Blogs from Karijini, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania

Karijini. 'Jewel of the Pilbara' Set in the Hamersley Range, in the heart of the Pilbara, Karijini National Park is an ancient landscape of massive mountains and steep escarpments cut by spectacular gorges more than. 100 meters deep. Within these shear-sided chasms hide the crystal clear rock pools, cascading waterfalls and lush vegetation. The only way to see Karijini is to walk it. Up early, we spent the day investigating Dales Gorge, not far from our camp. We first took the 3km, difficulty level 4 walk. Only some boulders to climb over making the walk really difficult. The initial natural rock steps down were steep and uneven, reaching a ladder we climbed down to the base of the gorge. A deep chasm with stunning changing rock layer colours. Blue asbestos fibres clearly visible between some layers, ... read more

Back on the road again, and we are driving through the ranges towards Mt Tom Price, there is no scenery so far on this trip that can better it. Mountain ranges full of iron ore, some are showing signs of mining with the tops neatly sliced off. We drive into Paraburdoo in convoy and find the caravan park which is beautifully set out. One of the caretakers apologises to us, saying she is sorry, there are no trees, they haven't arrived yet! This park is run by the mines and we are all impressed, with the cups of tea while we wait for our washing to wash, and dry. All free. We all troop down to the Mess to eat dinner with the miners at night which is a new experience for us all. The food ... read more

Hallo again!!! O.K. Still a lot to tell from down under!! Before we left Exmouth to Karijini we drove along the coastal area of Exmouth and finally we found our first Kangaroos alive and a lot. Cute but still with a dump face and especially behaviour around sunset they hopped arround. Very often they jumped out of the bush so driving was quite dangerous with these suicadal animals. The beaches around Exmouth with Tuorquoise bay are stunning, extremly stunning, and quite remote and isolated. The sunsets are full of all the coulors of the rainbow. Then we went inland heading towards Tom Price next to Karijini National Park. On our way there we had our first flat tire, on a saturday nearly dark. With a little help from the road assistance we called, we could manage ... read more

We had a bit of a lie in until 7.30am this morning and then had a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs cooked on the barbie. Today was our first day exploring the gorges in the Karijini region. We stared with a stop at the Visitors Centre to learn a bit more about the nature in the area as well as how the Aboriginals used the land and how this has changed over time. We also got to meet some of the local wildlife outside the visitors centre as there were a few large spider webs and spiders along the pathway to the visitors centre. It was then time to start the descent into the gorges. We walked down a steep track which brought us down to the floor of the gorge and then walked along ... read more

Hello again! Inland from Exmouth in the Hamersley Range in the heart of the Pilbara is the beautiful 60 thousand hectare Karijini National Park. And if you were to wander through Dales campground right about now now, you would find me sitting in the shade of a Windsor Rapid caravan under a cloudless blue sky. You'd see that the sun is shining and that the thermometer is reading a glorious 32 degrees. You'd see that I am gazing upon spinafex grass and low trees with a deep red soil beneath my feet. You'd see butterflies dancing past and would hear nothing but the rustle of the breeze through the leaves and the tweet of little birds as they fly past. And would you see a contented, relaxed smile upon my face? Sure would!! Everything now is ... read more