Entry 5 – 2026 – March – Karijini National Park, Western Australia
We had been yearning for a return visit to Karijini National Park in Western Australia and were delighted with an opportunity for a revisit in 2026.
Karijini N.P. is in the Hamersley Ranges in the heart of the Pilbara region. It’s northern region is accessible with spectacular sheer sided gorges carved into an arid bed rock landscape.
Karijini is one of those must do destinations and is very popular.
Spring fed waters flow through some of the gorges creating a magnificent ecosystem. There are many hiking trails available at various gorges requiring at times a good level of fitness. It was exhilarating, cooling down in one of a number of pools throughout the gorges.
Back in 2014 we had arrived at Karijini N.P. mid-June. It was a time of no pre-booking requirements. On arrival you spoke with the camp ground hosts, paid the required fees and were allocated a camp site. Now in 2026 it was mandatory to pre-book National Park camp-sites online, often up to 6 months in advance.
Our freedom to travel where ever and whenever had been greatly impeded, with the introduction of controlled bookings, dictating when and where we can travel.
2026 our preferred time lines to travel had been eroded by inadequate availability to access various National Parks around Western Australia. National Parks are set up to preserve unique, special locations. Often, they provide fabulous viewing, tingling one’s feel-good neurotransmitters, arousing long lasting memories.
We had arrived at Karijini N.P. mid-March. It had been a time line to coincide with available access dates for other National Parks further up the road. Even then we were only able to obtain access due to a cancellation we spotted on one of the many, many times we were searching the N.P. web site. It seemed all available prime location National Parks camp locations were fully booked within minutes of them becoming available at 6 months in advance.
These “Ghost Bookings,” often, wouldn’t show, leaving many camp sites empty when the system was showing them as booked. Western Australia N.P. were aware of the issue but were yet to identify a suitable solution. Grr.
There seemed to be quite a percentage of people booking sites without any thoughts of actual attendance. It had similarities to the covid 19 toilet paper debacle and the current 2026 outbreak of war with Iran with unnecessary panic fuel buying, creating fuel shortages. A stupid “human element!” Wouldn’t it be nice if laws were introduced placing controls on the media whom create many problems with unresponsible reporting, inciting inappropriate behaviour!
When we were at Karijini in June 2014 the day time temperatures were in the mid 20’s with night time minimums around 5 degrees. March 2026 day time temperatures were around 38-40 degrees with minimum overnight temperatures around 27 degrees. It was another experience during a different season.
Our first full day we enacted our proposed strategy. At around 9 am, we hiked into Dales Gorge. We both had back packs with enough gear to meet our requirements for an extended daytime stay. (Plenty of water, some food, reading material, etc.)
In 2014 we had to scale down a cliff face at Dales Gorge, with strategically placed rock steps in precarious locations. It was quite the effort. 2026 there was a flight of steel constructed stairs with several seating areas down into the gorge. Gosh it was substantially easier to get down into the gorge. The time and energy descending into the gorge was greatly reduced. Though it was around 300 steps one way.
At Fern Pool, the water looked inviting and there was plenty of shade about. An added bonus, there was no one else present. It felt divine having such a stunningly beautiful location to ourselves. The water temperature was bliss. Not too cold, not hot, just perfect.
After splashing about for a while we stretched out, lying on the wooden seating reading our books. We were in need to wear insect netting over our heads as the flies were very obnoxious. It was a bit of a challenge to read whilst wearing the insect evading netting.
Some of the signage on the walk into Dales Gorge showed there were some flying foxes about. We hadn’t heard the screeching of their presence or seen any. Ironically when we laid down on our backs to stretch out and read our books there was a mob of fly foxes perched directly overhead.
As the day progressed a few people popped by for a look, with none staying for any time. Around 2 pm we decided to return to our camp. Funnily as the temperature had risen over the day, each time we cooled off, the water temperature seemed to get colder.
On our return hike we stopped at Fortescue Falls for some photographic recordings. Later when we did return for some more cooling periods, there would be no need to carry our camera gear.
Often, we enact some strategic strategies. On rare occasions, it is a delight when everything goes to plan. We returned to our caravan and were delighted to find the state of charge for our batteries to be at 100%. The previous evening, we had depleted our batteries due to operating the air-conditioner late into the evening.
We do love our modern technological times, with options to operate an air-conditioner whilst camping off grid. And we did have our air-conditioner running during the day into the evening with outside temperatures hovering between 38-40 degrees, every single day of our 15 days stay.
Annoyingly vast volumes of flies would engulf us when we ventured out doors. It was horrendous and unsettling.
When returning to the comfortable indoors of our caravan we would wave our arms about, rip off our cap and hair net and rush inside. We would spend another 20 minutes dispatching flies whom made it inside within those few seconds of the caravan door being open.
After about 20 minutes another dozen flies would appear inside. We would resume dispatching them. It was a regular occurrence which had us stumped for some time.
At some stage Steve ventured outside, grabbing a fly net, only to see about a zillion flies tangled up within the netting. Most likely some would slowly find an escape, appearing within the confines of our caravan. Another strategy was enacted. Before entering the caravan, we would remove the fly net, turning it inside out a couple of times to clear any pesky flies. It felt good to solve another annoying problem.
The extreme heat with challenging walking trails did necessitate another strategy. All the trails required a rather high level of fitness and our bodies weren’t up to day after day of challenges. After a day’s hike, we would implement some rest time, allowing our bodies recuperation time. We had allocated a stay of two weeks at Karijini, permitting plenty of time to experience its fabulous features at a leisurely pace.
Many of the gorge viewing/exploration areas involved a drive of about 40 to 100 kilometres from the campground, one way. We were mindful of the current fuel crisis and not drive about willy-nilly.
Kalamina Gorge was about 35 kilometres from the campground. The last 6 kilometres of dirt road was best negotiated at a speed of 10-15 kph, as the closest to comfort as we could get. At 20 kph we were tossed about.
Kalamina Gorge was rated at class 4 difficulty. It was a 3-kilometre return hike and recommended to allow 3 hours. The first difficulty was to scale down the steep sides of the gorge.
The trail crossed from one side of the gorge to the other a number of times for ease of bypassing encountered obstacles. It was stunning viewing.
There was a requirement to watch your feet and to stop when exercising your neck with the accompanied oo-rr’s. Steve was happy with the required level of concentration. If Mary had spotted all the spider webs close to her head, when scrabbling along the edges of the gorge there would have been some problems.
The below pictures show our first view of Kalamina Gorge. And our last view when lying on our backs with a much-needed cool down.
A drive to Joffre Falls provided fabulous viewing from a platform looking down into the gorge. The view tantalized all our feel-good neurotransmitters inviting us to view the bottom of the falls up close and personal. We looked about viewing the available track to the falls base. Even Steve said not for him after surveying some of the track. The lookout walk was classified as at grade 3 difficulty, the falls base, grade 5, with a distance of 1.3-kilometre return and allow 2 hours to complete.
Mount Bruce offered good views of the surrounding area. It was a 9-kilometre hike recommended to allow about 6 hours to complete. There were three viewing areas. Due to the extreme heat conditions, we ventured the short walk to the first viewing area. We might not have obtained a wonderful elevated view of our surrounds. We did see one of the iron ore trains leaving a mine at around 2 ½ kilometres long. The picture with the arrow indicates the train. The brown line of the train stretches across the picture and onwards way past the frame.
When we did venture out onto the main nearby road, there was still a requirement to be mindful of those non-budging obstacles.
Dales Gorge walk was spectacular. It has a permanent water flow, complements of a spring. It is an oasis in an ancient arid landscape. Our necks were constantly twisting in all directions. There was so much beautiful scenery to take in. You could see the oasis evaporating as you looked up the steep sides of the gorge. The reedy, tree lined gorge covering, quickly changed to an arid landscape with a covering of arid lands spinifex grass, disappearing as the terrain became further inhospitable.
It was a fantastic walk, challenging at times, scrambling over steep obstacles and negotiating sections covered by water. Our bodies felt hot and weary. We continued to Fern Pool, looking forward to immersing our bodies in its beautiful cool waters. Fern Pool had become our favourite location with the hot weather conditions.
We had allocated up to 16 days to soak in the serenity of Karijini N.P. We had planned to explore the area at a comfortable leisurely pace. Unfortunately, some of the highlight locations were closed for maintenance. It also coincided with the longest period of hot temperatures we had ever experienced. Eleven continuous days with day time maximums of 39 to 41 degrees. The heat restricting our movement/exploration.
The overnight minimum temperatures ranged from 26-28 degrees. Mostly this minimum would come at around 6 am and by 7 am the temperature would be rising.
We slept with no bed coverings, though, ironically, we both felt the need of some warm covering when the temperature dropped to 27 degrees.
There were some nervous psychological thoughts on how we were going to cope when we moved away from the oppressive heat. On those days with a maximum temperature of around 30 degrees, would we be rugged up?
Adding another glitch, was the impact from tropical cyclone Narelle. Narelle had first formed in the Coral Sea, east of the northern tip of Queensland. It was moving west towards Australia. Normally when a cyclone travels across this region of Australia, its intensity diminishes to a low by the time it makes it to the Northern Territory. This was how Narelle panned out. It continued west across the top of Australia into the Timor Sea.
It had no impact on us.
Then something unusual happened. Narelle picked up intensity and changed direction, heading south west along the Western Australian coastline. Narelle reformed into a tropical cyclone, increasing in intensity greater than when it first made landfall in Queensland.
Suddenly we were sitting very erect in our seats monitoring all the weather predictions for the impact of Narelle.
Our next booking was at Cape Range National Park. This location was predicted to be in the direct line of Narelle making landfall. National Parks had closed Cape Range until further notice due to the pending impact of Narelle.
Gratefully we were about 500 kilometres inland out of the predicted direct impact zone.
Narelle was predicted to affect us minimally at Karijini. There was an increase in the velocity of the wind, prompting us to pack everything away outside. There was a prediction of rain whilst Nerelle was passing by.
We were in a stalemate, hostages of Cyclone Narelle. It was a waiting game. We were unable to start making our way to our next planned destination of Cape Range N.P. Narelle had provided an almost perfect road block. Once Narelle passed, it was still a waiting game. Had roads been damaged from flash flooding, were trees/power lines down and what other infrastructure had been damaged, etc?
What an experience, Karijini N.P. had provided in 2026. Fabulous scenery, excessive heat and a cyclone.
Most mornings we were greeted by a colourful sunrise. Each day as the sun set, we were serenaded by more colourful skies. Even the landscape colouring changed at sunset.
One item on the required list of equipment whilst in outback Australia was the facial protection provided by an insect/fly net. It is the most effective way to keep those little bastards out of the corners of your eyes.
Tropical Cyclone Narelle had been and gone. Some interesting statistics.
Our next booked destination, in 7 days’ time, had been Cape Range N.P. We were at Karijini N.P. about 500 kilometres inland from Cape Range.
As it transpired – with Narelle approaching landfall as a category 4 cyclone.
Cape Range N.P. and the nearby town of Exmouth received their yearly average rainfall in one day.
There was a lot of media publicity showing a flooded Exmouth, with damage to property and infrastructure. It looked bad. We were due to leave Karijini, but were unable to start proceeding to Cape Range/Exmouth until there was an official announcement.
It was a period of waiting, whilst the authorities assessed and conducted what repairs they could. Three days after Cyclone Narelle had moved on, there was still no official reports on the status of the damage. We suspected it was catastrophic and there was a need for specialist services to get the town up and running.
Adding to the complex scenario, the airport had sustained significant damage and was expected to be closed for an extended period.
What we did obtain from media reports. A section of the main road into Exmouth had sustained flood damage and was closed. Basically Exmouth/Cape Range National Park was isolated. All three fuel stations at Exmouth had suffered damage and were unable to provide fuel.
At the time of posting this blog, we understood the only way in and out of Exmouth was via helicopter.
We were expecting our yearlong plan and preparations to stay/experience Cape Range National Park was not happening. We even checked for any future availability and true to form, the Western Australia National Parks web site showed it was fully booked for the next 6 months.
Time for contemplation.
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