Northwest Trip days 3-4

Our group in the amphitheater in Hancock Gorge
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We arrived in Karijini National Park on Sunday, after two days of driving through the outback.  The park in the Pilbara region is the epitome of the middle of no where.  Desert, wild dingos, snakes, gum trees and gorges that is Karijini and it is both beautiful and harsh.  We had a little camp area with a grill and some picnic benches.  One of our vans broke down during our first day here so it was a little chaotic but we got to see some of the gorges and had a wonderful hike through the Hancock Gorge. Climbed to the bottom of the gorge by ladder and then scaled the sleep walls of the gorge with the clear blue water below.  After resting in the Amphitheatre, we stripped down to our bathers and started the Spider Walk.  The Spider Walk is a bend in the gorge where it is so narrow that you need all four limbs to push off the walls and walk forward.  If you slip you will fall into the water below, its only about a foot deep but slippery and hard.  The narrow gorge then opens up into Kermit's Pool.  The river creates a little slide into the pool with beautiful high stone walls.  Definitely a refreshing swim after the hike.

Hancock Gorge
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Day two at Karijini was even better!  We got to sleep in, in our little tents, which meant getting up at 7 rather than 6.  We went to the Karijini Visitor Center.  There was a nice exhibit on Aboriginal history and heritage and information about the foundation of the national park.  We then returned to camp and made lunch and then hiked down the Dales Gorge to Fortescue Falls and Fern Pool.  We spent about 5 hours in this gorge till sunset when we had to return to camp, and I could have spent the next three days there, it was paradise.  All day swimming under waterfalls, in aqua blue pools, sunning on warm rock cliffs.  The pictures do not do the natural beauty justice.