So this place has been on my list for a long time as it's pretty famous for its photos of inky black canyon and pool photos. We drove down the private Rio Tinto road that services it's rail line and some mines. Unsealed but pretty much as good as it gets. Incredible scenery all the way as well. We passed the Solomon mine on the way to the park. It's basically a cutting into a huge mountain/hill. The scale of mining operations here has to be seen to be believed. The mine has its own airfield and the road between that and the mine had been recently dampened with what we assumed was water but after about a km of driving discovered it was some tarry, oily mix to dampen the dust. The underside of the ute now has a coating of this which I'm not sure we'll ever get off. Not very happy.
Proceeded to Hammersley gorge which is on the western side of the park. Very accessible so that also means heaps of people which was once again a bit of a shock. It's quite wide with water flowing over slabs of rocks into deep pools and a cutting thru the gorge which is quite impressive. There are some magnificent examples of geological folds and layers with dark purple, indigo, rust colours. Unfortunately the whole experience was dampened by a bus load of miners who just have been on their day off. Beer guts swaggering they proceeded to intimidate all the families and quieter folks with their loud music, obnoxious, ignorant behaviour.
Headed to Tom price for fuel and a bit of fresh food then onto the overflow campsite which was actually much more pleasant then it sounds. Numbers are limited and you have to book online so plenty space and a good outlook. We preferred this to the Dales campground that we moved to next day. Dales campground was pretty alright but quite noisy between generators, backpacker parties and the just in general noise travelled a lot there. Plenty space thou. Why do people need generators when camping??? The couple in a caravan next to us has a satellite dish set up when we arrived at about 4pm. We didn't see the lady till next day and we only saw the bloke when it was time to fire up the bbq mate (a Weber of course). We could hear their tv tuned into channel 7 or 9 or 10 (ads every five minutes, corny, shite music) watching whatever mind numbing dribble like the voice or married at first shite or I'm too stupid I drove from Qld in my $80k caravan to watch this crap reality tv show. Meanwhile the Milky way and sunset were entertaining us!! So enough of the rants onto the gorgeous gorges (I just had to say that!).
First day we did Hancock and Weano. We hadn't really researched much just had a map and decided to do the furthest away ones first. Hancock was fantastic. Drop down a couple if ladders into a narrow gorge, wade across a narrow pool then it's into the swimmers for a 20m swim/freeze or skirt the ledges like Ciara did. The rest of us did the plunge and swim and it was so cold that dunk and Laura had to sit in the little amphitheatre area for 10 mins to stop shaking. Me and Ciara continued on down the very narrow little canyon (about a metre wide) into basically the cave that contains Kermit pool. It's just fantastic and we swam across to look over the ledge as the canyon continues in further down but it's not accessible without climbing gear and wetsuits. Swam back and dunk and Laura did the same. All freezing now went back and warmed up before having to swim back the last pool and then sit in the sun for 30 minutes to warm up. Poor Laura went blue (which is amazing cos she's turned red with a fine Pilbara red dust tan since).
Walked thru Weano which is probably the least impressive but still worth a look and then did Oxer lookout over where the 4 gorges meet. The interesting part of Weano is shut due to a recent fatality we heard (which is scary but can imagine how it happens a it's so slippery in places). Took the sealed road back to camp via the lookout over the mine that got a special exemption in 1991 to be in the national Park. Pretty depressing gouge and scar on the landscape and not sure whether parks put the lookout there as subtle dig at what happens if national Parks are returned to mines.
Next day we had a huge day covering the Knox, Joffre and Kalamina gorges. The shorter unsealed road which connects the campsite and eastern gorges to the western side is pretty much the biggest corrugations we have seen and bumpy as. Knox was the best for exploring and adventure. Descended down the steep, rocky scree path into the depths of the gorge then we went downstream following the rock slabs and clambering around narrow ledges between water pools, towering gorge walls protecting us from the sun. The trail ends where the gorge becomes a narrow canyon but just before that is this clear, beautiful, long narrow pool where we all went for an icy, short swim. I dunno what temperature the water was but we did lose feeling in the extremities! After that explored upstream which wasn't officially marked as a track so only met one other couple. It was glorious and peaceful, heaps of birds, butterflies and Dragon flies, paper barks, reeds and beautiful swimming holes. We did have to retreat after 4 hours thou cos we needed lunch!! Met about 10 people total so completely unspoilt by people, a relief after the previous day's experience.
Joffre waterfalls was next up. Stunning views from the top. The waterfall drops into a kind of large bowl which has a big pool at the bottom where you can swim. Was a bit green for us but did met a pair Cork and Dublin women who took the plunge! Downstream is beautiful but have to swim maybe 50-60m thru a narrow gorge and was way too cold and far for us. Clambered down about 8 ladders to get to the bottom but limited exploration otherwise.
Was getting late now but decided to squeeze in Kalamina Gorge as well as it was on the way back and we didn't want to do that dirt road again the day after. Arrived around 4.45 which have us an hour to do a 6km return walk which we just about did although we were pretty tired the exhilaration of being in such a beautiful spot and having it all to ourselves helped us power on. Easy enough walk over flat Rock slabs and lowish gorge walls bathed in beautiful afternoon light. The waterfall at the top was very striking as well but didn't do another swim as was getting a bit late and dark.
On our last full day we stayed local to the campsite and walked to Dales gorge. Did the rim walk first and out the lookouts over circular pool which is closed due to a rock fall that has exposed some asbestos. It's crazy but you can actually see the asbestos fibres in some of the rocks as you walk by. Dales gorge is very pretty and although not quite as spectacular as some of the others still really lovely. We strolled very slowly up thru the gorge. Stopped and jumped in at a cool pool fringed by ferns and paperbacks. So clear but when I say cool I mean frozen brain territory. We were so cold we couldn't brave getting back in for a swim at Fortescue Falls five minutes further up. It was pretty busy there thou so Ciara reckons we have people phobia now and more then 5 people is a crowd! Not sure how we're going to find City life in a month's time!! Went onto Fern pool which is beautiful and strangely the water temperature is about 5 degrees warmer. We managed a 15 minute swim here - even despite the over 5 people rule having been smashed!!
Back to campsite for chilling out then. A wind picked up so we're now covered in red dust. And by we I mean us, the car and pretty much all of our possessions!!
On our way to Buralla Station now which is about 600km West of the national Park. We woke up at 5.30, left camp at 7 and currently aiming for much wanted and badly needed showers (it's been way too long) in a couple of hours time!! The station is half way between Coral bay and Exmouth so going to be our base for exploring Ningaloo Reef for a few days.
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