Blue Sky Mining in Gorge(ous) Country

It wasn’t that we’d overstayed our welcome, far from it. Exmouth and Cape Range had been fabulous to us. Starting with whale sharks, with turtles, reef sharks, coral and wallabies in between, and good surf right at the death-knock. Oli even got BOG in his last game for the Exmouth Eagles. (Sam, you’ll be relieved to know that contract negotiations fell down. Something to do with the price of rent, the quality of local drinking water, and parents not wishing to work in the mines.) No, it was more that it was time to get moving again.

Ivy and Summer picking flowers

We decided against the evening departure after a local ranger told me two of his mates had been seriously injured when they’d collided with cows after dark. We got away at 7:15, which should be noted, was 15 minutes after the Lintons. The final exit from Exmouth was further delayed due to the need to take on more water from the fish cleaning table next to the old US naval communications base. Apparently their old de-salination plant is still producing better quality water than you can get in town. Gotta love the Yanks.

We arrived in Karajini 8 hours later, feeling pretty tired, but pretty perky really. Van got reverse parked centimetre perfect. Three days later and I’m still admiring its position in the spot as I step out for my morning ablutions! The long drive did mean that our first morning was a write off. Cups of tea, coffee and books (Keith Richards bio for me), and a little home work for the kids. Peter and Jo who we’d met in Coral Bay were next door, so Ivy and Summer got up to no good. The boys weren’t to be out done, plastering themselves in mud with Jo’s urging.



Spider Walk

They needed a bath; we needed a walk to free us from lethargy. We headed out to Fern Pool. Karajini is in the middle of very valuable iron ore country. No surprise that the BHP boys, Twiggy and Gina want to get their fat fingers on it. Stick a magnetised screwdriver in the ground and it comes up with filings all over it.  The park has been saved in the short term at least because of its fabulous gorges and the water that flows through them. There is however a mine you can see from the top of Mt Bruce, not 30 kms away, so I’m certain they haven’t given up…stay tuned.

The walks aren’t difficult, I did them all in a pair of sandals; but they are all a lot of fun. Some require a bit of rock-climbing and even swimming  to complete, which makes them all the more interesting. For the kids, it was like walking in the best adventure playground ever invented. Ivy and Ned found things to hang off, Oli found things to jump off. Sara found plenty to make her cover her eyes and lookouts to avoid. Not one for heights that girl. She is did swim in every pool even the one that only gets 15 minutes of sun a day, so that’s something.

Oli leaping into Kermit Pool

Circular Pool

To be fair though, Sara’s oft stated mantra to the kids “People die at Karajini you know…” is reasonable.  One rescue a month is done here, and several people die every year in the same places we have been. The difference is usually, but not always, that the people who get in trouble think they are bullet proof. We saw many backpackers climbing rocks they had no right climbing, and it’s not like we didn’t want to follow them, it’s just that we read the signs, we are over 40, and we had heard the story about the SES volunteer who was washed away in a flash flood seconds after the young French girl he’d rescued was winched into a helicopter. 


We’ll probably head off tomorrow (May 23^rd). One thing they’re not good at here is suggesting other things to do once you’ve done the major hikes. We’d asked about overnights, nothing. I think they are scared of the prospect of rescuing more people. I’d like to stay longer, but in the absence of local knowledge, I’ll leave. Shame because the contrasts in the colours of the layered rock, the clear aqua water and the vegetation are spectacular. I do have one job before I go to complete though. The ranger remembers Ivy because she did a good job with her Junior Ranger project getting a cloth badge as did the boys. The difference is that the boys didn’t write their names with ochre on the floor of Dales Gorge. IVY is there in resplendent yellow capital letters! If Ranger Darrell finds that, Ivy will be in the doghouse. She’s asked me to go back tomorrow morning and rub it out. The floor of the gorge will be cold at 6:30, but it will be all mine. I’m looking forward to the walk.

H