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Saturday 23 July 2016

Karijini National Park, Western Australia

Friday July 15th saw us back on the road beginning our trip South through the interior of Western Australia. We didn't leave Port Hedland until our 10AM checkout as we were completing as much laundry as possible.

We made our way through Port Hedland on the new bypass before hitting a roadblock where they were moving some wide loads (really wide loads). We eventually made it by the heavy equipment and turned South on the Great Northern Highway. We were in a long string of traffic including 6 road trains (4 Dogs each). As such traffic was slow at times although mostly moving at our regular towing speed of 90 Km. The number of road trains traveling North was incredible. Sandra counted over 100 in about 200 Km of the highway.

We topped up our diesel at the Auski Road House about 260 Km from Port Hedland. We then traveled the last 20 Km to Albert Tognolini Lookout/campground. This is another return visit from our last trip and one of the best free camps in Australia in our humble opinion. There are no facilities other than garbage bins but the views are fantastic! A huge area with lots of private areas to get your own little bit of paradise. We got setup in a nice little area off by ourselves with a little bit of shade as a bonus. We had a relaxed afternoon enjoying the views and sunset.




Saturday morning we jumped in the Ransley's Ranger for a trip into Karijini National Park. We headed to the visitor center first to scout out road conditions. Luckily all the roads are now open after some recent rain. Our first stop was the walk down to Fortescue Falls. A nice easy walk down a number of steps. We think they may have improved the stairs since our last visit. The falls were beautiful with more water than our last visit. We walked to the bottom before climbing up to get a different view from the top of the falls. The colours are beautiful with lots of green from the recent rains contrasting against the red cliffs.



From there we took the short walk to Fern Pool. You walk through some rain forest type vegetation before coming to a beautiful peaceful pool. A number of people were swimming here but we refrained as was still quite cool. We took a few minutes to enjoy the peaceful environment before heading back to climb the stairs (some 300 I believe).


Once to the top Rans and I decided to meet the girls at the next stop. We walked the Dales Gorge Ridge Walk to meet the girls at the Circular Pools lookout. Enjoyed the views along the way and from the lookout before enjoying a picnic lunch at the day use area. We decided on returning to the campground for a relaxing afternoon.




Sunday morning we ventured to the West entrance of Karijini National Park. We took a quick drive into Mount Bruce for some pictures and a bit of Telstra service.



After a few phone calls we headed back into the park driving to the Weano Gorge day use area. We had morning tea before heading off on our first walk along upper Weano Gorge. This eventually led around to an entry into the bottom of the gorge. We walked along through the gorge as it narrowed, crossing a small creek numerous times. Beautiful colours along the way.




We reached a set of stone steps that led back up to the day use area but carried on a bit further on the Handrail Pool walk. This was a "Class 5" walk and involved some climbing. Rans and I carried on with the girls waiting for us. We did some fairly tricky walking along rock ledges to keep out of the water before eventually reaching an area where we would have had to submerse ourselves in water to complete. We decided against it as we weren't really prepared with proper shoes/clothing. Next time!
Got some great pictures along the way and both of us managed to stay safe and dry on our return journey. We rejoined the girls and climbed the rock steps to complete the walk.




We had our picnic lunch at the day use area before driving to the Oxer lookout. Great views of where the 4 gorges join together. Got a few pictures before venturing on to the next set of walks/lookouts.


Next up was Knox Gorge/Lookout. We didn't do the walk this time but enjoyed the lookout views. The walk looks interesting but tough. Will put it on our list for next time as well.


Last stop was Joffre Falls. This to has a lookout and a walk. We did the lookout walk as was getting late in the afternoon. There was considerably more water in the falls this time but unfortunately the sun was at a bad angle to get any decent photos.


We jumped back in the car for our return trip to the campground. There were a couple of nice vista along the highway we stopped to get pictures as well. As I had mentioned earlier they have had quite a bit of rain recently at Karijini as witness by the red pools of water. It was a good hour back to the vans and we were all tired by the time we got there.




Our original plan was to stay 3 nights but we decided to take an extra day and explore Tom Price while we were in the area. Monday morning we headed West again through the park towards Tom Price. It was about 150 Km from the campground but on good paved roads. We enjoyed morning tea at a park in Tom Price. The town is nice and clean with a surprising amount of green grass. We stopped at the Visitor Centre after morning tea to find out the local highlights. Mount Nameless is the key feature of Tom Price and we were advised there was a 4WD track to the top. Off we set in the Ransleys car for the summit. Quite an interesting drive with very steep sections and lots of rock to climb. The view at the top was worth the effort however. We had an excellent 360 view of the surrounding area including a birds eye view of the Tom Price Mine (Rio Tinto). We even got to witness a blast while we were there.




The trip down was slow and put the Rangers brakes to full use. Once back in town we topped up with diesel before searching for a lunch destination. Found a lovely Thai/Chinese place called Red Breeze that did a few gluten free dishes. The food was wonderful and we all left with full stomachs. After a quick shop at the local Coles and a final drive around town we headed back to our campground.

We stopped briefly at Mount Bruce on our return journey and did a short walk to the Marrandoo mine lookout there. We arrived home in late afternoon quite tired. The weather has continued to cool off as you can tell from the girls clothing for afternoon drinks.



We decided we needed a rest day so stayed one more day at Albert Tognolini. We had a big breakfast to start off the day and enjoyed our most relaxing day of the trip so far. Lots of reading, resting, and crocheting to wile away the day. Most enjoyable. Our water and battery levels were getting quite low so this would definitely be our last day before moving on. Once again we have really enjoyed ourselves in this special place and are already making plans for our next visit.

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