Nele & Andrew Around Oz: Karijini Eco Retreat, Karijini National Park, WA

Day 98 – 25^th May 2011

Karijini Eco Retreat, Karijini National Park, WA

We drove to the Weano day use area where we first went for a walk to the Junction Pool and Oxer Lookouts. At Oxer lookout you can view 4 gorges come together (Weano, Hancock, Joffre and Red Gorge). Junction Pool lookout has views into Hancock Gorge. Here there is also a memorial for an SES rescue worker that died in a flash flood during the rescue of a tourist in one of the gorges in 2004. Flash flooding can occur when it’s raining so it’s advised to leave the gorges immediately if it starts raining. Afterwards we walked the Weano Gorge Trail. It starts easy with a nice ridge walk and then descending into the gorge where you have to cross the creek several times. Then the pools start getting a bit deeper so you have to wade through them, until eventually you get to a point where you have to get wet as they are chest deep so wear your bathers! The water is very cold so take a towel and jumper with you. Handrail Pool is the end of the walk as it turns into a class 6 trail after for which you need a permit as it involves abseiling and rock climbing. Had a nice cup of soup for lunch to warm up before heading out for another walk into Hancock Gorge. This walk starts with a steep descent down the cliff until you get to a ladder which takes you to the bottom of the gorge. We had to wade through the water (knee height) to get to the Amphitheatre from where you do the spider walk to get to Kermits Pool – from here the walk turns into class 6. Headed back to the Karijini Eco Retreat to relax for the remainder of the afternoon.