Karijini National Park

The first chilly night for a long time and Julie had to be coaxed out from under the doona. A short drive of just over 100km into the east side of Karijini National Park. Today was a really windy day so was pleased the caravan was not trailing along with us.

We walked into Dales gorge which is a 2 hour circuit dropping down from the ridge into the gorge below. As we started the walk there was a warning about blue asbestos. Way before the iron ore boom Lane Hancock was mining asbestos. There is an abandoned town close to here which had to be relocated once the dangers were discovered. You can see the blue seams in the rock.

Plenty of rocky outcrops and we even met caravan neighbours from 80 mile camp. We did take a wrong turn and ended up clinging to a sheer rock face a few feet above the water. No danger, just a risk of wet feet. We were treated at the end with Fortescue falls but we were told to walk up the gorge a little more to Fern pool. A quick swim was very refreshing but a great treat after our walk. The water temperature was cool and the air was early 20's today. Climbing back out of the gorge was about 300 steps up a stairway back to the ute.

We decided to watch the sunset from the top of Mt Nameless which is just behind the caravan park. It is a 30 minute full 4wd trip up a rocky and very rough track. We bounced up the track with all of the technology that Volkswagen gave us and by the time we headed back down the track the darkness had set in and we were super slow picking our way over the rocks. There were at least 4 other vehicles up at the top of the hill. Great views of the Tom Price area and also of the mine site that seems to spread out for kilometres. More about this mine tomorrow as we have booked a mine tour.Read more