Our last day at Karijini and I was determined to get wet today despite there being no other willing particpants in our group 😉
We planned to tackle Dale’s Gorge, the one our campground was named after, the closest to us and home of the famous Fern Pool and Fortescue Falls.
From the carpark it was a short walk to the top of a 280 step iron, handrailed stairway down into the gorge that terminated at the top of Fortescue Falls.
As you can see we were a little too late to have the place to ourselves, it was a very popular spot on this 30 something degree day. Many people had set themselves up for the day with their cheese platters and various refreshing beverages.
We decided to keep going toward Fern Pool, another 300 metres further on which required a bit of rock hopping but wasn’t too challenging.
We were rewarded with an almost empty Fern Pool and I wasted no time jumping in!
It was absolutely beautiful! Others who came along later informed us that the water was much colder at the Falls, but it was very pleasant in the pool. When it started to get a bit more populated and noisy we began the long walk back up, stopping for a breather at the falls before the climb.
Russell and I decided to do the rim walk around to Circular Pool viewpoint and back, very scenic but very hot and I was ready for another dip when we got back but couldn’t face doing the 280 steps back up.😂
You can do a similar walk down in the gorge but not all the way to Circular Pool now as a recent rockfall has blocked the trail.
We enjoyed our last evening watching the sky change colours and saying goodbye to the local dingoes (and just quietly wishing there was a hot bath nearby.)
The next day we headed north, stopping at scenic Tognolini Pass lookout from where we could see what was in store for us on the Great Northern Highway, namely numerous massive road trains heading to and from the mines…
We had almost made it unscathed but as we went up on to a bridge and a road train came down off of the bridge we were hit with rocks, one of them puncturing the windscreen. Fortunately it was not in the line of sight and so far has remained unchanged – we have decided to leave it until our return to Adelaide in case we get another one.
Our destination today was Port Hedland and we had a pretty special reason for visiting. Port Hedland is the home of my ‘newest’ nephew and we were excited to meet him and his family for the first time. I’m sure you can see some family resemblance. 😂😂
We had a very enjoyable dinner at the Walkabout Pub (a local institution by the look of it) and then joined Kieran on the road the next day en route to Cape Keraudren about ninety minutes north.
Cape Keraudren is just west of Pardoo Roadhouse which took a direct hit from recent Category 5 Cyclone Ilsa and the vegetation on either side of the road was almost flattened for many miles as we approached the turn off near the roadhouse. The roadhouse was completely destroyed and Cape Keraudren’s infrastructure has also been significantly damaged.
Nevertheless we had a great little stay with Kieran and his lovely family, beach combing with the kids at sunset and chin wagging around the campfire at night. The wind was incessant but did keep the legendary Cape Keraudren insects at bay. 😂
The next morning we said goodbye to the ‘new’ family as they prepared to head back to Port Hedland and we continued north toward Broome. Hopefully we will be catching up again in the not too distant future and thanks for your wonderful hospitality. 😍
