Karijini National Park & The Pilbara

August 29, 2016 Leave a commenton the road

We weren’t sure what to expect at Karijini. We had heard it was a must do in WA and it certainly was amazing. Deep red gorges cut into the landscape with amazing waterholes and water falls. We travelled with the Lindons and the kids loved having other boys to explore with. We started with a couple of the tamer gorges – Kalamina, Dales and Weano and then stepped it up to the hairier, scarier hikes. The kids favourite gorge was the Hancock gorge, a Class 5 – meaning hardest and therefore most fun. I pulled the pin towards the end when we had to inch our way across a rock ledge hanging above freezing cold deep water. My fear of falling in was greater than my desire to see Kermit’s pool at the end, so I stopped and basked in the sun to wait for them to return alive. Sean took the kids through, or rather he followed and tried to slow them down while they just hopped it like squirrels. I’d tried to convince Lucie to stay with me, but she took off right on the boys tails.

Joffre’s gorge was definitely the hairiest. We had to scale down a 100m cliff to get to the base of the falls and the swimming hole at the bottom. I was happy to stay at the top and be the photographer, but pressure from the kids made me go down. It’s now confirmed, I have a fear of heights. And an even bigger fear of watching my kids climbing up and down a cliff. We all made it, it was lovely at the bottom and no one died. Google deaths in Karijini, it appears a LOT of people die here!

Camping with the Lindon’s was great fun. The kids made shelters, created race tracks for matchbox cars from rocks while Sean and Dan tried to create ways to have an illegal campfire in a tin filled with turps. All I can say is no one died….