Day 50 07/08/2013 Karijini NP.
It was a cold night.....although we were snug in our bed. However getting up this morning was another story! We couldn't face cereal with cold milk and yoghurt, so decided to make toast instead! Once the sun had really come up, the temperature rapidly rose, although having a campsite with morning shade is not ideal when the mornings are very cold! After making our lunch and packing the backpack with 'stuff' for every possible scenario, we set off on foot to explore the gorges in the local area. First we walked to the Circular Pool lookout and then climbed down into the gorge and walked along to the pool itself. This was a Class 4 walk. Circular Pool is in deep shade for most of the day.....we decided against a swim!! Then we walked along the gorge floor in the opposite direction, (partly back the way we had come), towards Fortescue Pool and Falls. This was an exceedingly picturesque walk, with small pools and waterfalls every so often. Fortescue Pool itself is spring fed and the waterfall was very pretty. There were several people swimming here. We had a break and ate our lunch. However we had been told that Fern Pool was the warmest pool, so we decided not to swim, but to keep walking. Fern Pool was lovely and Dave was the first in the water! I dipped my toes in. It was chilly, but not as cold as the water I swam in yesterday. I decided that it would be really nice to cool off, and it really wasn't that cold! I swam across the pool to the small waterfall, which was beautiful.
After that we climbed out of the gorge and headed back to camp via the Gorge Rim walk. It was very warm by now, but since we had been swimming, we did not feel too hot. Typically we had not needed our water shoes, (there was a bit of water to negotiate, but we managed to use stepping stones), nor did we need the Wickelfisch.!!!
We had a very relaxing afternoon. We did some tidying up; planned the next section of our route; chatted to some fellow campers and prepared for our departure tomorrow. We think we will stay one night in Tom Price so that we can visit Mt Nameless, (the highest peak in WA which is able to be accessed by vehicle), and Hammersley Gorge; have a shower, do some laundry and fill up our water tank! It was not as cold this evening. We sat and gazed at the stars......they were magnificent.