Day 5 Karijini

This morning we went to the visitors centre and got our junior ranger badges for the kids completing the worksheets. They were all very proud of their achievement, as they should be. They have learnt a lot about conservation, and the flora and fauna of Karijini.

From the Visitors centre, we went across to Oxer's lookout where the four gorges meet. Lisa found this exhilarating as her last trip up to this point there was no lookout, and no safety railing. We then entered Dales Gorge via the West trail and walked all the way back to the stairs through flowing water and tall grass. I have never seen the bottom of the gorge this way. Once I have seen it under water, and the other 2 times, the floor has been a rocky waste land. We were forced to turn back before handrail pool as there was a section of water that was impassable for the 5 of us. We climbed the stairs out, and had some lunch at the car park.

After lunch we drove out of the park via the East road to Mount Bruce, and went out to Hamersley Gorge. This place has it's own magic, and apart from the extensive building works at the top with new stairs, toilets and what looks to be an information centre, there is little that has changed with this gorge on all of my trips here. We were able to bathe under the waterfall (Trust me, this was needed after 3 days without showers) and the kids waded in the pool at the bottom. The water was again absolutely freezing, and I just couldn't bring myself to get in fully this time.

We departed Hamersley Gorge with some reluctance and headed back to Tom Price for a bite of dinner and the chance to get our hands on some Rekordials. On the drive back, we stopped to offer our assistance to the ranger who was attending a car rollover on the Karijini Road, but we were assured that the Ambulance was coming and the injuries weren't life threatening, so we went back to camp right on sunset. We were all very tired after climbing in and out of two gorges today, and went to bed early...