Karijini National Park

Left Indee Station, after a pat of the homestead donkey. The road to Karijini is littered with dead cows, after all the roadtrains we've seen I can see why. Got to Karijini mid afternoon (Dales campground) and after a quick squiz at Fortesque Falls from the lookout we set up camp. How funny to bump into a family we met at Pine Creek (overnight stay 4 wks ago) just as they were heading out. We are warned about dingoes in the area by the Camp Host and realise the firewood fossick on the side of the road earlier was a waste of time - no fires allowed. Shame, as have heard it is really cold here at night (and we are about due for more damper...)

Head in to do our walk today, only to be stopped by the Ranger who informs us the whole gorge is closed today as there is a search and rescue mission going on. A 76 year old man and 74 year old woman have been missing somewhere in the gorge since yesterday afternoon. We feel terrrible for them...we were cold in our van overnight with sleeping bags and blankets, can't imagine the conditions they would've had to endure down the gorge overnight! We saw planes flying overhead which were doing thermal imaging as part of the rescue mission.

We drive 43km to Weano Gorge at the far end of the park which is the other recreation area. The sheer red cliffs are just incredible.We take the steps into the gorge and before long there is a cold pool to cross and a rocky ledge above the water's edge to negotiate. Apparently the view on the other side is great but do we give it a go with the kids? An older man said "I wouldn't attempt that with the kids.." whereas a younger couple said it wasn't that bad and was really worth it...We decided to give it a crack..we wade a short bit through knee deep cold water with Charlie on Mark's shoulders, all well, but when Mark tries to grab hold of the rock ledge to shimmy along Charlie makes him overbalance, he slips on a rock, cuts his foot (he tells me later) and ends up in the water! (Charlie however, is sitting pretty with hardly a drop on him). Luckily the camera was well tucked away in the backpack, but his sunnies took a dive (a kind man retrieved them for him later!).

You'd think that would be it, but no....leaving Charlie and I to wait and have lunch on the rocks, Mark and the older two set off for attempt No 2. This time things were different, apparently there were about 4 times they had to do a "spider walk" between the gorge walls and shimmy along in other places. They ended up at a beautiful circular pool which only had access via a handrail and was a very steep descent which they didn't attempt. Ella and Samuel both agreed it was their most exciting walk yet and were buzzing when they returned. Charlie in the meantime had just about thrown every rock within a 2metre radius into the pool and had had his own fun.

We checked out Joffre Falls and Knox Gorge lookouts on the way back and can't believe how many great walks, waterfalls, swimming holes or just lookouts there are in here - a great place. Back at camp we are relieved to hear both people had been rescued out of the Gorge, it had taken 36hours.