October 22nd & 23rd, 2011-Karijini National Park-Albert Tognolini Rest Stop

Saturday we were up and off early for Karijini National Park which is 300kms south west of Port Hedland. We travelled 50km west on the main highway before turning south on the Great Northern Highway towards Newman, then 250km along this road past the Auski Road House before stopping at a free rest stop called Albert Tognolini. Wow! This is by far the most picturesque rest stop we have seen. Even surpassed our free stay in the West McDonnell Ranges at Alice Springs. The pictures below tell the story. There is ample space past the lookout point for caravans of any size. The views from some of these are as good as the ones from the lookout. No facilities, but lots of space with shade trees available. Perfect. We had the place all to ourselves the first night.

We setup our caravans and had some lunch. Luckily the weather was not too hot (only low 30s) and we got some shade and a nice breeze. After lunch we journeyed with the Ransley's for 60kms to the Karijini National Park Visitor Centre. We got our Western Australia National Park passes and did the tour of the Visitor Centre which is lovely and informative. We then ventured out to Dales Gorge to do a quick walk. We went down into the Fortesque Falls and Fern Pool. It was a short walk but quite steep down into the gorge (Even steeper coming back up). Very pretty! Carol and Stephen went for a swim in Fern Pool while Sandra and I rested in the cool shade.

We returned to the Ransley's car and drove back to our campground. Had a lovely meal but ate in our caravans because of the flies. Once the sun was down the flies disappeared and it was a nice cool night because of the breeze. We were all a bit sore because of the walk. Had an early night as had a big day planned for Sunday.

Sunday we got away by 7:30 and headed out toKarijini again. Took our car today which turned out to be a mistake. Road was lovely and sealed until we got just past the Visitor Centre. The road turned to gravel and was it bad. Worst corrugation we have experienced and it went on and on. Disgrace for a National Park or any public road in Australia. I tried all different speeds to make it better, but just changed the speed at with your teeth shook. Thank god none of us wear dentures as they would have shaken right out! It is so unfortunate as the sights we saw rival many better known parks (Kakadu and Litchfield to name two) but will never get the attention they deserve until roads are improved. They were bad enough that we returned to the Visitor Centre on our return journey to rewrite our previous days positive review. Well enough about the roads; let's focus on the wonderful sights.

 Our first stop was Kalamina Gorge. After we stopped shaking we did a beautiful 2-3 hour walk down into the gorge and along its river bed for a few kilometers. Small falls at the start and incredible rock formations. The rocks are as red as we have seen and the upheaval that must have occurred here would have been incredible. Creek was flowing and very clear. Made it down to the Arch Rock which Stephen and I climbed before stopping for morning tea is a lovely shaded spot. Not too hot as shaded in spots and a bit of a breeze. We all really enjoyed this walk. A bit of climbing and moving along ledges but relatively easy.

We returned to the car and drove to our farthest point in our days travels, Weano Day Area. Total of about 60km of the awful road. We enjoyed a nice picnic lunch free of flies while we got our land legs back. Sandra's jaw was out of alignment because of the road and we all were a bit shaken. After lunch we did the Oxer and Junction Pool lookouts at Weano. Wow! Unbelievable drop into the gorges from the view points. Four or Five Gorges meet at this point and it is spectacular. As per usual there were a number of fools that didn't understand the dangers and what barriers mean. See below a picture of two particularly bright ones. Someone had just died in the park within the last couple of months from falling and signs were everywhere.

We headed back down the road before turning into the Joffre Falls and Knox Gorge. Even worse road but mercifully only 6km. The Joffre Falls were incredible and would be amazing in wet season when more water was flowing. Natural amphitheatre has been created by the water and people were swimming down in the gorge. We didn't venture down as was quite warm and our bodies were all showing their age.  The Knox lookout was incredible again. Huge red cliffs and a massive drop into the gorge below. Again there was swimming holes below but a number of these are Class 5 or 6 walks which are really designed for very serious climbers. We passed and returned to car and headed off for home. Stopped and took some funny shots with a couple of Termite mounds. I think we were a bit crazed by this point in our day. Called in at Visitor's Centre as per above to revise our reviews of park in Guest Book before heading home. We were all exhausted and quite shaken from our day but really enjoyed the sights of Karijini. Very underrated park that we hadn't heard of until recently from other travellers. Very difficult to not go see but be prepared for the awful road conditions.

We had another dinner in our caravans because of the flies. Flies cleared off again and the four of us relaxed outside watching the stars, counting Sputniks, and seeing some falling stars. Beautiful! A number of other campers had found the campground during the day so we didn't have it all to ourselves. Fortunately it is so spread out that you really don't notice the other campers or even hear them. Great free camp spot and one not to be missed if you travel to Karijini. Much nicer than the National Park one at Dales Gorge (which you pay for). Also don't even consider taking a caravan into the ECO Resort in Karijini. It is $30/night for an unpowered site and you would need to take your caravan over 50km of the worst road you could imagine.

Another downside from our journey here is we have discovered that our caravan fridge is once more not working on gas. Our fridge was up to 20 degrees this morning so we have transferred everything we could to our portable fridge/freezer and our Esky. I won't go into too much detail but many unkind words have been spoken (and that was just Sandra's input). The next Dometic dealer is Exmouth so we will need to avoid free camping until we reach there.