Day 126. Karijini N.P.

Beautiful Karijini


Shane had to do a tyre repair after finding a
screw had punchered it

I woke this morning with blisters on my blisters, and sore muscles I didn’t even know I had. Stiff, and sore, I packed another lunch, swimmers and gear to go out hiking again today. This place is just so beautiful that I can’t resist another gorge exploration; and everyone is so keen to get back out there.

‘Kalamina’ Gorge is the last gorge to visit on the map, and supposably the best one for kids. So I placed two layers of elastoplast on my blisters, and we were off. This hike is 3km’s, and it’s meant to take about 3 hours. The descent was quite steep, but shorter than any others we have done this week. I was thankful, as my calves were now killing me.

At the bottom was the magic ‘Rock Arch Pool’. This lovely little grotto had a waterfall, ferns lining the walls, and a huge paperbark tree growing right in the middle. This is a photographer’s delight, and we have seen many keen photographers here over the last few days taking advantage of the amazing colours and rock formations for their photos. I myself have been reading ‘Steve Parish’s’ photography guide, hoping to pick up some tips for my photo’s. I’ve lugged my tripod down, to try out some of his suggestions.

Rock Arch Pool

After the kids decided it was too cold to swim, we moved on to walk the length of the gorge floor. This was a considerably easier walk than the past few days, with shale pathways most of the way, and water crossings quite shallow. There were sections where we had to shimmy along the rock walls, and some hairy water crossings over slippery rocks, but fairly easy to get through on the whole.

 

The gorge was lined with towering rock walls of many vibrant shades of red, and in patterns the kids all thought looked like ‘liquorice allsorts’. The water flowed the whole way along with us, over little water falls, and pooling every so often in big ponds filled with little rainbow fish. These made this gorge a lot different to the others we had encountered so far. The kids found that broken shale pieces made for great skimming rocks, and Grace gave Scarlett some very patient lessons.

It was a lovely walk back; and making it back out to the top of the car park, I must admit I was a little relieved. My feet were hurting, and Scarlett was starting to get tired. When we decided that enough was enough and we should head back up the gorge back to the car, she was most unimpressed and wanted to continue. But I think we had pushed her far enough in the last few days.

It’s now official; Karajini National Park is my most favourite park of the trip so far. My favourite used to be ‘The Pinnacles’ just north of Perth, but after visiting here I can safely say it’s a must do for anybody travelling this part of the country.
I will be sad to move on tomorrow…