Time flies when you're having fun!!!

Monday it is 8 months since we left home today, where does the time go…it’s only an hour since we left the free camp and we are at Karijini National Park, reporting to the hosts who allocate us a site in the dingo loop camp area…nice…toilets, bbq and gas hot plates, tables and bench seats. Steve gets to use his Vet Affairs conc card, $7/adult and $5/Conc; woo hoo . After lunch we walk to Fortescue Falls,

we get to the lookout to see the falls and we take the decent of rock steps to the bottom

and we reach the falls and the swimming hole

but we are told of the Fern Pool a little further on for a beautiful place to swim and it was with an amazing walk through that part of the Dales Gorge with trees moulded in, around and through the rock walls.

Could have had a pedicure if we wanted

 

There is a huge timber platform with bench seats and a timber platform with a ladder into the water. Nothing better than a swim in the fresh water pool…or in our case a wash.
Tuesday is another walk into Dales Gorge to Circular Pool, we start the walk at the Fortescue Falls lookout but go in the opposite direction along the rim of the gorge with spectacular views of the gorge and more blooms.

and luckily for us a couple appeared out of no where, they came up the steep decline we had to go down into the gorge, we would have walked past it if not for them. This was the only sign at the top of the decent.

The steps were big rocks put in appropriate places but they went straight down the side wall of the gorge (I’m glad I am going down and not up). The rocks were big enough to put two feet on and no slippery gravel so I found it quite easy as long as your balance is good and you’re not afraid of heights because there is nothing to hang on to except for the odd small tree, then there was about 20minutes walk along this arm of the gorge climbing slabs of rocks to Circular Pool.

On the way Steve pointed out the crocidolite (asbestos) layers in the rock in its raw state all through this part of the gorge wall.

We were left to experience Circular Pool to ourselves after an older couple left and we sat in the peace and quiet and had a bite to eat…another amazing place.

Now was the return walk through the Dales Gorge to Fortescue Falls where we plan to have a swim. We walked along the water’s edge crossing the gorge floor back and forth sometimes on rocks and stepping stones placed in the shallow water. The rock formations and striations of ore and colours in the gorge were so interesting and amazing.

There are shapes and lines worn into the rocks from the water, I even found a smiley face in a rock….nature continues to surprise me.

The walk through the gorge was fairly easy along the creek and we made it back to Fortescue Falls by 12.10pm (3 leisurely hours). We had another glorious swim and talked a young English couple, Ollie and Shabby, working here on a visa in Perth and it turned out they were camped next to us. We took a drive to the info centre to find out about Cape Range National Park and we were able to ring the Info Centre at Cape Range but we didn’t find out anything we didn’t already know. If we don’t book we line up at the entrance and hopefully get a site in a non booking camp area. Back to camp and we drive out to the Circular Pool Lookout and the view was more impressive from the lookout.

We could see the circular pool and the water was so clear we could see to the bottom. I’m glad we made the effort to have a look. We decided to leave Karijini on Wednesday even though we haven’t seen it all, school holidays were coming up and we wanted to get to Cape Range for a week. We packed up and drove to Mt Bruce, where we had reception, so we got on the lap top to look at the Cape Range site and there are 13 different camp grounds, some to book and most first in first serve. We did a short walk up Mt Bruce to look at the Marandoo Mine Site

and then drove to Hammersly Gorge, it is a bit of a drive on the dirt but well worth it…colours, patterned rock walls and water holes for swimming.

We didn’t swim this morning…we should have. The drive was beautiful to look at here, it has been very green since we left Marble Bar with rocky ranges and pom poms of spinifex grass and the wild flowers lining the edge of the road. We drove for a couple of hours of dirt road and constant passing of road trains until we passed the Tom Price turn off and onto Exmouth to stock up on food and fuel and drive to the west coast of the peninsula and stay at Yardie Homestead caravan park for two nights. (Back on the coast and very windy.) Yardie is only about 5km from the National Park entrance so not too far to go to line up. 
From here we sussed out the area and worked out the plan for Cape Range National Park.