Red and dusty part 2

After a good nights sleep we were ready to tackle day 2 of Karijini and drove over to the visitor centre for maps and tips.

We had heard of the infamous Banjima road (they sell a T shirt saying “I survived Banjima Road”) which the helpful lady in the visitor centre confirmed was possibly worse than yesterday’s drive but also considerably shorter so we decided to risk it in order to get to the Joffre, Hancock and Weano Gorges area.

 

Banjima Road

 

It was pretty rough but much more scenic and before long we arrived at our first stop, Kalamina Gorge and its picturesque little waterfall.

John and Steph opted not to climb down so Russell and I explored the waterfall first and managed to get down to Rock Arch pool, another great swimming spot.

 

Kalamina Gorge

John and Steph were patiently waiting up top when we staggered up, we ramped up the car airconditioning and continued on to Joffre Gorge, just another corrugated road away 😂

Joffre is much narrower than gentle Kalamina and we watched from the lookout at the (obviously younger and fitter) people negotiating the steep steps and rock ledges to reach another spectacularly Insta famous pool.

Next stop a little further down the road, was Oxer Lookout from where it is possible (with a drone I’m sure) to see the junction of three gorges. It was still worth the short hike (without a drone) and we saw a very sad memorial to a local SES volunteer who had lost his life saving a tourist stranded in the flooded gorge below.

With the shadows lengthening we started the journey home with a small detour to Marandoo View which allowed distant views of Marandoo mine but much more exciting was our first encounter with the local dingoes on the highway. Who knew that about 11% of dingoes are black and tan coloured??

We subsequently saw dingoes most nights roaming through the campground and there was prominent signage everywhere warning about the dangers of human interaction with these native animals.

Russell and I stopped on the way home to do a little flying in front of imposing Mt Bruce. At 1,234m high, it is Western Australia’s second tallest peak.

We made it back to camp with just a little light left and planned an early night in order to do it all again on our last day tomorrow.

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