Gorgeous Gorges and great walkers

We were all very excited to get to Karijini National Park. We had been told along the way that it rivals Kakadu which is a big call. East of the mining town of Tom Price is Karijini. It is West  Australia’s second largest National park covering over 600,000 hectares of land. Millions of years of erosion have created spectacular gorges, waterfalls and rock pools, providing a stark contrast to the red of the Pilbara landscape.

 

We stayed in the Eco Retreat which was a basic campground with restaurant, toilet and showers. Again we had a great spot away from all the big groups but close to the amenities. We were set to do some fantastic  walks through gorges but wasn’t sure how much Jem would manage, let alone the other kids. We were totally misguided. Jem was an absolute star walking and did not complain one single day.

Our first walk was into the Weano Gorge and a great introduction to gorge walking. Easy steps  down into the gorge to the basin which was 1m wide and 30m deep, just magical and the kids loved the rock hopping and climbing.

The nights were cool but beautiful. More stars in the sky than you can imagine. Dingoes howling outside through the night and blue clear skies in the morning to wake up to.

Our next day was at Dale Gorge. Again some rock hopping and water crossings were no obstacle for the terrific trio especially with Ruby always there to lend a hand to Jem as he made his crossing. We walked down into Fortescue Falls and onto the gorge which ran for about 4km to some beautiful rock pools and onto Circular Pools where Oscar and Josh braved the cold water with a dive off the rocks. Pretty cold! The walk back was also nice as we took the high track and could see down into the gorge and exactly where we had walked. The kids had a real sense of achievement and satisfaction getting back to the car-park. What a great day.

The kids had met some other kids from Esperance which was nice and began going to the kids club they had running in the afternoons. Josh and I selflessly of course encouraged all of them to go so that they could meet some other kids. Yes and of course we hadn’t had 1 hour to ourselves pretty much the whole trip. They had fun which was great and so did we!

Kalamina Gorge was our next feat to conquer. It was one of the most beautiful walks we had ever done. The colours of the rocks, the clearness of the pools and the contrasting colours was spectacular. The kids were bribed $5 to get in the water and although Jem didn’t really jump in with full enthusiasm, half was better than nothing. It was a full day walk with stairs and rocks to negotiate and the kids did a great job.

That night we thought we all deserved a meal out at the retreat restaurant. Josh enjoyed some Kangaroo, Oscar and the kids a burgers and Trace had a lovely risotto. Luckily we didn’t have to walk far to get home as we shared a lovely bottle of wine as well.

Karijini was living up to its name as being incredibly beautiful. Our last day of walking was to Joffre Gorge. This was a Grade 4/5 walk which the kids thought was fantastic. It was not a long walk but getting into the gorge was not an easy feat and climbing out was going to be just as challenging.  The Raths are not known for their long legs so climbing down these large boulders was going to be difficult. Trace also was scared of heights, so this was not so easy for her either. Luckily Jem was there to help her.

 

As you can see, the climb down was no easy feat!

Oscar and Ruby found their way down the rocks into the gorge independently and fairly quickly. Trace was holding Jems hand as he went down and Josh was watching out for the both of them. Jem has had some beautiful comments throughout our trip but this was the best so far…. “mum, if you fall, you know I will be there to catch you.” Absolutely gorgeous.

We had a great time in Karijini. The kids exchanged contact details with the friends they had made and we were off, on our way to Broome.