Karijini National Park

Charles Knife Canyon

We drove from Exmouth to Broome before we picked up our tour through the Kimberley. On the way, we stopped for a couple of nights in Karijini National Park. Before we got out of Exmouth, we were a bit mindful about time knowing that we would have an 8-hour drive in front of us, but we did take ~30 minutes to stop by Charles Knife Canyon on the way out. We were really hoping to follow the road up the hills and over the top so we could get a vista of the Indian Ocean overlooking Ningaloo Reef. However, the Charles Knife Road didn’t take us far enough that we could get a view over the ridge. Still, the views were gorgeous, especially looking back over the Exmouth Gulf. We didn’t take the time to do it, but there is a walking trail that goes up over the ridge and has views of the canyons.

Charles Knife Canyon | Sony A7R II | Sony 16-35 f/4 | 32mm | f/22 | 1/60th | ISO2000

The drive from Exmouth was nearly 8 hours, and there is just nothingness out in that part of Western Australia. I mean, miles and miles and miles of nothing but red dirt and blue sky.

Red dirt and blue sky | Sony A7R II | Sony 24-70 f/4 | 41mm | f/8 | 1/1250th | ISO200

Picked up French / Belgian girls that had wrecked their car

After a very long 8 hours of driving, we got to the town of Tom Price, which is the closest town just outside Karijini National Park proper. We figured we would stop, load up on any provisions that we might need (really just wine and snacks) and make sure that we were headed the right way. We went into the Information Center in Tom Price to get better directions and one of the older gentlemen in the Center overheard that we were headed into the park and asked, “do you have room in your car for a couple more?”

We gave three young women a ride to the Eco Resort, to learn during the drive that on their arrival to the Eco Resort, they had rolled their SUV on the dirt road just outside the camp. Turns out these young ladies were Belgian (x1) and French (x2) and had been backpacking in Australia for the last year. This was their big trip from Queensland to Perth, driving and camping most of the way, only to wreck their car three quarters of the way to Perth. They were scrambling a little bit to figure out how they were going to get the rest of the way to Perth so they could fly back to Europe. We say them a couple more times in passing during our stay – I sure hope they figured out how to get home!!

Walked to Joffre Gorge at sunrise

The first morning that we woke up at the Karijini camp, I don’t really remember it was the birds but we woke up that morning pretty early. As a opened the tent and looked over the camp with just a couple tents the background distant, with just freshgrass floating in the new sun, and early morning clouds clogged over so the sky. At that point, we decided to take a first walk of the morning to Joffrey Gorge to see what the gorge looked like at sunrise.

Our first sunrise | Sony A7R II | Sony 16-35 f/4 | 35mm | f/13 | 1/60th | ISO320

The walk wasn’t extremely far it must’ve only been about 700 m from our tent. We are just in time to catch the sun rising over the cliffs and I had to make a couple adjustments to the photos so the highlights the darks weren’t off down in the gorge.

Start of our hike | Sony A7R II | Sony 16-35 f/4 | 35mm | f/22 | 1/60th | ISO6400

The Joffre Falls walk wasn’t that long, especially after we had already gotten to the Joffre Gorge. Must have only take us another 45 minutes or so of easy walking. At the end of the walk was a semi-large bowl with a waterfall, which when we visited, was a mere trickle.

Joffre Gorge | Sony A7R II | Sony 16-35 f/4 | 31mm | f/22 | 1/60th | ISO6400

Handrail Pool

Our next hike that afternoon was to Weano Gorge which ended with a hike, a swim and a relatively sharp climb down to Handrail Pool. I assume that it gets its name, literally, from the handrail that you have to use to support yourself as you shimmy down to the actual pool. The start of the walk was relatively easy bush hiking. Very striking sandstone walls and bush.

Bushwalk | Sony A7R II | Sony 16-35 f/4 | 35mm | f/22 | 1/60th | ISO2000

As you get closer to the end, and to the pool, you have to climb down this relatively sharp and steep climb. Thankfully, it was really only about 3 meters or so.

Down into Handrail pool | Sony A7R II | Sony 16-35 f/4 | 24mm | f/4 | 2.5 sec | ISO1250

When you arrive to the pool, we found this round shaped pool that had a sandstone pass-through on the other side of the pool.

Down the gorge | Sony A7R II | Sony 16-35 f/4 | 24mm | f/13 | 1/60th | ISO500

Hancock Gorge

The next day, we decided to try out Hancock Gorge. The walk is relatively easy, however, there is a clearly marked sign that says some variation of “you are going to get wet on this hike if you proceed further”. Not to be deterred, we kept walking. We did have the encouragement of a few other hikers along that way that said getting wet was worth the sights at the end. As you hike further along, there is a portion that you literally have to walk in water that is approximately knee deep. We both took our shoes off and kept walking.

Down into Hancock gorge | Sony A7R II | Sony 16-35 f/4 | 16mm | f/13 | 1/80th | ISO200

The next portion of the walk leads down to a large bowl section. Further down is Kermit Pools, but since we had the camera gear and the hike actually looked like we might injure ourselves, we decided to just stay at the top and go for a short swim.

Kermit Pool | Sony A7R II | Sony 16-35 f/4 | 16mm | f/11 | 1/60th | ISO640

Further down the hike are these sheer sandstone walls. These are some of the most unique gorges and cliffs that I have ever seen.

Down the pools | Canon Powershot S120 | Canon 5.2-26 | 16mm | f/4.5 | 1/60th | ISO800

Gorge Rim Walk

Finally, on our last morning, on our way out of the park, we made it to the very easy walk at the Gorge Rim. This is where the various gorges meet, exposing the deep and sharp cuts in the ground. We didn’t spend a lot of time here as we were up against another 8 hour day of driving.

Gorge rim walk | Canon Powershot S120 | Canon 5.2-26 | 9mm | f/3.2 | 1/1000th | ISO80

Karijini Eco Resort

I would absolutely recommend to anyone that is traveling through this part of Australia to visit Karijini. It’s a beautiful park out in the middle of no where Western Australia. And if you aren’t camping on your own, stay at the fixed tents at Karijini Eco Resort. Great spot.