No, this isn't a post about a Karen's amazing mystical being that allows her to talk to the manager 3 times. It's about our travels to the Pilbara/Karijini region.

Where the bloody hell is that you ask? Well here is a circled in red on a map for reference.

We headed out from Broome to our first stop, Marble Bar the "hottest" town in Australia, for us it was a balmy 41 degrees (at 5pm).

Then it was onto the famous Karijini, our first 3 days was camping in the Eco Lodge in the park, then we also spent some time in Dales Campground.

Karijini National Park is a rugged desert with thin gorges, wide gorges, steep gorges.... If you get what I'm hinting at, it has a numerous amount of truely amazing gorges which are layered with deep red ancient rock (just a few billion years old) and contain stunning hidden waterfalls and swimming holes.

For our first hike in Karijini we checked out Hamersley Gorge. Which was a fairly short walk to the bottom, where you could see some amazing deformations in the layers of rock.

We were able to swim around 100 meters further down the gorge.

However the main attraction of the gorge required a scramble back the other way, then a short swim to the absolutely picturesque "spa pool" waterfall.

Next was Joffre Falls, which were not actually planning to hike, but then decided to. The hike required a descent of several ladder like stairs.

Then a short wade through some water to reach the end of the gorge. As we had not planned to do the hike, we had to get our normal shorts wet. (This comes up again in a second).

Unfortunately, the waterfall at the end of the gorge was dry. However the other way down the gorge looked like it had a good view. So off we went back through the water.

Then we experienced one of the biggest disasters of the trip, a truly life ending event for any millennial or younger generation. I had accidentally put my phone back into my pocket for the wade back through the water and it got bricked!. (For the non IT tech people, that means it was broken).

In the end we actually had a spare phone (Millennials!) And I was able to get a new one a week or two later.

Anyway, back to the gorge. The other end of it did have an amazing view and drop off.

The next hike was down Hancock Gorge to

Kermit's pool which required us to swim and wade through a long section of the gorge.

Then we scrambled down some narrow sections of layered ancient rock.

Which lead to the hidden oasis water hole called Kermit's Pool.

The hike was chained off after the pool, however it did provide a good view down the gorge.

The next amazing adventure was Weano Gorge which ended in Handrail Pool. It was a rather short hike through another narrow gorge which would have been rather slippery if the river was flowing. It was late in the dry however so the river was a trickle.

Much to Claire's horror, the hike ended with a short but vertical climb into the swimming hole. A hand rail had been installed to assist. She got down and even back up in the end 😂.

As the hike had been fairly short so far, we took the long way out, down the dry end of the gorge. Which was very dry and hot but showed some spectacular scenery and nature.

Our next adventure... You'll never have guessed, was another hike down a gorge! This time down Dales gorge to Fern Pool a rather large and deep swimming hole that allowed us to beat the heat.

The next hike was down Knox gorge which started off simply enough, but then had a scramble around the edge of a deep pool that had Claire... Well on edge! After a lot of coaxing to get her across she decided to jump in the water and swim across than face the fear of heights. However due to the commotion we didn't get any photos of her stuck on the edge. However we did get some photos of us in the pool on the way back (the edge is on the right)

After surviving the scary section we reached the end of the hike, where the gorge intersects with other deeper gorges, which we estimated led to a 50 to 100m drop.

There was also another common swimming spot at the end of the hike but alas it was too low to swim in (it was late in the dry season).

Onto the last gorge hike of Karijini, this was a less intense hike down Kalamina gorge which had some stunning rock formations and deep water holes.

At the end of the hike was a larger and deeper section of river that we had a wonderful swim.

Now i did say the last hike was the last gorge hike of Karijini, not just the last hike Yeap we saved the hardest hike for last, up Mount Bruce. What I like the to call the "Buzz Aldrin" of mountains, meaning it's the 2nd highest in WA 😝.

We left out camp nice and early to complete the 6 hour hike before it got too hot. The first hour or two was nothing too bad and had amazing views.

But then we lost Claire to steepness, she didn't die, she just turned back 😝. Not too far after that point there was a cliff side edge that had a chain to assist getting around, this was interesting as it wasn't really needed.

However, directly after this was a short but slightly terrifying scramble/climb up the cliff that really could have benefited from having a chain.

Onwards and upwards! So after getting past that section, the rest of the hike was nothing at that level. Though there was some scrambling up rock faces. I reach the top around an hour after leaving Claire. She was back at the car reading 50 shades of grey (we were able to txt) I was treated to spectacular panoramic views.

And that was the actual last adventure in Karijini!.

The next part of the Pilbara we explored was the Kennedy Ranges. Again I hear you asking: Where the hell is that!?

On our way to Kennedy Ranges we stopped over in Gascoyne Junction, where we had Snake Encounter 76... Or 83, I lost count long ago. This time we even got a photo!!

After that, we stayed in the Kennedy Ranges Nation Park camping grounds and explored the area.

Which means, you guessed it, more hikes!! 😁. We went up more gorges, found dry waterfalls and got up some mountains (or maybe hills)

While not as stunning as Karijini, it still had some amazing rock formations and scenery to show off.

We also meat a few Kangaroos and some wild goats.

As well, as hikes we also did an amazing 4wd track called the Kennedy Loop Track. A 270km long rugged and remote adventure. Unlike the last remote 4wd track we did, no one had died on this one! Well not in the last few years anyway.

Here's a map from our drive, taken from our GPS (we didn't record the main gravel road bit, which probably added another 100km) and also an actual map!.

The loop track started with a dry river crossing, which I was rather glad was dry, as it was a few 100 meters to cross. It then continued on for a few hours with some nice river side or spring camp stops.

Then things got a little more extreme as the track turned into the boulder strewn river bed for some time. Lots of fun though!.

Then the track turned up the plateau (or mountain) while also getting sandy, though nothing too serious. It was around here we found the maker and log book for the track, which we signed.

Onto the final stretch which lead to the amazing "White Stacks". A beautiful series of white cliffs.

Another epic 4wd track under the belt!

After this adventure it was onto Mount Augustus the biggest rock in the world! Take that Uluru/Ayres rock!... Well that is what the tourist paraphernalia said. However, a quick google proved that wrong. So we can put that claim with the "Highest pub in the NT" claim from the pub in Larrimah, NT.

There was something strange happening in the area when we arrived, something we had not seen in a long long time.... Clouds! Yeap, so out of the usual now, we actually took photos.

Now, we arrived in the Mt Augustus area about 1/3rd of the way through November. This is well and truly past the peak season (the dry) which meant unfortunately that the hike to the summit of the mountain was closed due to heat.

All the other side hikes were open (which we did), just not the main big summit hike. We still got some stunning views, however.

One hike lead to some Aboriginal stone carvings.

And that was the end of our amazing journey into the Pilbara.

In the next post / destination we decided to trade in the heat, red dust and general desert for white sand, Coral and general wetness. Up next is the Coral Coast / Ningaloo coast line.