Port Hedland to Karijini National Park

Day 81—Friday, 13th September (Port Hedland to Karijini National Park 339kms)

Hello, here we go again. We had an early morning wake up call, courtesy a shunting ore carrier engine. Soon though, we were well clear of this great construction zone.

We had a couple of changes of scenery, from flat, green vegetation, through ironstone outcrops, which reminded us of Devil’s Marble country in the NT. Lastly we began to spot wildflowers growing along the way. We also noted lots of roadkill but not wildlife, these were cattle. This highway is the major route for roadtrains full of ore, heading to the Port, also most supplies must be trucked up from the south. We met these great fifty metre trains regularly, travelling in both directions and they'd be very hard to stop, whether wildlife or cattle.

We made a stop at Auski Roadhouse which also has a caravan park and Cabins for travellers. Here we filled the tanks again so that when we deviate off the highway, into the National Park, we need not worry about low fuel in case we want to travel to some of the many gorges. We found a small patch of shade where we enjoyed our lunch.

Auski Roadhouse

Now we found the landscape changing again as the highway climbed into the Hamersley Range, moving up through 400m, then 500m, until by the time we reached the turn off to Karijini National Park we were at 700m. Still another 40kms to the Visitor Centre, with a quick stop at the park entry to pay park entry fees. At the visitor centre, camping fees were payable, at $12.00 per night. Although this was the highest park camping fee thus far, we both agreed that this park is the best run by quite a long way. By way of example, once fees were paid, we were directed to the Dales Campground where a “camp host” allocated a campsite taking van size into account and whether a generator was to be used. So we ended up with a lovely shady site, easily accessed with our van and got the generator out.

It may have been the altitude but we soon noticed the drop in temperature when the sun went down, in fact there was a noticeably lower temperature when we arrived, so the generator as not needed for cooling.

Campsite at Karijini National Park

More of concern was the state of our auxiliary battery in the Patrol. We knew before starting off in June, that this battery was a bit long in the tooth but it received a clean bill of health when the car was serviced. However, signs of stress have been showing recently and it’s been working hard with the car fridge set to freeze, which causes the compressor to run more than normal.

So the generator did get used and the battery charger plugged in. After a 90 minute charge, the gauge showed full charge. Only an hour later, the car fridge was displaying a low voltage error, meaning the battery’s not holding charge. Not a problem during the day, with the solar panels attached but a big problem at night. Looks like a new battery.

Day 82—Saturday, 14th September (Karijini National Park)

We had a pretty quiet night, there’s no TV or radio here and of course Telstra went missing long ago. Normally this wouldn’t bother us but it’s footy finals! Bugger!

The Karijini Park, is cleft by maybe a half dozen gorges but we are camped within a few hundred metres from Dales Gorge. The others entail as much as a 90kms round trip and not on our agenda this time round.

So we set off for Dales Gorge, which from the map provided, is a couple of kilometres long on the Fortesque River. The far end seems to end in a divide, forming a short gorge which ends abruptly after a couple of hundred metres. There are  walking trails. one at the bottom of the gorge and one along the top and we chose the top walk.

The Fern Pool from the Rim of Dales Gorge

North Rim of Dales Gorge

First though, we climbed down to the base to visit the Fortescue Falls. This was, at times, quite a difficult scramble but very worthwhile. First stop was the Fern Pool where some young people were having a cooling swim then pushing on up the gorge we came to the falls. At this time of year, there’s not a lot of water in the River but we found  it very pretty and relaxing. One can only imagine what the falls would look like in the wet season and there were plenty of clues in clumps of debris lodged in trees at better the head height.

Survival on the River Bed (the tree)

Fortescue Falls, Just a Trickle Now

Returning back to the Fern Pool, the decision to be made was whether to stay in the 

gorge or make the climb back up to the rim. We climbed! Actually we’d been tipped off that the other end was very steep.

Back at Fern Pool

Taking a Breather Before the Climb

Ancient Layers

A Bit of Help on the Way Out

The Right Arm off into the Distance

The walk along the rim was full of spectacular views, with a lookout point where the gorge divided, with the main arm disappearing into the distance. The rim trail followed the shorter arm and ended in a beautiful pool called, naturally, Circular Pool. A long way below, there were lots of swimmers but not manty climbers. As we watched, some started back along the floor of the gorge to the other end. This sort of justified our earlier choice. Having made it to the Circular Pool end, we now had to get back to camp and took the easy way out, using the roadway, linking the two ends.

The Left Arm Heading For.....

....The Circular Pool