Wow.
Western Australia is just absolutely stunning! This national park was our first
experience of a ‘gorge’ and we were all super impressed. I am STILL so impressed that I have
had an incredibly difficult time narrowing down the images to put in this blog
entry. I have 57 at last count! Eek. Have decided that since it is too hard to
narrow down, I shall simply write multiple entries and spread my 57 photos over
a number of days. Come back in a few days if you are bored…
So we got
to Karijini and set ourselves up in Dales Campground. We arrived at about 1pm
and missed out on a spot in the ‘generator’ side, much to the disgust of the
woman in front of me in the queue. She was NOT pleased. We didn’t mind a bit! There are about 4 ‘loops’ that don’t allow generators and only 1 that
does, so if you want to be noisy, get in extra early! We squeezed into the last
spot that would fit us (usually given to 2 caravaners travelling in pairs) and
made our way down to Circular Pool. It was our first experience IN a gorge and
was simply breathtaking! The children LOVED the hikes – who would have
guessed??! Not a single sign of Whingey or Whiney the entire time we were
there. They liked the more challenging aspects of the level 3 and 4 hikes –
climbing over boulders and using ladders and a bit of rock climbing and
stepping stones.
We made our
way to the closest pool (Circular Pool) via the hardest decent track.
Channeling our inner mountain goat, we clambered down and took our time
wandering along the bottom of the stunning gorge. The kids had a bit of a
splash and a swim and Dunc and I took some photos and then I ran into an
incredibly negative, scripture-quoting, bushwalking expert couple who got me
all second-guessing myself and worried. Of COURSE I wouldn’t have a map of my own, would I? (Yes, a photo
of the only one at the visitors centre on my phone). Its FAR too late to be
considering walking the other side of the gorge, it will be getting dark soon.
And of COURSE I wouldn’t be prepared enough to have a torch
with me, would I. (Why yes, again on my phone) And having such young children
it will take us a lot longer to get back, well really we should be thinking
about leaving right now!
Sadly I
took too much of what they said on board and started getting worried. Lexie was
still on the other side of the pool in the waterfall and we ended up heading
off a good 30 minutes after this couple, with me feeling uneasy and a sense of
pressure about the time. It was 4pm and the sun sets at 6pm here (“But, of COURSE, you lose the light a lot
earlier in the gorges!”).
Well pffft
to this couple! We caught up to them before we even got to the wall scramble up
to the top. Halfway up we stopped for a ‘lolly snake/bribery rest’ and they overtook us. Then they had
the hide to boast about beating us at the top! WTF? They left half an hour
before us and we weren’t aware it was a race to leave this
beautiful environment. I was very glad to see the back of them.
This short
hike was a GREAT introduction to what was in store over the next few days, and
I got to reflect on the fact that everyone else we have met has always been so
friendly and positive. The dark helps you to see the light.
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