Karijini N.P.

KARIJINI N.P 15^th – 16^th May

Karijini the place of gorgeous gorges!

 We stayed at Dales Campground which is well spread out with large campsites and yes Thack (our dear friend) they still have rocks in the ground for Pete to bend the pegs on! HA Only 4 pegs went in at this sight!



Our camp site, that is hard gravel to put your pegs into!



Here all you do is walk gorge after gorge and admire the scenery, yes you can become a bit gorged out but they are all so beautiful.

On our first night we had a very lean dingo walk past checking it all out, not at all bothered about us. There are signs up everywhere regarding the dingoes and they tell you not to leave anything out at night, even shoes!!

The gorges and walks we did were; Circular Pool, Fortescue Falls, Fern Pool, Handrail Pool, and Kermit’s Pool down Hancock's Gorge.

Rocks, Spinifex, trees and water are the staples of this land and what a pretty amazing picture they make up.

Here is a selection of those gorges; enjoy.

CIRCULAR POOL

 A short steep climb down to the floor of the gorge then an easy walk along the rocks to the pool.

The boys are up on the left looking
down at Circular Pool




The layered rock up the gorge to Circular Pool




Like huge steps.



At the pool and trying to get the boys to go for a swim,
it is very cold.



 

Pete in, boys trying.

Lovely clear water!





Sue in and boys finally get in!

 



As we were climbing out of the gorge the sun was setting!
Pretty.

THREE WAYS LOOKOUT                                       OXER LOOKOUT





HANDRAIL POOL

When you first get down to the bottom
of the gorge to the left  is this
little pool, Pete likes the reflection
of the water on the rock! The main walk
is to the right.



The first obstacle, water still in the
gorges so time to get wet. We put on our
bathers and rock climbed our way through.




Just got through the first one and we had
to do it again! Fun.




The walls are closing in!




You can not see but this little pool is very round,
we proceeded on through the gap in front.





We found the hand rail!




Was quite steep but fun.





Getting ready for a swim, very cold!

 


We all got in, this is Charlie swimming across.





This is looking back at where you enter the pool with the handrail , you can just make out the boys
on the rail.

 

HANCOCK GORGE

The boys liked it when they had
something to climb.



We choose not to take the camera any further because we
didn't know how deep this was going to get so we
all put on bathers and left our gear in a pile and went
for a swim down the gorge. The gorge on further was fun with lots of climbing like a spider between the walls. We ended up at a little green pool called Kermit's Pool. We probably could have got
the camera down with Pete holding it above his head, but we
didn't want to risk it. 





 


This goanna walked right in between us while we sat and had
a break at the spot we left our gear. He was about 50cm long.



A full view, he has a very long tail.

FERN POOL



What a great display of the amazing trees they have with huge root systems. 





Fern Pool, gorgeous!

 

Charlie and I sitting under the falls. We all swam out to the water fall which was a good
effort for the boys.





After we got out the pool became very busy, isn't it  a lovely colour?

                                     FORTESCUE FALLS



These are lovely in there own little amphitheatre. You can just make out Pete and Tom
sitting down near the water on the right. It doesn't show it very clearly but
the rock is all stepped and layered.




A closer view of the falls. ( Don't know the people in the photo.)





This was our second visit to Karijini and I don't think it will be our last, it is such an amazing place with so much character. There was still alot of water around because of the great wets they had last year and having the pools to swim in made the heat of the day alot easier to bare. The only problem is after you have had a lovely refreshing swim you then have to walk back up out of the gorge! Oh well, can't have it too easy!

Pannawonica and Millstream.

PANNAWONICA 13^TH MAY

Peter and Maxine from Ningaloo suggested another route for us to take to get to Karijini N.P. It was to go to Pannawonica for the first night where we could grab a few groceries then they recommended we have a look at Millstream N.P, so we did. We pulled into Pannawonica late afternoon after driving past a massive new area of road works, bridges, and cuttings being built out on the HWY, a new mine site going ahead no doubt. We drove around looking for the C.P. Maxine said there was one! Nearly all the cars were mining cars with the fluoro green strip down them. We couldn’t find it so we ended up stopping and asking in at the local tavern. The answer we got from the young lady was” if you could call it a C.P. take this road turn right where you will see the oval, drive around the oval to the toilet block and you will see three concrete pads beside it, that’s it!”  We asked who we had to pay and she said not to worry because it was Sunday and the council office wasn’t open. So off we set and true to her word we set up right next to the lovely green oval in the open. We had power, water, and a great shower so all was good.

The so called C.P.



The lovely green oval and amenities.




Looking from the other way you can see the concrete pads
and how out in the open we are! That is a road on the left.



 We had to laugh the next morning being a Monday here we were out in the open having our breakfast as the kids and mums passed us on their way to school. We asked a mum walking by where the supermarket was which I am glad we did because there were no signs on building saying where it was. At the supermarket we had a chat to a mum and found out that Pannawonica is a closed mining town, meaning you must have a job with Rio Tinto to live here. We had a good chat about life in a mining town and she made an interesting comment about Tom and Charlie being aged 9/10 and said they would be bored in a town like this one, a valid point. She believes the family works better if the kids are babies to grade 2 you can keep them amused easier than older kids. She said it was getting harder and harder to get into a mine and you really need to do FIFO for a year with a contract company to get selected for Rio Tinto. We thanked her for her time did our shopping in the expensive little supermarket and headed out of town towards Millstream N.P.    

MILLSTREAM – CHICHESTER N.P. 14^TH MAY

 From Pannawonica to the Millstream we drove a well maintained gravel road because of all the mining areas around here the roads are looked after for the trucks. Millstream is a small N.P on the Fortescue River which you can drive through by following a loop road called Snappy Gum Drive.  We pulled in to a camp ground called Crossing Pools, a lovely spot right on the Fortescue River with a great swimming area. After we had set up we had a quick dip to cool off then went and did some exploring of the N.P.

The camp area at Crossing Pool, the river is behind the
trees on the right.



The Fortescue River swimming hole !
Toms clever photo with the reflection on
the water making it look like the picture is upside down.




From the same spot just looking to the left.



On the drive around Snappy Gum Road.




Views over the N.P.





Pete giving the underbelly of the car a  quick wash!
















We really enjoyed the Millstream Homestead it was full of history.

This homestead was built in the 1920's not far from where the original homestead was in the 1800's. The history around the place is told from the perspective of a young boy named Doug Gordon who lived here with his family in the 1900's. To the right of the homestead is a lovely flowing stream which supplied the house with fresh water and allowed them to have a huge veggie patch which was looked after by Chinese. In the peak Millstream was a thriving sheep station of 55,000 sheep on one million acres. The homestead went through many fazes and was even a tavern at one time when the areas around were thriving.




This picture was drawn by Doug at the age of 12 in 1932. I have got it as large as I can go but I don't think you
you can read it, there are some funny things on it from a 12 year old perspective. The boys
love the bit about the crow which is upside down because that is where his grandpa killed it!




This is the original cook house/kitchen.
The kitchens were always built separately in case they
caught on fire!




I don't think they were allowed to
wear bathers in the kitchen back then!!





These palms are Millstream Palms specific only to this area.
There are also date palms here that were introduced and
used for their fruit. They thrived here because of the
stream running through the area.



Part of the stream which runs through the garden.



Looking over the Fortescue River from the red cliffs.

 

 When we got back to camp it was time for another dip & then tea. That night we ended up having a late night chatting with our neighbours.

Just thought we would share with  you some of the sights we saw as we traveled  from  Millstream to Karijini N.P




Road trains



just a bit of dust!







Just moving a bit of stuff!

Parked at the Auski Road House on the Great
Northern HWY. That is our car beside the rig. There are two
of them the same and they are in the next photo, it will give you a good
idea of the height of the gorges.

  




Here they come up the HWYthrough the gorges
as we stopped at the Munjina East
Gorge Lookout