The Reason I Went to Broome

Where's your favorite place?

I've asked a few people that since moving here, each time having to rearrange my prioritized list of the places I have to visit before I leave and those I want to visit. In two separate conversations, two well-trusted Perth-ites, have said with little hesitation, Karijini. That was all I needed. Karinjini is why I booked the trip to Broome. I didn't look it up first. Hadn't seen any pictures. Didn't really know what was there besides some waterfalls. But I was going.

Karijini is a national park in the Pilbara region of northern Western Australia. The country side is red dirt (because of the iron) hills with yellow grass. We camped in eco-tents that provided a base for sunrise jogs down the dirt road.

 

This region is covered with thousands of these termite mounds.

But what Karijini is really known for are the gorges.

You can look at the gorges from above, or you can go down in the gorge. Guess what we did? This was no Disney World or typical, park ranger covered American National Park.

We climbed down rocks.

We scooted across ledges.

We spider climb between crevices...

 And then the fun started...

We waded through water...

That got deeper...

And deeper....

And then we were swimming.

I must say that hiking and swimming in a bikini and hiking shoes was a new experience for me, but the views were worth it.

Joffre Gorge

 Kermit's Pool in Hancock Gorge

 Handrail Pool in Weano Gorge

 And the serene Fortescue Falls and Fern Pool in Dales Gorge, which was perfect for a relaxing swim.

Down in the gorges and on top of the hills, there was plenty of time for reflection.

Many thanks to Catherine and Bryanna for sharing pictures from their waterproof cameras as we swam to the bottom of the gorges.