The gorges of Karijini National Park

Shortly after leaving Auski Raodhouse, the road passed along Karijini National Park and the landscape started to get interesting. The highway passed through the mountains following a small creek and we were treated to nice vistas along the way.

The Campground at Dales Gorge reminded us of the national campgrounds in the US and Canada. The choice which site to pick was easy: at one site the folks had waved very friendly to us and Sam was certain that they are friendly and fun Aussies. That assessment certainly held true. Before too long, Sam was standing together with Jesse, Jeffrey and Angeline and was having a beer. Max was entertained by playing baseball and Sam even joined the group for a quick sunset trip down to Fortescue Falls.
For some reason, both Sam and I had a really hard time going to sleep that night. Presumably, we were just not used to the outback heat, even though we had hoped that after acclimatizing in Broome, nothing could shock us anymore.
After breakfast, we did the short hike from the campground to Fortescue Falls. At the edge of the gorge, we parked Max' bike and headed down the steep staircases to the bottom of the gorge.

From Fortescue Falls it was a short hike through the river gorge - which felt like a dense jungle - to Fern Pool. We were amazed - what a beautiful secluded place with lots of shade around. We liked it so much that we stayed all day. To cool off, we went swimming a couple of times, climbing behind the waterfall at the other end.

We learned to watch out for the two risk factors in the pool. When swimming out straight from the dock (vs. diagonal towards the waterfall), there was no risk of getting hit by the droppings of the dozens of cockatoos sitting in the tree above the dock. And when constantly treading water or swimming (vs. just floating in the water), the tiny fish would not start nibbling at your feet. The other animals in large quantities presented no risks though: the hundreds of flying foxes tended to just hang in the branches of the trees, flapping their wings to cool off once in a while and sometimes changing places.

Later in the afternoon our quiet place suddenly got rather crowded and we headed on to the pool below the Fortescue Falls before heading home for BBQ.To get a break from the flies, we tried our awning with the screen room. That really helped and was the success model for an enjoyable evening.

The next morning, we packed up and headed towards Circular Pool. Even though it looked beautiful, we hopted to have a swim rather at Fortescue Falls, such that Max could play again in the shallow water. From there, we hiked through Dales Gorge along a nice path leading us along the stream, climbing rocks and balancing over stones in small streams.

Eventually it was time to head on. At the visitor center we got warned that the gravel road towards Weano Gorge was not in a good state. They were right, but we took the direct road anyhow and were much faster that way vs. going all the way around on the sealed road.

The view from Oxer and Junction Pool Lookouts was really spectacular. Even though it was tempting, this time we limited ourselves to just having a look into the gorges from the lookouts vs. going all the way down.

The drive out of the National Park to Tom Price, the highest town in Western Australia, was longer than expected. Still, we passed some beautiful scenery and a lookout.

At the campground, we realized that our campground neighbors of the last couple of days were there as well. That was the guarantee for an entertaining evening. As it was their last day of traveling, they had to get rid of their remaining beer and we gladly offered to help in that quest. We were having lots of fun. We told them, that we had chosen the campsite next to them, because they seemed like friendly Aussies. And Jesse told us in return that he had waved so nicely to us, as he had hoped for 18-year old German chicks. He was open about his disappointment once he realized that even though the nationality was well guessed, that one of them had a goatee and that we were not really in the expected age group. By the time I was in bed already, the fun continued. Angeline cooked a late dinner for everyone including Sam, steaks were used to symbolize kidneys and there was wine to be enjoyed. And like all really nice people we meet on the road, they were kind enough to write in our travel guestbook – a nice memory for the future that will help us remember fun evenings like this one.
As usual, by the time we were just getting up, our neighbors were already packed up and ready to go. What a pity to see them leave. Despite being on the road for a couple of months and being used to constant good-byes and no longer lasting acquaintances, we’re still not really big fans of that. Meeting known people again and having better and more fun conversations with every time we meet is something that could happen much more often. And whenever it does not happen, we need to hope for a good wifi or mobile connection such that we can call friends or family.