Karijini National Park

[Kyle]Well, the views did make up for it, at least a little. On this end of the park, there are only a handful of places that visitors are allowed. This has the effect of concentrating everybody into the same areas, which made the park feel both smaller and less remote. It felt more like being at summer camp with a hundred other people.

Maryanne and I knew how to beat the crowds, though – get up early. We were off when it was still dark enough that we had to strain to see. Since we are technically in the tropics now, the sun came up fast and we soon had plenty if light.

We walked from our camp site to a place called The Circular Pool. It was a deep canyon starting from nowhere. It was fed by subterranean water that flowed in between layers far down into the canyon. Aeons of the water weakening the rock above caused it to collapse into the hole and then get carried down the river as sediment. What was really impressive, particularly in the light of the sunrise, was how deep red all of the rock was, The contrast against the gum trees with their blinding white bark and the deep blue sky made the color of the rock stand out even more.

We took a very steep but well maintained trail to the canyon floor and the water’s surface. The canyon faces south so the floor at the bottom never receives any sunlight, leaving the water in the pool nice and cool. Since it was still early and the air was cool as well, we decided to skip the swim for now.

We headed on a trail that led along the canyon floor for a bit until it intersected an adjacent canyon and then followed that for a while. There were species of plants and animals that can only exist in the wet, protected walls of the canyon. One of the most obvious was a paper bark tree, whose bark peels off in sheets that were wonderfully soft. I wanted a bed made out of that stuff.

The canyon walls were made out of countless thin layers of perfectly flat, red stone topped with a layer of rounded volcanic rock riddled with holes and channels. The path at the bottom was almost perfectly flat paving stones stacked on top of each other at right angles. The walk was as if through a giant museum of sculpture, constantly revealing new shapes with every turn.

After a while, we came across Fortescue Falls, where I had a refreshing dip in the slightly too cold water. Soon after, crowds of people started to arrive. Our gorgeous spot in nature turned into the public pool.

Refreshed, we climbed the steep path out of the canyon and headed back via the rim trail. The views were stunning. Spinifex grass, gum trees and big red termite mounds made up the foreground. Then was the deep red cut of the canyon. In the distance were red hills covered in yellow spinifex, backed by a deep blue sky.




Scenes from Karijini

It was approaching Noon then and it was getting hot. We decided to return to the tent for a siesta in the shade. It didn’t work. It was way too hot – so hot that we didn’t have the energy to do anything except lie there and sweat. Eventually, we decided we couldn’t take it anymore so we headed to the visitor’s center to look at their extensive exhibits on the land and aboriginal culture, all indoors and in the shade.

Following that, there was no question in either of our minds that we were heading back to Fortescue Falls for a late afternoon swim and cool down.

While we were there, we saw our first dingo. He was not eating anybody’s baby.


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