Karijini is another place in that long list of very special places in my book. Whilst I originally planned on two nights in the park, my new Danish friend Annie suggested doing three or more. After all the drama yesterday I really had no choice. Yesterday I caught a lift with another camper named Andy to the town of Tom Price, which is the provision stop for travellers going to and from Karijini. Andy had to get a tyre fixed and I wanted to get some provisions but we got to a sign that said "road closed" with nobody there with a radio or anything, which isn't very helpful when it's the only road out of the western end of the park. We found out there was a bushfire even though we didn't see any smoke. It was a beautiful, blue sky with the colours of Karijini in the background. Some other travellers were nice enough to make me a coffee; after all I was planning on getting one in Tom Price. Finally after we waited for more than two hours, the "firies" arranged an escort vehicle for all of us to get through and than we each did our thing in Tom Price. Getting some provisions, some fish & chips, and a coffee was little drama. The fire intensified, and we were stuck at the turnoff. Eventually we couldn't get into Karijini or Tom Price; if we wanted to go back to the park, we had to drive via Paraburdoo and then loop all the way back around. The entire matter was extremely disorganized, as their were no signs of any description and the road being blocked off full stop. I even said to the firies "what if someone drove into Tom Price and it turned out they left their heart medication back at the campground?" They said in that situation they'd have them taken to a hospital in Tom Price to get them their medication. My plan for yesterday was to stock up on provisions and then visit some of the gorges but those were all out the door. Andy and I didn't get back to the campground until after 1 AM, and that was after we had left at 7:30 AM for Tom Price. For such a popular national park, Karijini could really use a few more facilities.
Yesterday is done and dusted, so today was the day I'd make up for what I missed out on yesterday. There are many different places in the park to choose from, as it's possible to spend a week or two here and still only scratch the surface. With my time limited due to my trip to Christmas Island next week, I picked two gorges to trek down into. Joffre Gorge is utterly spectacular when you walk up to the lookout!
Gazing at it from afar, it appears as if it would take several hours to walk down into it but it only took about 10 minutes. What an amazing creation at the hands of nature.
During the wet season, a massive waterfall would be flowing. Much like in Zion, trekking through these gorges often involves wading.
Karijini is one of the more difficult national parks to get around without your own transport, and since traffic is light and I've been getting around by hitchhiking, I had to keep my eye on the clock and on the sun. After admiring this magnificent gorge for nearly an hour, I walked up and headed toward Knox Gorge. I walked the entire 5 km along the road and I was speechless once I arrived at the gorge.
These deep gorges run across the park like tremendous cracks in the Earth's surface. Though extremely dramatic, these gorges still are nothing compared to Valles Marineris on Mars, which is over seven kilometres deep and over 2,500 kilometres long. With my daredevil spirit, I'm practically over the edge as I got this one...
My suggestion would be to look down to your heart's content. It's an amazing feeling. When you see the depth of Knox Gorge, you'd reckon it'd be impossible to walk down into it. It was a long, steep walk down, and the bottom of the gorge is just as colourful as the sides and top. A refreshing swim was in order here.
Today I was in search of two geocaches but I couldn't find either of them. It was after 3 PM as I started making my way back to the "surface" as I call it. The worst thing that could happen is getting stuck in the dark and having to walk 30 or 40 km back to the campground. Getting a lift to the turnoff was little drama but traffic was very light. The park ranger was on his way to Kalamina Gorge but he said it was against company policy to take passengers. He did give me a lift a short distance to the turnoff to Hancock Gorge and the Karijini Eco Lodge. He stated emphatically that I have to see Hancock Gorge on a future trip. Hancock and Hammersley Gorge are my top priority for my next visit to Karijini. After about 30 minutes, a Filipino couple driving an older car picked me up. The road to the visitor centre is the shorter road but it's all gravel, so it was a long, slow drive back to the campground. Andy told me earlier that if I was back in time for dinner that he'd cook up some pork chops and sausages. The girls across the campground whom I chatted with the other night are borrowing Andy's gazebo, and they joined us as well. It was a big sausage fest as I shared wine and stories. Campfires are (understandably) not permitted in the park. According to reports, the bushfires in the west have intensified. It appears I'll be hitchhiking the inland route to Perth. I planned on hitchhiking the coastal route and perhaps stopping at Kalbarri but it's too much of a detour.
Karijini National Park is most certainly magical, and it's mostly definitely in the upper echelon of places I've been.
