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Published: June 13th 2007
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Cable Beach, Broome
Sunset on Cable Beach in Broome (our lovely swag spot!) Wow.
I think I have found my favourite part of Australia. Ok, there are some very close contenders (the Walpole-Denmark coastline, Ningaloo Reef), but the sense of adventure plus the beautiful scenery has pushed
Karijini National Park to the top of my list.
Located in the Hamersley Ranges, Karijini is the adventurer's paradise. The rolling red hills covered in yellow spinifex are cut with deep red gorges forged by the cold, blue rivers running through the area. I had joined Pete and Dave with
Western Xposure for a good 3 days of hiking, swimming, climbing, star-gazing and just having a good time in the beautiful national park.
I hadn't done any hiking since my day trip in the Blue Mountains over six months ago, so I was a bit nervous that I would be out of shape and unable to keep up. But those worries dissapeared very quickly, as I found that I was totally in my element hopping from rock to rock, using those rock climbing skills Tue had taught me back in Robe, swimming through really cold waters, jumping off rock edges into cold beautiful pools. I had so much fun.
We visited Knox Gorge (where Pete got
Deep gorges!
A view into the deep gorges we descended into. Karijini National Park, WA to use his first aid skills on Chris's cut foot) and Joffre Gorge (where I first tried this jumping off rocks into water and decided it hurt but had to be repeated!) before lunch. We had a bit of a bush-bashing spinifex experience as Dave and I led the group along the "trail" back to camp for lunch (Pete drove back...I bet he's still laughing). After lunch we explored Hancock Gorge, where we got photos at the Ampitheatre, clung to walls in the Spider Walk and marveled at Kermit's Pool. That night we settled into our swags, most of us outside and shivering, but the stars were stunning.
The next morning was devoted to Weano Gorge, where we swam through Handrail Pool to get to Jade Pool. A stop to the visitor's centre in the afternoon gave us a bit of a break, then we visited the much easier Dales Gorge, where we sat underneath the warm waterfalls at Circular Pool and got a view of Fortesque Falls. Our last view of the day was the beautiful Fern Pool, which the ducks quite liked.
The next day we had to get to Port Hedland, but Pete wasn't about
Flowers!
Flowers on Mt Bruce. to make it a boring day of driving! A team of us, led by Dave, climbed up Mt Bruce, the second highest hill in WA at 1235 metres. This was probably the only point in the trip where I really felt out of shape...I don't do well on hills...give me rocks and walls to scale, I'm fine. Give me a hill, I'll be the last one up. So I was. The view up there was stunning, and we managed to return back to the bus in 3.5 hours (we had booked it up and down that hill! The recommended time for the 9 km walk is 5 hours!).
So it was onto Port Hedland to stay at a rather strict caravan park full of grumpy people, then the next morning we were off to Broome! I was sad to leave Karijini, as I had such an awesome time there. I would go back in a heartbeat!
Pete nicely gave us a tour of Broome before dropping us off at the hostel, and we ended our trip by all going out for dinner followed by drinks at Cable Beach.
I had a wonderful time on the tour...the group
Mt Bruce
The mountain we scaled in 3.5 hours return (1235 m high, 9km to summit) was awesome and our guides were great! Thanks everyone!!!
And it was at this point in my travels that I realised that I had fallen in love with Australia.
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