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| Ship at Port Hedland being escorted out of the Harbour |
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| Entering Karijini NP |
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| Start of our first walk Kalamina Gorge |
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| Kalamina Gorge |
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| Climbing the rocks in Kalamina Gorge to get to the top of the falls |
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| Top of the falls in Kalamina Gorge |
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| Kalamina Gorge |
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| Kalamina Gorge |
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| Kalamina Gorge |
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| Lower Weano Gorge (the walking path went through the water and no we didn't go any further) |
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| Jacob trying to warm up after going in the water at Lower Weano |
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| Trying to gear themselves up to go in the water |
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| Circular Pool walk |
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| Dad trying to get kids wet with water from the falls in their hats. |
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| Circular Pool |
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| start of the Dales Gorge walk |
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| Some of the obstacles on the Dales Gorge walk |
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| Dales Gorge walk |
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| Fortescue Falls |
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| Made it to Fortescue Falls and ready for a swim |
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| At the base of Fortescue Falls |
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| At the base of Fortescue Falls |
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| Fern Pool |
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| Dale Gorge Rim walk |
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| Dale Gorge Rim walk |
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| Girls with their Karijini Junior Ranger Badges |
We went through Port Hedland to have a look and show the kids. We were lucky enough to see a ship being escorted out of the harbour by the tug boats. After having a quick look around we grabbed some lunch and stocked up and headed to Karijini.
Jacob's tally of the road trains grew quite dramatically this day around Port Hedland and heading out towards Karijini. We found a road side stop and pulled in for the night. Strick and the kids rounded up some wood so that they could have a fire (albeit small but they were happy to have one). It wasn't a late night as it was cool and of course the bugs started to come out.
An earlish start the next day and we only had about 150km to travel. We arrived and checked in. The kids were given a Karijini Junior Ranger Program they could work through while we were there. The girls were overly excited.
When we set up our tent the zip had really spat the dummy and wasn't working at all. So it was decided we would do a quick trip into Tom Price (100km) to see if we could find a new zip slider. Everything we read on good old Google said if we replaced the sliders we should be all good. Unfortunately Tom Price didn't have what we needed, so it was back to camp. Night time saw us having to put a table outside the door on it's side so that we didn't have any visitors throughout the night (this was also done when we went exploring each day).
On our way back from Tom Price we stopped in at the Visitor Centre in Karijini and the girls answered some questions in their Junior Ranger Book. They were that excited (especially Hannah) they expected the answers to jump out at them and didn't stand still long enough to find the answers.
The nights in Karijini were COOOLD!!! It reminded me of being back at Alice Springs at the start of the trip. The kids went to bed clothed and even used the spare sleeping bags and blankets that we had gained once mum had left us in Broome. Because it was cold it was hard to get moving each morning but once we did the days were rather warm. Karijini is one of the highest points in Western Australia so if you were staying at one of the highest points in another state then we would possibly be cold (especially Victoria). With it being cold it was early to bed each night as this was often the warmest place to be.
On our first full day in Karijini we travelled to the other end of the National Park where we walked the Kalamina Gorge (this was fantastic and again the kids did a great job walking the Gorges). We went and just looked at some of the other Gorges (Joffre and Knox) as they had lookouts and their walks were alot more difficult. We watched some people on some and they also looked dangerous for the kids so we decided not to walk them. We also had a look at Lower Weano where the kids decided to have a swim. This was FREEZING according to the kids. Jacob jumped in and jumped out. The girls played around with Hannah ending up slipping and falling in so she ended up getting wet and it took her breath away. The plan was to have a shower at the Visitor Centre, but we of course spent too long on the walks enjoying ourselves and missed out.
The second full day at Karijini we spent locally around the Dales Gorge camp ground where we were staying. We walked down and looked at Circular Pool. It really is a small world with us running into a lady from Wonthaggi who I know through netball, on the Circular Pool walk. We asked the kids what they wanted to do next either, go back to the top and drive to Fortescue Falls or walk. The kids were keen to walk, so we walked along the bottom of Dales Gorge to Fortesque Falls where the kids had a well deserved swim. Hannah enjoyed looking for the walk path markers to make sure we were going in the right direction. I then walked back to get the car at Circular Pool walking along the top of the Gorge. This was interesting with some fantastic views knowing that we had walked along the bottom of the Gorge. When I got back to Strick and the kids we went and visited Fern Pool and after talking to them about the Gorge Rim walk they decided they wanted to do that (except Hannah). So I drove the car back to Circular Pool and met them along the walk to pick them up. We then went back to camp for lunch before going back to the Visitor Centre to purchase some souvenirs.
The girls worked really hard on their Junior Ranges books and learnt alot. So were very excited when before we left I took them down to the Camp Entry where they were required to read out the Junior Ranger Oath and were asked a few questions by the park Volunteers. They were then presented with a cloth badge as a Karijini Junior Ranger. They were so proud as were we with what they had achieved.
The next day saw us leave Karijini via Tom Price and Paraburdoo to a road side camp. While in Paraburdoo we searched the internet to book some accommodation at Cape Range (as this is all required to be done online now). As we couldn't get in when we wanted we decided to head on to Carnarvon before coming back up to Cape Range.
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