Discovering Karijini: Conquering Mount Bruce and Off-Roading

From Port Hedland, we headed down towards Karijini, stopping off at 2 Camel Creek 24 Rest Area (long-drops) before making our way into the national park.

Our first stop was the visitor centre to grab some maps and any advice from the staff. There is also a little museum here that we enjoyed walking around. 

Afterward, we headed to Fortescue Falls car park and walked down the numerous stairs with our pool noodles to the Fern pool. The water wasn't that cold and very, very deep! We enjoyed swimming over to the waterfall and sitting underneath the water. It was pretty busy though, so maybe go early on! 

We then did the short walk back to Fortescue Falls and sat on the edge and sunbathed for a bit. Then deciding to go in and it wasn't that deep! I liked the little corner waterfall hidden from those on foot above, and we wouldn't have even known it was there without going in! 

We then made our way back up the stairs, got back into the van, and drove the short distance to the Circular Pool Lookout. There wasn't really much here, and I know previously you could swim in the pool, but now it's just a lookout. There is also the option to walk Dales Gorge, but it was getting late, so we decided to head to our camp for the night. 

We pre-booked a spot at Dales Campsite ($30 for both of us) and got a small space but with PLENTY of room. There was a signal here and long-drop toilets (no water). 

In the morning, we got up and drove on sealed roads to the other side of Karijini. There is the option to visit Kalamina Gorge, but we decided to skip this because of the sealed roads and a new light coming up on the dashboard (oh no…). We started off at Knox Gorge and then drove back towards Joffre Falls. We only did the lookout at these, but lots of people were doing the walks. If we had more time, I would have liked to go down the ladders at Joffre Falls!

We then drove towards Weano day-use area and did the Spider Walk to Kermit's Pool. This walk was so fun; it included ladders to get to the bottom, walking beside the water, having to get into the water (ankle height), and then a deep pool to jump in at the end. We both ended up wearing our trainers in the water, and I swam part of it because I didn't want to scale the wall! After spending a while at the end and meeting a new couple, we made our way back on the same path and headed towards our second walk at the Handrail Pool. 

Unfortunately, when we got there, there was a sign saying it was closed (boooo!), so we had to skip this. There is also the option to walk Weano Gorge here, but we decided to give this a miss and go to Oxer Lookout. Oxer Lookout was easy to get to and had a good view of the gorge below. 

After we headed out of the park and towards camp for the evening. We both loved the drive out and with music on and windows open felt like a dream! Our camp was at Mount Bruce Bush Camp (no facilities), and we got a perfect spot overlooking the sunset.  

We woke up pretty early and headed to the bottom of Mount Bruce (there is a toilet here), we had breakfast and started the climb up. The first part is relatively easy, but then you get into the steep bits and a part in which you have to climb through some rocks. Once at the top, we took some pics, Adam put the highest rock on the cairn and had some food. The walk down I actually found harder as my shoes didn't have any grip and the paths are just loose rocks, but once at the bottom, I had a nice cold cider waiting for me! It took us overall less than 3 hours to do just over 10k. 

Knackered, we drove to Tom Price, filled up waters just outside the main high street, put diesel in the van, and did a Coles shop. We also spent the whole afternoon here just chilling and trying to recover. In the evening we took the dirt road (bit bumpy in our 2wd) towards Buddha's Overnight Stop (no facilities). The campsite was huge, and we had another good sunset.

In the morning, we headed over to Hamersley Gorge and found the spa pool (go right at the bottom of the stairs- it is a little awkward to get to, and a lot of people just ended up swimming across after the waterfall). We met lots of people here, including the couple we met at Kermit's Pool! The water was cold, but it was very beautiful.

We then had to make a choice on whether to go back towards Tom Price and onto Exmouth or use the rail access road towards Millstream National Park. After speaking with our new friends and deciding we want to see everything we can- we chose the rail access route. 

You do have to get a permit for this road (online or at the visitor centre at Tom Price for free), and please don't do what we did and go an hour in the wrong direction to an asbestos area :/. That may have been my fault…. Anyway, after getting back on the right road, it was a lot of off-roading that we wouldn't want to do in a 2wd again and then sealed roads towards Millstream NP. 

Overall, I’m happy that we did the road towards Hamersley Gorge, but honestly probably wouldn't recommend it if you aren't a fan of bumpy off-roading…