Karijini National Park

Karijini National Park is centred in the Hammersley Ranges of the Pilbara Region, just north of the Tropic of Capricorn and some 1055 kms from Perth.  At over 1.5 million acres in area, it is WA’s second largest national park (Karlamilyi National Park being the largest in WA – that’s in the Pilbara as well).

To get to Karijini National Park, we had to leave the coastal highway just after Port Hedland (which was an hour and a half’s drive from where we’d camped at Cape Keraudren) and head inland, due south, for a couple of hundred kilometres, along some very straight stretches of road. (Of course, we were used to this by now – most of the roads in the Pilbara region are dead straight).

Heading away from the coast meant we were bypassing Karratha and Dampier – you may remember we travelled through these Pilbara coastal towns on the way north to Darwin and weren’t impressed (read the blog titled The First Coupla’ Weeks) – lots of red iron-ore dust, expensive rental houses and uninspiring landscapes. That’s Pilbara llife.

The road south to Karijini is the Great Northern Highway – if you want to go to Tom Price or Newman, you would use this road. So we are in the heart of iron-ore mining country – travelling along this highway in a passenger vehicle (even one as big-bummed as Roxy…. sorry Roxy) is intimidating – many, many road trains and long, wide loads carrying mining equipment. We breathed in a lot and held on to our hats as they passed.

We sat back in Roxy and watched the passing parade

We pulled in to a very ordinary-looking roadside rest area for a spot of lunch – and found these beautiful wildflowers lurking behind the rubbish bins. What a way to brighten up your day (particularly if you are a rubbish bin…)

Sturt’s Desert Pea

Karijini NP is known for its amazing gorges (five in all) with spectacular rock layers, waterfalls and pools. We stayed at Dales Campground, right next to Dales Gorge with Fortescue Falls and the Circular Pool. The campground is large and well laid out, providing individual camp sites which, at this time of year, are surrounded by wildflowers. It was the most beautiful landscape – very peaceful.

Our campsite

Our campsite view

Campsite wildflowers

Looking over Fortescue Falls

We made our way down the steep-sided gorge to Circular Pool – it was well worth it.

A snappy gum – these are crazy, wildly formed trees. Love ’em!

Klassic Karijini

Kalamina Gorge

Hatted wildlife

Weano Gorge

Oxer, showing the amazing rock strata indicative of the geology of this area

Leaving Karijini, we headed north-west, through Paraburdoo, the roadside adorned with wildflowers.

After free-camping along the coastal highway at Nanutarra (pretty uneventful), we set our sights for Exmouth and Cape Range National Park, on the Ningaloo coast.