fissure. And they are
spectacular!
Warning! It’s so hard
to pick and choose just a couple of photos, sorry if I have overdone the number
of photos posted here…
The view from the top of Joffre Gorge
To get down to the bottom we had to walk around the top of the waterfall. This is the view from the top of the waterfall
We got to the bottom and hadn’t quite yet made it to the base of the waterfall. We were all lined up along this ledge trying to figure out if we could keep going around or if, and where we had to cross the water. It turns out the shoes came off and we had to wade through the ice cold water. My feet were numb by the time I got to the other side.
At our destination
Back at the top, these are some rock falls at the top of the waterfall
First gorge complete… check
Blown away by the magnificence… check
Happy to be here… check
Getting to the bottom of this one was a bit trickier. The climb was rated a class 5, which means it
has steep, rocky, slippery sections most of the way. I learned two things from this climb:
1) I am not
as young as I used to be
2) Cream coloured shorts are not a good choice when
you are climbing up and down red, dusty rocks and you are 40 years old so your
version of climbing involves a lot of scooting along on your bum…
While I sat and recouperated the kids continued to bounce and jump and leap and play…
We turned tail and headed back down the gorge in the opposite direction
Until we hit the end
Then comes the worst part… we then have to climb all the way back out… here’s a photo of me in (slow) action. It actually wasn’t too hard a climb out and surprisingly no one came out bleeding…
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