Karijini National Park

Our next destination was Karijini National Park, which is located deep in the Australian Outback. On the way, we had to stop at almost every gas station because there would be no other one for up to 200km. The earth became redder and the landscape changed to a mix of steppe and savannah. After spending a night at a roadside rest area in the middle of nowhere, we arrived in the small town of Tom Price, which is located at the entrance of the national park. Tom Price was our last chance to refuel, shop, and refill our water supplies. In Karijini, there are several gorges where visitors can hike (on official trails) and swim in refreshing cold mountain water. Marty and Kathy had given us some tips and recommended wearing wetsuit tops because the water can be very icy cold. Since we arrived in Tom Price around noon, we decided to drive to Hamersley Gorge, which is located slightly outside the town. This was our first experience with an unpaved dirt road. It was a bumpy ride with our small campervan, which we named Ralf and thanked multiple times after surviving the 82km of rough road. After overcoming the dirt road, we easily accessed Hamersley Gorge on foot. We swam in the actually ice-cold water and then climbed over the beautiful reddish-brown and warm rocks to reach another natural pool. After the refreshing swim, we dried off and warmed up on the rocks before heading to our first camping site in the national park. Since the distances in Australia, especially in the Outback, are always very long, we had to drive a significant part of the way in the dark. However, we managed to reach our camping site safely without encountering any wildlife. The camping site was slightly more luxurious, with a proper restaurant and eco-tents available for rent. However, the campervan site where we stayed was quite simple. We admired the beautiful starry sky and the silence before going to sleep after dinner and a short encounter with a roaming dingo.

The next day, we planned to visit a total of 3 gorges. The first two were accessible via a short stretch of dirt road, which was even rougher than the one the day before. However, with Philip and Ralf's excellent maneuvering, we navigated through all the potholes effortlessly. Our first hike took us through Weano Gorge, which ends at the impressively large Handrail Pool. To reach the pool, you have to crawl down small steps using a handrail. Overall, the hike requires some surefootedness, but we saw people of all ages on the trails, including young children, mothers with babies, and senior citizens - climbing seems to be in the Australians' blood. We bravely swam in the frigid water of the pool, continued swimming further in the gorge, and emerged shivering with blue lips. On the way back, we warmed up in the gradually increasing midday heat. Afterwards, we hiked through the adjacent Hancock Gorge, which ends at the so-called Kermits Pool. To reach the pool, you can either walk through the water or try the Spiderman Walk to climb through the narrow crevices. However, in the end, we still got wet because the pool is relatively deep and we couldn't resist jumping in from the edge, which made it Philip's favorite gorge. We then warmed up on the sun-drenched rocks and made our way back. Back at our campervan site, we parked Ralf and walked to Joffre Gorge, which is located right next to the camping site, to watch the sunset from the edge of the gorge.

The next morning, we walked to the same gorge again, but this time downhill, to take a refreshing morning swim. Afterwards, we embarked on the most challenging hike so far, with loose rocks and a lot of climbing, to reach Knox Gorge. Jana liked this gorge the most because the steep walls on both sides reached high into the sky and the rock formations looked beautiful in the sunlight. We hiked all the way to the end, swam again on the way back, which by now had become our version of showering 😉 Next, we made a side trip to Mount Bruce, from where we enjoyed a panoramic view of the seemingly endless expanse of the national park. From there, we could also see one of the numerous mines, which are Australia's main source of income and transport everything across the country with super long trains and road trains. We then drove back to Tom Price to restock and have a brief moment of cellphone reception - in the rest of the national park, we had no signal (which was actually quite nice 😉). Afterwards, we drove partially in the dark again to reach the second camping site in the national park, which is located at the eastern end. From this site, all attractions were within walking distance, making everything more crowded compared to the other quieter gorges. We first jumped into the so-called Fern Pool, which is a sacred place for the Aboriginal people and looked magical with its small waterfall. Then, we hiked through Dales Gorge to another waterfall called Fortescue Falls and walked back along the edge of the canyon to our camping site. Here, we had a closer encounter with a dingo in the evening, as it sneaked away with some leftover pasta water from our sink drain and was just as startled by us as we were by it. After that, we kept a wary eye out, as dingos, despite their cute appearance, are wild animals and the largest land predators in Australia (as pointed out by our animal expert Philip). However, this one seemed more interested in shoes, as it chewed on one of our neighbor's flip-flops. Besides encountering a few spiders around our camper, we didn't have any other encounters with wildlife. Unfortunately, we still hadn't seen any kangaroos 🙁 Overall, we really enjoyed our time in the national park. The gorges were impressive, and we liked the contrast between swimming in the chilly water and warming up on the rocks.

The next morning, we set our alarm very early because we wanted to cover as many kilometers as possible to reach Perth by Sunday noon, which was 1400km away. Marty and Kathy had invited us to stay with them again for our last night, where we could do laundry and spend one last evening together. We gladly accepted their offer and completed the entire journey in 1.5 days with one overnight stop. This time, we took the Great Northern Highway that runs further inland, passing numerous mines and even longer road trains than on the way there (maximum length this time was 53m!).

When we parked in front of their house, it felt like coming home. We had a wonderful evening, met Sunni and Ziggy, who had escaped the clutches of the bloody Grandma during the COVID lockdown, and had a great end to our time in Western Australia, which had captured our hearts. Our time here was incredibly beautiful, with fun days in Fremantle, the underwater world in Exmouth, and the landscape in Karijini. We already know that we will come back - not least to finally find a kangaroo 😄 Our journey will now continue with a domestic flight to Cairns on the east coast.