Round Australia: Day 09

Day 9 – Karajini NP

Sunrise Karajini

Home Karajini

Well the park has certainly lived up to its reputation. I said we got a good site, well we have been around the park and we have the best site! It is big enough for 2 caravans and cars, the others are nowhere near this size and our view out to the hills is spectacular. We started off today with a leusuely breakfast, we were not as energetic as we expected and spent the morning sitting around and chatting like

an old married couple! Watched wildlife come and go and planned our day. We decided that there were two gorges ne
ar

Dingo risk area - no babies!

us and one was a short walk away 500m from the park entry. That was our target for today. I got out the gopher and Maureen set off on foot.

Maintenance

We followed the walk trail to the Fortescue Falls. We both got to the lookout without any problems. The view is spectacular! You look ahead and thre is this big hill and then you look down into the fabulous gorge. Way down the bottom there is this small pool fed by a waterfall. I could go no further as the track down to the falls/pool was too rough and Maureen went off to have a look at the path,

Off Roading

well about 30 minutes later, I assumed she had decided to go down to the falls. A lovely Germen/Dutch? Tou
rist came over and asked if I was Drew and when I said yes, he said Maureen said she was at the falls and would be back soon.

Fortescue Falls from lookout

The lookout was great, there were some trees and shrubs there so I had plenty of shade and I had my binoculars so I could see plenty of stuff. The falls were very popular and I was rarely alone for more than a couple of minutes before someone came either up from the falls or was going down to them. I had great chat to them and learnt what the road

Fortescue falls from the bottom

conditions are for Mount Nameless – the highest point in Australia that you can drive on – it has just been graded, so that is on the list for Tom Price.

There was a lovely little pidgeon –

Spinifex Pidgeon

spinifex pidgin, that when I first saw it I thought it was a rock. Its colouring is so red like the dirt, it blends in perfectly. It is about the size of a clenched fist and has this huge feathers on its head with a bright red streak under the eye. He was so used to people , he would walk right up to the gopher to within inches and just wander around looking for seeds, amazing little animal. Maureen

In the Gorge

saw one down in the gorge and there should be a photo of it here.

Ranger came by and in conversation informed that the waterfall is artesian fed and rarely gets higher except when the storms come through. He then proceeded down to the gorge. A little while later he re-emerged from the gorge and told me that Maureen was fine and was going to walk to Fern Pool and would be back soon.

The Path in the gorge

Another group of CALM (Conservation and Land Management) people came along and had their lunch at the lookout. When talking to them they were interested in how I was coping with the tracks in my gopher as I was the first one they had ever heard about coming there. They took some

pictures and said to keep a lookout in the next Landscape Magazine, obviously very talented

Ferns at Fern Pool

people to spot cover person material! I said that the path was not too bad from the camp ground to the lookout but I had heard from others here that the trail going to the other pool had big rock steps that I was unable to get around and they agreed. They were interested to hear how I went on the other track from the campsite and I said I would let them know. They were very serious about getting more disabled

Path to swimming hole in Fern Pool

people to the lookouts.

After a few hours, Maureen returned all enthusiastic and excited from the walk -

Back at camp we had our lunch, cold roast turkey and salad and went to the Information Centre.

View from the bottom

The building is spectacular and the information/history there is quite interesting. It was interesting to hear their side of some of history’s moments such as the equal pay dispute in 1968 when aboriginals fought for equal pay and one. One speaker remembered back when they used to live on the stations

Fern pool

and work there and would hold corroborrees and visit other groups, but when they had to be paid normal wages, they had to move off the stations as they no longer fed them and had to move into towns, bit of a win on one hand and a loss on the other.

The pathway

They sunset again was beautiful and Maureen and I walked around the park to have a sticky beak at what everyone else had in the way of accommodation. The place is a real hodge podge of high end vans down to people sleeping in cars and everything in between.

My little adventure down to the falls was brilliant. The falls were amazing and every direction you looked in there was something different to go arrh over. From the everyone should visit.