Karijini National Park, the Pilbara

Having viewed mostly flat landscapes for the first weeks of our trip, we were excited to make it out to the heart of the Pilbara region, after a 7-hour drive inland, and be treated to actual trees, a beautiful series of rocky mountains and the reddest earth we had so far seen. We witnessed how iron-rich the area is when we dropped a magnet on the ground at our campsite and a big clump of red dirt stuck to it. A reminder, along with a steady stream of mining vehicles driving past, of the booming mining industry in this region.

The real beauty of Karijini National Park lies in its many, varied gorges and they truly were gorgeous. With road works currently in progress to seal some of the 4WD tracks in the park, unfortunately only four gorges were open, so those were the ones we explored. On day 1, we started in Kalamina Gorge, a relatively wide gorge with a rocky track zigzagging across the water and ending at the beautiful Rock Arch Pool, where we cooled off with a swim. Our afternoon was spent in Joffre Gorge. Since Joffre Waterfall was dry (due to a few less than wet seasons in a row), we ventured down the gorge instead, swimming through breathtaking, long, narrow pools of water.

Hamersley Gorge, our first stop on day 2, turned out to be our favourite gorge for its waterfall that wound down many layers of rock pools, each of which we loved swimming in. In the afternoon we visited Dales Gorge, the greenest of the four, boasting a waterfall that splashed down hundreds of levels of layered rock.

We loved this stop, of course for the incredible gorges, but also for the beautiful, quiet National Park campground where we took in the sunrises and sunsets, listened to the howling dingoes at night (Nina even spotted one!) and searched for different animal tracks in the mornings. As an added bonus, Josh and Nina were awarded Karijini Junior Ranger badges for completing the tasks set by the park office during our stay.

And as we left Karijini National Park on our way back to the coast up north, we celebrated the anniversary of our first month on the road!Read more