We stayed one night at Port Hedland, with just enough time to wander the town and Port area, book the campgrounds in Karijini at the visitor centre and do the Twilight Bus Tour. On the tour we were driven out to see from a distance, the salt and iron ore mining operations that happen in Port Hedland. We saw the 250 plus carriage trains, most of which are driverless and controlled from Perth and the large ships on the horizon waiting to come in to be loaded. These ships are helped in by the very impressive tug boats which we were told, cost around $20,000,000 each. Like everything else in these mining towns, everything is huge! We finished the tour with a drink as we watched the sun set over the ocean and chatted with the other passengers.

Next morning we did the usual food shop and fuel up before leaving town to head towards Dales Campground, our first stop in Karijini. We stop one night at a free camp before getting into Dales where we are booked for two nights.

We head out to Dales Gorge and Fortescue Falls and climb down the 285 steps to the bottom of the gorge. We then walked along to the end where we climb the steep steps to the top and walk back. We hadn't thought this through too well as we then had to go back down the steps to have a swim. We walked further past the Fortescue swimming pool to Fern pool where along with many others, we enjoyed the cool water. The next day we walked to the Circular Pool lookout. The walk into this one is no longer open due to a big rock fall and now considered too dangerous. We then descend the stairs again at Fortescue Falls for a swim before heading back to the campground to enjoy a restful afternoon, chatting with the young family behind us and I got my "kid fix" with cuddles.

We left Dales campground the next morning and checked into the Eco resort for two nights for more walks, climbs and swims in the beautiful Karijini National Park. Our first gorge is Joffre, near the campground and then the next day we drove out to Oxer lookout and Weano, Kalamina and Hancock Gorges. This was going to be our biggest day with the challenges of Handrail Gorge, the Spider Walk and Kermit's Pool. I wasn't sure how I would go with all these walks but we both somehow managed to clamber, climb and swim our way through them all. The only one we missed was Knox which we were told was for serious climbers only.

We left the Eco Resort and headed towards Tom Price where we were booked into the caravan park for four nights. We planned on doing Hamersley Gorge from here and also catch up with friends. Helen is my good friend Dorothy's granddaughter and she lives in Tom Price with her partner and three children.

After getting to Tom Price and setting up we made a stop at the visitor centre before ringing Helen. She was just leaving off work so we went around for a quick visit, arranging to go for dinner the next evening.

Next day we drove out to Hamersley Gorge and thinking this was an easy walk down we decided to not put on our walking shoes but start off in our rubber water shoes. When we got to the bottom we realised there was another walk up over huge rocks and we attempted that. Chris made it all the way to the top but I stopped about half way. I decided this was the one walk/climb that I didn't need to complete.

Getting back down to the waterhole again, we enjoyed a swim in the cold water. As I was getting out of the pool, I managed to hit my shin on a large submerged rock. Boy, did it hurt!

We spent the rest of our time at Tom Price washing and cleaning, trying to get rid of the red dust that gets into everything while also doing another mine tour and spending time with Helen and her family.

The tour took us around the town of Tom Price and Mick, our bus driver and guide told us some of the history of the town. It's the highest town in the Pilbara and used to be a closed town which meant it was originally only for the mines, the workers and their families. Now it's a thriving community with a population of around 3500 people. Taking us out to the mine, we headed through restricted access areas and saw the vast empty pit that is the open cut mine. With so much iron ore in the ground, there are decades worth of mining still to be done here. Again we are amazed at the size and scale of these operations.

After a lovely evening with Helen we arranged to go to watch Cooper, the eldest son, play his AFL game the next day. He's a good little player, scoring a goal and even after getting injured in his under 12's game he managed to make up the team in the 13-16 year old game straight after.

Now as the days have gone on, that tiny gash on my leg was more painful. The wound had become infected and my leg was swelling up. As soon as we got here to Onslow, I went to the hospital and over a week later, I'm still going for treatment. I've been having really strong antibiotics and the wound cleaned and redressed regularly. My leg really has improved so much now and nowhere near as painful so I'm hopeful that I'm coming to the end of my treatment soon. As I'm having to elevate and rest my leg I haven't been able to do much but Chris, as he always does, has been looking after me so well.