Awake at first light & watched the sun as it started to glow red through the trees from the bed window in the Karavan, it was very pretty this morning, but we had a cold night & at 8.30 am it was only 15C degrees. Amazingly there was no bird noises, even the town caravan parks had birds to sing & wake us up. Maybe it was because of the sparse vegetation & even that is burned out in so many places.  We have been told that lightning in February caused all this devastation.

Weano Gorge was our destination this morning, 53km away, 43km on freshly graded dirt.  Good road compared to what we have been on before but a reminder Ron had to really concentrate, it was like driving on marbles.  The scenery is different in the Pilbera than we have seen elsewhere, very beautiful with the deep reds of the soil & rocks contrasting with the white trunks & limbs of the gum trees & the silver of the spinifex.  The termite mounds also reflect the landscape, very large & a deep ochre red, they look stunning, particularly when there is a grouping of them.  At times, there are just small rocks, a little bit of spinifex & a gum tree here & there – the contrasts are amazing.  Some of the gum trees have the most amazing shapes, clinging tenaciously to life on rocks & cliff faces, they look so beautiful set against the blue sky backdrop & the red carpet of stones.

The Weano Gorge walk is very pretty, descending around 40 metres to the floor of the gorge & then walking along the creek past pools & little cascades. We walked as far as we could until we reached a large pool, we waded into but the water was icy cold, my ankles started to ache from the cold & it started to get deep, so we decided to turn back & enjoy the views from the other direction as we walked out.  From the car park we then walked to the Junction Pool lookout.  A Celtic Cross marked the site where Jim Regan, an SES volunteer, lost his life in a flash flood attempting to rescue an injured tourist who had fallen off the cliff.  The drop from the lookout was around 100 metres & it was pretty scary standing on the edge looking down.  The view of Hancock Gorge was magnificent.  We then walked the short distance to the Oxer Lookout & viewed the junction of the Hancock, Joffre, Weano, Knox & Wittenoom Gorges.  Again, the same 100m distance down but on all three sides, it really is quite scary at the handrail, but amazingly beautiful, looking at the gorges as they cut their way through the mountains, twisting & turning, all with stunning colours & complex texturing of the rocks.

We then drove back to Knox Gorge, a short walk from the car park to the lookout with a view straight up the gorge & the pools in the creek bed.  There were people in the creek far below & again the view was absolutely stunning.  We decided not to walk down into the gorge, the level of difficulty indicated it was a Class 4 track, a little too difficult for us & our level of equipment we had with us.

Next stop was Joffre Falls, again a lookout a short walk from the car park & again a viewing platform 100m up.  Joffre Falls is a spectacular curved waterfall forming a natural amphitheatre flowing into a narrow gorge with pools.  The green algae in the pools looked particularly beautiful viewed from above.  The walk into Joffre Gorge is also a Class 4 track & we didn’t attempt it.  We had lunch here & enjoyed the magnificent scenery.

Kalimina Gorge was our next stop & is a Class 3 track so we walked down the cliff track into the creek bed in the gorge & followed the creek downstream from the waterfall at the start.  This gorge is stunningly beautiful, the flat rocks, the rock pools, the little cascades, the colour of the rocks, the reflections in the water, the trees, the scenery in the gorge, the splashing & falling of water, it had it all.  The girls decided they wanted this water feature at home, it really does look so special, again (this must be getting boring by now) the photos don’t even come close to doing it justice, it really is stunningly beautiful (I know, I’ve already said it).  This would have to be one of the most beautiful spots we have seen on our whole trip.  We have seen so many beautiful places that we decided that each one was the best in a different way.

We called into the Karijini Park visitor Centre on our way back to the camp but it was shut, unbelievable, at 4pm.  Back at the Dales Campground it was cheese & bikkies while watching the sunset followed by a great Mexican tortilla dish from Tereza, again washed down by a great red.  Another fantastic day with good friends in paradise.