Karijini National Park is a place that has been recommended to us time and time again. It’s a small but significant Park in the Pilbara. Its beauty and reputation are due to the magnificent Gorges within the Park that we clambered down into, kids in tow. It was great fun and our efforts were rewarded with refreshing deep water swimming holes.
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| Oxer lookout @ Karijini National Park |
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The colours of Karijini
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| Kids in Dales Gorge |
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Climbing down the ladder to Hancock Gorge (that was the easy part!)
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| Some of the sections were tough to navigate |
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| Prepared to go wading through the water |
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| The "spider walk" leading to Kermits Pool |
Our visit was inadvertently timed with the annual Karijini Experience, a festival that celebrates local indigenous people and culture, and hosts’ premium music and dining 'experiences' in stunning outdoor locations.
You can usually guess something is going to carry a premium price tag when it touts itself as an 'experience'. This was no different. Perhaps some part of the sub-conscience brain forms fonder memories.. whatever the case, future Handley dinner parties will forever be dining experiences..
Of course, we opted for activities more aligned with our ‘on a budget’ taste - fun creative activities for the kids and cultural awareness talks and walks led by local indigenous elders, thoroughly enjoyable and very interesting.
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| Stick man |
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| Indigenous tool making |
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| Resting our dirty feet @ the Karijini Experience. |
As has been the case though a lot of WA, the night skies were absolutely stunning, and we spent our evenings stargazing (haven't mastered night photography yet, soz).
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| Our home @ Dales Gorge Campground |
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| Ellie exploring |
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| Fun with bubbles in our backyard |
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| Tracking our progress in WA |
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| A spider at breakfast |
From Karijini we drove 500k's north to Pardoo Station, another European country sized working cattle station on the southern end of 80 mile beach. It was relaxed and we spent our days (which were 40 degrees and 85% humidity) by the pool. We weren’t aware that the transition between wet and dry seasons were unbelievably hot and muggy.
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| Pardoo Station |
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| Ellie is teaching Papa how to catch a fish |
Next onto Broome. It was still school holidays and we’d booked a few months in advance concerned with capacity. Fortunately the distance from civilisation and lack of grey nomads during this muggy start of the dry season meant it wasn’t crazy busy. We had booked water-front on Broome Main Beach which was superb. Sunrises were spectacular and we were right next door to a water park obviously popular with the kids. Broome is extremely tidal with about 9 metres separating low and high tides, and one moment water was lapping at our feet, the next about 1km out to sea. Fascinating stuff.
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| About to set up our new home in Broome |
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| Beautiful sunrises |
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| Not too shabby at dusk either |
We lazed and pottered, did some 4wd’ing, visited a Pearl farm, Matso’s brewery (which apart from awesome Ginger beer, does a cracker Chilli beer!) and sampled the local seafood. Most memorable was probably Cable beach, a beautiful beach stretching north from Broome, my new fave spot for swimming. Warm, turquoise water with small breakers, superb for the kids and to simply hang and relax. Broome, we'll definitely be back!
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| Tom and Cable Beach |
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| The beautiful warm waves of Cable Beach |
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| Perfect for boogie boarding! |
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| Explorers @ Gantheaume Point in Broome |
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| Explorers who have found a real dinosaur footprint! |
Once again, such amazing photography! and amazing experiences (I'll happily support a Handley dinner experience upon your return to Sydney)
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