Monday, October 3, 2016

3 October - Weano Recreation Area, Karijini National Park

3 October 2016 - 189 359
Weano Recreation Area, Karijini National Park
The overnight temperature was a bit of a shock to the system!  We have had very few nights under twenty degrees in the last nine weeks and the majority have been around twenty-three degrees or warmer.  Last night was seven degrees – Drew and I got up at various points during the night to find more warm gear.  Tonight we will definitely dress more warmly for bed and use the sleeping bags plus doona.  What a contrast two days makes! 
https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/park/karijini
After breakfast we headed to the Weano Recreation Area.  Our first walk was into Weano Gorge and on into Handrail Pool. https://www.australiasnorthwest.com/explore/pilbara/karijini-national-park/weano-gorge https://trailswa.com.au/trails/handrail-pool/print The Gorge was pretty with extremely smooth rocks.  To get into Handrail Pool a narrow section of the gorge needed to be passed through before descending steps while astride a hand rail.  At the bottom was a round pool with high gorge walls almost all the way around – the water was freezing as hardly any sunlight would reach this pool.  We then went to the Junction Pool Lookout – the junction of Weano, Hancock and Redbank Gorges, and Oxer Lookout – 114m above the water below. Awesome! https://www.australiasnorthwest.com/explore/pilbara/karijini-national-park/oxer-and-junction-pool-lookouts Next, we went down the ladders into Hancock Gorge, this starts as a hike along the gorge floor, followed by a short wade through hip deep water, then a small rock hop. https://trailswa.com.au/trails/hancock-gorge-with-kermits-pool-karijini-national-park/print https://www.australiasnorthwest.com/explore/pilbara/karijini-national-park/hancock-gorge-and-kermits-pool  The next narrow section involved water up to my neck and was easier to swim through than walk through.  There was then a small beach area called the Amphitheatre.  Next up was the Spider Walk, this could be done on your bottom on the way to the end of the gorge, slipping down the slides; however, on the way back it could only be done by spider walking along the gorge walls with one arm and one leg on each gorge wall.  All surfaces in this part were very slippery and required complete concentration. This brought us to Kermits Pool – a lovely, but cool, deep waterhole between towering gorge walls – again beautiful!  On the way back out of the gorge, after we had completed all the tricky parts, Hayden relaxed his concentration and slipped, smashing his right knee very hard on a rock.  His knee is going to be very pretty colours and has swollen nicely!  We had a picnic lunch back at the picnic area.  We went to Joffre Falls Lookout – the walk into this gorge looks amazing, but not for today, we will let Hayden’s knee have a rest for a day or two. https://www.australiasnorthwest.com/explore/pilbara/karijini-national-park/joffre-falls-gorge-and-lookout https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/joffre-falls-lookout

We headed back to the caravan to do some school work and elevate Hayden’s knee.








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