Day 14 Karijini National Park Day 1

Dales Gorge.

Asbestos in its natural form.

Life hangs on.

Circular Pool.

Wildflowers in abundance.

Joffre Gorge.

Friday, September 23^rd.

Today we explored the gorges of Karijini National Park. We got up a 7 had breakfast and got organized slowly for our first hike. We also made sandwiches for lunch for later and put them in the eskie (their word for cooler). A couple of very cute spinifex pigeons were in camp this morning waddling around on their short leg in penquin fashion.

We took the truck for an hour drive to Dales Gorge. When we got there Damien talked to us about the natural sunscreen of the Snappy Gum tree, which gives off a white substance when you rub it and will protect you if you rub it on yourself, and another plant that gives a white sticky paste that the aboriginals used to seal wounds like crazy glue.

We walked to the lookout to see Circular Gorge. Then we hiked down and into the gorge to get to Circular Pool where we all had a swim in the crystal clear water., which was quite cool and much cooler than last week. Then we continued through the gorge to Fortescue Falls at the end of the gorge, where we had another dip before climbing the rocks to Fern Pool, (or Jubura as it is known to the aboriginals as it is a very sacred spot) which was another gorgeous spot to swim. We had a snack there too. There were a couple of trees beside the pool full of more flying fox bats. Then we hiked out of the gorge and back to the truck where we ate our sandwiches.

We drove back towards camp. En route Damien stopped along the road where there were lots of different kinds of wild flowers. He said he has never seen the area so in bloom. Even he took photos!

When we got to camp we took a few minutes for toilets and to get organized before beginning our second hike. This one we can do from our camp. We walked about a kilometre to Joffre Gorge and then began the descent. This was a pretty steep climb over red slate. It got more steep as we went down and at the bottom we had to traverse a couple of really narrow ledges to get around to where we wanted to go. It made me nervous about falling the ten feet or so into the water, but we all made it. The pool here is at the bottom of another large circular canyon. The water was quite shallow and very cool as little sun gets to it.

After a short swim we started out again. I found it even more scary climbing back up. Damien had to give me a helping hand up so that I could get my feet up to the first ledge but, after that I was good to go. When I got to the top I noticed another lookout on the other side and asked Damien if I could hike over there. He was okay with that and while he lead the group back to camp, Gudrun, Nina and Sue, followed me. It was an easy walk around the rim and over the top of the falls. The lookout was pretty nice and provided a view back down the gorge to where we had just been swimming. Then we hiked back as the sun set.