Day 61 - Sunday - 2 September - Exploring Karijini

Day 61

Sunday

2 September – Fathers’ Day

Began reading book 11 The Silent Wife by A S A Harrison

Dales Gorge – Kalamina Gorge

I was happy to read my new book to start the day, but Paul was keen get up. We had planned to do the gorge walk this morning and would need to be getting into it early, before it got too warm. With that in mind, I didn’t stay too long and we were all fed and done by 8.30am and keen to get underway.

We drove the car to the Fortescue Falls carpark, grabbed the gear and began the decent towards the falls. Once we had finished with the stairs, we entered the natural, stone steps of the falls and made our way down the face. It was very peaceful, with no one else around to disturb our serenity. 

After taking a heap of photos, we continued our walk along the gorge floor. We had about 1.5km to traverse on a class 4 trail, one for experienced hikers with good fitness.  We were up for the challenge. We passed through the paperbark forest, with the sound of bubbling water never far from us. Large red cliffs reached above us, keeping us cool as we trekked. 

We stopped at various points along the trail to take in the view and capture it with the camera. We began to pass other people on the trail, having entered at the other end. The trail crossed over the river at different points, having us hop over via stepping stones, that were often wobbly under foot. 

We followed the little yellow discs, keeping us on the trail, eventually making it to our final spot, Circular Pool. I took in the beauty of the spot, before we both donned the bathers, keen for a dip. I put my foot in and realised it was going to be a FRESH one. Paul followed me in, but soon tired of my dithering and plunged into the deep section of the pool, only to come up saying a few choice words and being covered in instant goose bumps. That sealed my fate, I was keen to stand in the knee-deep section and go no further. 

The pool began to become crowded, as the morning wore on and we were glad we were making our way out and leaving them to it. We clambered back over the shelf like rock, returning to the entrance point of Circular Pool and began the climb up the goat track. This was harder to traverse than the stairs at Fortescue, as the natural steps weren’t at even intervals and they swapped and changed direction regularly. 

We stopped at different times, to get our breath back and take in the view, before finally breaking the surface. We walked to the two viewing platforms, one over Circular Pool and the other at a point where the three gorges meet. We followed the trail along the top of the gorge, admiring the wildflowers in bloom and the various vegetation, before finally making it back to the car two and a half hours later. 

We returned to the van, happy to sit for a while and catch our breath, allowing our limbs to recover for the morning’s endurance. I ran through all of the photos and Paul returned calls from Jaden and Merida, who had rung to wish him a Happy Fathers’ Day. 

We put lunch together and ate, before packing the car and heading out to Kalamina Gorge, about 30km away, on a dirt road. We had been told to check this one out, not because it was spectacular, but because it would be quiet. 

As we entered the dirt road after the Info Centre, a large sign clearly stated we were entering a 4wd drive area only. Hmm. Oh well, we were going anyway. As it turned out, the road had been recently graded and wasn’t too bad. We made it out no worries. 

After parking and grabbing our things, we headed for the viewing platform and then entered the gorge via the short goat track. I went off scurrying over rocks to find the waterfall at the end, finding places to put my feet on small ledges. I then returned to Paul and we began the trek down the gorge. 

The path was fairly easy to traverse, despite also being a class 4.  There were a few more water crossings using dodgy stepping stones and a few closer cliff-edge walks, but it was all manageable. In the end, we came across a beautiful watering hole that was too hard to resist. We dumped our things on the rocks and made our way to the water’s edge. It was quite slippery, but the flat rocks made it easier to sit and slide in. 

Paul again swam to the middle, while I fluffed around at the edge, eventually submerging myself and joining him in the middle, where the water temperature plummeted and saw me returning to the shallower section, where I could sit and enjoy the serenity. 

I watched a wasp riding a spider through the water, like he was a jockey on a horse. Paul went off to chase after it, keen to see what was going on. I thought it was rather strange. The things you see. 

After enjoying our refreshing stop, we grabbed all of our things and began the trek back to the beginning. We walked back up the short goat trek and took in the view once again, before jumping back in the car and making our way back to the van. 

Once in, I went through the photos and when I was all done, I rang Dad for Fathers’ Day. We put dinner together, surfed the internet and then went for a walk around our campsite. Once we were back, we cooked up dinner and ate, before retiring for the evening.