Washbourne Chronicles: 2014.10.01 -- WA: Monkey Mia, Sharks Bay, Karijini

A wonderful trip from Perth including:

Monkey Mia and the Francois Peron National Park, on the west coast 850 km north of Perth
Sharks Bay, the Cape Range National Park, and snorkeling the Ningaloo reef, on the west coast 1350 km north of Perth
the fabulous gorges of Karijini National Park, 700 km east of Sharks Bay, 1400 km north of Perth

All of these spots are in Western Australia, and the total driving distance for the trip was about 5000 km in something close to two weeks. We have since this trip learned that we went at exactly the right time for Karijini, because it was the wet season and all the gorges had beautiful fresh running water in them, making swimming several times a day a real joy.

In our recent outings further north to Purnululu, Broome, Kings Canyon, and Uluru we have realized that if you go in the cooler and dry part of the year (March or April), there is no water in the gorges and you cant swim. This really reduces the enjoyment on the hot days in the desert climate, so we advise going to Karijini in November.

If you want to see the pictures in full resolution, you can browse the picasa web album here.

Driving north from Perth

We rented a medium size RV in Perth, kitted everything up a couple hours and left early in the afternoon to make it a couple hundred km up the coast for the first night in Dongara.

Crocsy the world traveler on the road north from Perth

The rental RV on coast near Dongara

On the beach a short walk from the campsite in Dongara (1)

On the beach a short walk from the campsite in Dongara (2)

Francois Peron National Park

The first thing we had planned was a tour of the Francois Peron National Park near Monkey Mia. After driving another 500 km north onto the peninsula, we checked into a caravan park in Denham, just on the border of the National Park.

Early the next morning Monkey Mia Wildsights picked us up in a 4wd for the full day tour. We were super impressed with the tour guide, who was very knowledgeable and an expert in taking us off the beaten track.

The Monkey Mia Wildsights 4wd, our ride for the day

View from the beach on the north side of the cape

A termite mound we saw on the side of the road. These things were everywhere, and different colors depending on the type of soil.

The next several pictures are some of the wildflowers that were out. November is a good time to see lots of flowers.

Wildflowers and wild child

After driving along dirt roads with soft sand to the north side of the cape, we drove down onto the beach for a bit to this lovely spot.

Beautiful view of the red cliffs and the Indian Ocean

Same view from above

At this point in the tour we took a long walk along on the cliffs, and learned some of the local history from the guide.

The next two are some of my favorite pictures from the day. The photos don’t really do the colors justice.

Monkey Mia

After two nights in Denham, we moved from the west side of the peninsula to the east side, and spent one night in Monkey Mia. There is a large resort there were they have trained some wild dolphins to come into the beach to be fed each morning. Heaps of people line up on the beach and a few are “randomly” chosen. Interestingly, all 3 of our kids were chosen.

The Cape Range National Park and Ningaloo reef

Next up was a long slog south back down the peninsula in order to get on route 1 to go north up to Shark’s Bay and the Cape Range National Park. This was one of the longer driving days, with nearly 1000 km by the time we rounded Exmouth and headed back south to our campsite in the National Park.

It was dusk as we were still one-half hour from the campsite, and we saw more wildlife than any other day. We saw maybe 20 roos, maybe one quarter of which were dead and in various stages of decay. Lots of them were crossing the road of on the verge of the road. Very good advice: don’t drive after sundown in Australia.

Our site was fantastic! The site was very near to the beach, with the Ningaloo Reef right there off the beach. It was not a sandy beach, due to the reef, but there were tons of fish to see if you went snorkeling. We really enjoyed our time there, and the site was maybe an hour from where all the (other) tourists were in Exmouth.

Dinner at the campsite on the beach

Fishing 2 minutes from the campsite

Another cove a bit further north from our campsite

An emu seen while exploring at the excellent Jurabi Turtle Center. At the right time of year you can watch thousands of turtles hatch and head to the sea.

Fishing somewhere in the Cape Range, we can’t remember where.

Exmouth and a snorkeling tour

Much like down south, we next moved from the east side of the peninsula to the more populous west side, and stayed in a caravan park right across the street from the Exmouth visitor center.

The excellent folks at the visitor center help to hook us up with a small boat offering a snorkeling tour on the Ningaloo Reef. Most of the other operators had shut down due to bad weather offshore, but these guys knew a few sheltered spots and agreed to take us out for a half-day tour.

Bonus humpback whales seen on the snorkeling tour! We were pretty excited, and the captain told us we would be lucky to get this close on a tour dedicated to whale watching.

A girl excited to be out on a boat ride

The next few shots were taken with Erick’s underwater camera after we arrived at the snorkeling spot. This particular tour included the use of these seadoos, which were fun for a while but I eventually jettisoned mine to free dive.

The Awesomeness that is Karijini National Park

We had another long day of driving to get back down off the peninsula and west 600 km to Karijini. We spent one night parked on the side of the road somewhere anout 3/4 of the way and cooked out on a small portable charcoal grill. The next day we finished the drive to the Karijini Eco Retreat, where would spend the next 4 nights.

Karijini is in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and the Hammersly Range. The most spectacular things about Karijini are the contrast in colors, and the contrast in the layering and iron banding in the rocks. We went for the gorges, and we were not disappointed.

The visitor center

One of the unsealed but decently graded roads that link the various attractions (gorges!) in the Park.

What follows are lots of pictures of happy people exploring wonderful places. These pictures can almost rekindle the joy of being there, but being able to swim 4 times a day in different places in beautiful clean water was a truly special thing. I think we picked the absolute perfect time of the year.

A beautiful glade near Fortescue Falls, one of the parks standout locations.

A lizard (bungara?) seen near Fortescue Falls

Fortescue Falls itself

The next several panoramic pictures capture some of the fantastic beauty of the Karijini gorges. In the several days we were there, we drove to 4 different trailheads, and walked 6 different gorges. You can turn a corner in any one of them and be presented with these kinds of colors and peace and beauty. Outstanding!

Joffrey gorge, close to the Eco Retreat, was one of our top favorite gorges. You had to do a little climbing and walking to get to the point where there is a lake 300 meters long. Awesome!

Joffrey Gorge (1)

Joffrey Gorge (2)

Hancock gorge was my personal favorite. This is an area around Weano Gorge that includes such awesome features as the Spider Walk, Kermit’s Pool, and Handrail Pool. On the way to the end of the gorge you get to do the Spider Walk with one foot on either side of the gorge.

The Spider Walk in Hancock’s Gorge

On the way down to Kermit’s Pool in Hancock Gorge

Some wildlife seen in one of the gorges

Two more non panoramic photos of the random beauty in the gorges.

More local fauna in the next two pictures

Next up is lots pictures of walks in the gorges with people to help judge the scale. The walks themselves were really kind of epic given the scenery and the wildlife and the chance to swim whenever the fancy took you.

The next couple pictures are from Dales Gorge, above Fortescue Falls and Circular Pool. We had our longest hottest walk there, and it was the very first gorge we visited. Swimming in circular pool and over to the falls on the far side of a small pond was a real joy after getting very hot and dusty on the earlier part of the walk. These shots from the rim of the gorge give a good impression of how damn big the gorges are.

Mt Bruce

Robert and I were the only ones crazy to tackle Western Australia’s second highest mountain, Mt Bruce. We got up very early and hit the trail around 5:30, after about 45 minutes traversing the corrugated dirt roads.

That isn’t Bruce in the background, but maybe “sombrero hill” or a similar name

The trail was actually pretty rugged, as you can see in this photo

Most of the way up

Marandoo Mine, a large Rio Tinto iron mine in the background

On the summit

Summit panorama

Proof of ascent

On the way back down with the sombrero hill in the background

The last several pictures are from out walk out to Rock Arch Pool in Kalamina Gorge.