Karijini National Park

A Network Of Ancient Gorges Cut Into The Red Pilbara Iron Ranges, Where Swimming Holes Sit At The Bottom Of Near Vertical Banded Rock Walls More Than Two Billion Years Old, A Remote Day'S Drive From The Coast · Tom Price, Western Australia

Karijini is the Pilbara's gorge country, a network of ancient chasms cut into the Hamersley Range where the exposed rock records more than two billion years of Earth's history in visible bands of red and black. A day's drive inland from the Western Australian coast and hours from the nearest city, it rewards the distance with swimming holes that sit at the bottom of near-vertical walls, reached by walks that range from an easy stroll to a genuinely dangerous scramble through cold water. Dales Gorge is the accessible end of that range, a formed path down to Fortescue Falls and Circular Pool. Hancock Gorge and Weano Gorge sit at the other end, requiring fixed ropes, ladders and swimming through narrow, shaded sections that have caused serious injuries among visitors who underestimated them. Oxer Lookout, where four gorges meet a hundred metres below, is the single best view in the park and needs no scrambling at all to reach. Karijini Eco Retreat is the only accommodation inside the park, and its remoteness makes the night sky here among the darkest and clearest in Western Australia.

A gorge network in the Hamersley Range of the Pilbara, about a day's drive inland from the Western Australian coast, Tom Price, Western Australia, Australia

Karijini National Park has no gate and is open around the clock, though the unsealed roads between gorges are far easier to navigate by daylight. The visitor centre near Dales Gorge keeps standard daytime hours and posts the current gorge closure list each morning - rangers close individual gorges after rain or rockfall with little notice, and that posted board is the only reliable current source, not an earlier visit's memory. Karijini Eco Retreat's reception and kiosk keep normal daytime hours and its own limited evening hours for the restaurant. There is no fuel inside the park itself; Tom Price and Newman, both roughly 35 to 45 minutes' drive away, are the nearest fuel stops and keep standard small-town hours. Camping is on a booked basis through the state parks system, not a walk-up arrangement, especially in the July school holidays.

Karijini National Park on Spottos · Explore more places on Spottos