What a great day today! We headed to the western side of the National Park to see the various gorges over that side, and started with a couple of lookouts. The Joffre Lookout gave us a spectacular view of a curved waterfall - there was quite a long track around the gorge and then down, but we skipped it and moved on the Knox Lookout. Another beautiful outlook, and we could see all the pools of water along the gorge and some people were swimming down there, however, again, we skipped the walk. On the way out, we saw an Emu, and its 4 baby emus wandering around - the first time we've seen baby emus on our trip! We drove on, and arrived at the Weano Carpark Area for the Hancock & Weano Gorges. Glad we saved our legs for these 2 gorges, as they were probably the most fun walks we've had on our trip so far.

Firstly, Hancock Gorge - there were many steps down until we came to 2 sets of ladders which we descended and then began to walk along the gorge - at that point, we thought the walk was quite interesting, but it got better and better. First we had to wade through a pool about waist high, so we left our backpack and clothes on the side, and just wore our hiking boots and swimmers and hats. What a sight we were but everyone else was the same (haha). The next section we had to actually swim for 30 metres through the water so we had to think what to do with our camera - in Dad's akubra on his head was the only place for it. We came to the love area called the amphitheatre and the next section was the Spider Walk - it involved walking kind of sideways or with a foot either side of the narrow opening. Then there was a boulder in the middle to clamber over as well. Finally, we made it to Kermit's Pool - a pool surrounded by walls of smooth rock ledges. The water was beautiful - so clean and fresh and not too cold. Only about 6 people there with us, so very peaceful too. A lizard poked its head out of the rock ledge too - at least it wasn't a snake. The adventure was worth it for sure!

Secondly, Weano Gorge - again a number of steps down to the base of the gorge, and we began our way towards the Handrail Pool (where 'a number of serious injuries have occurred' - don't worry it's not a bad ending!). The first part was great fun with a couple of water swims so again we left our backpack and clothes on the ground within the gorge - can't be worried about security here! On our way some German guys asked us about how to get to Hancock Gorge, and mentioned that the Handrail was pretty tough to get down. A little later, we asked another couple how the Handrail Pool compared to Hancock's Gorge in 'difficulty', and they said it was similar so we kept going. Once we arrived however, it was up to Mum & Dad to assess the situation. There was a large handrail dynabolted to the ledges, and it dropped down about 2 metres to a ladder which then went down into the Pool. Problem was, there was running water through which we'd gently walked through on slippery moss covered rocks and that cascaded down to rock ledges below before going into the pool. Mum had a look, and promptly slipped but was hanging on to the railing thankfully. Mum & Dad thought about it for a good few minutes and decided much to Renee & Eamons' disappointment that the risk was too high to venture down into the Handrail Pool as getting back up would have also been quite treacherous (the entry chute was bad enough), so we just took a couple of photo's and made our way back). Walking towards the car a kangaroo and her teenage joey jumped right nearby so that was another bonus for the day.

Our feet were very wrinkly when we took off the shoes and socks, but gee they were clean, and who needs showers in these parts when you just wash in the gorge pools? On the way back home we took a quick look at Karijini Eco Retreat which we'd booked, however, not utilised due to the road conditions with the van. We're glad we stayed at Dales as the road from the West entrance is pretty corrugated in parts, and also both campgrounds are similar anyway, so we didn't miss anything.

After our big day out, it was dinner and bed, ready to leave tomorrow for Tom Price. Overall, a great time at Karijini - the walks were the most 'fun' we've done on our trip because of the water crossings.