Today was spent walking some of the incredible gorges in Karijini – we drove out to Weano Recreation area where there were several lookouts and gorges to explore.

From the carpark it was a short walk to Junction Pool lookout which overlooked Hancock Gorge…

The walk continued on until about 15 minutes from the carpark we reached Oxer Lookout and the breathtaking view of the meeting of 4 mighty gorges – Hancock, Joffre, Red and Weano Gorges

The awesome scene of sheer chasms lined with iron laden rock in layers upon layers… with crystal clear pools over 100m below us made us seem very small in comparison….

To our right was Hancock Gorge…

Next along Joffre gorge we had walked down into yesterday…

Then Red Gorge…

And to our left Weano Gorge where we were headed next to descend and do the walk through it….

Unfortunately Lower Weano Gorge and Handrail Pool was closed due to a millipede infestation and so we descended into Weano Gorge to go left and do the Upper Weano Gorge walk listed as a grade 4 walk.

After the steep descent over rocky steps and shale we reached the bottom where the stream and waterfall were running into the tranquil set of pools ideal for swimming – we had heard that at the end of the gorge there was a large swimming hole so we did not hop in here – we decided to wait til the end for the swim…which turned out to be a rookie error…. the way the walk was described on the internet the pool we were looking at where we had just started was actually where “the end” was (supposedly…)

As we walked along the rocky creek bed past small clear pools surrounded by sheer rock walls, gums and spinifex growing out of cracks along the way we marvelled at the majestic nature of the gorge…

Coming to the “end” there was no pool – and we realised that the description on the internet labelled the walk the opposite direction from the map in the carpark…. Not to worry – we decided not to walk back the way we came but complete the loop by exiting the gorge up the marked path and walking back to the carpark along the rim walk…

The walk had not been as difficult or taken as long as was described and so we had plenty of time to do Hancock Gorge and attempt to get to Kermit’s Pool at the end for a swim… it was listed as a grade 5 walk and so we were unsure who would be able to make it the entire way… but we decided to give it a go…

At the beginning of the walk, you had to descend multiple long steel ladders to make your way to the bottom of the gorge… everyone traversed the ladders with no issue… although the though of the long climb back up was one we pushed to the back of our minds….

Once at the bottom it was not too hard a walk initially – care had to be taken as you walked over the rocky outcrops not to trip… those taking pics had to be careful not to do a “Klaus” …

The gorge began to narrow, and there were only narrow ledges to walk along beside the running creek so as most did not want to get their feet wet they stopped at this point while Trev and I followed by Gordie kept going – the water in the first narrow section was not too deep so I walked through it – much quicker and I had reef shoes on which worked really well – great grip and light….

The second narrow area saw Gordie stop as he did not want to get his shoes wet and did not want to barefoot it… I walked in and through the water – it did get quite deep – up to my chest at one point… Trev took his shoes off and did it barefoot with no issues… the water was clear and not cold at all…

Once through the second narrow crack, you reached what was called the Amphitheatre – a large open circular section with sunlight streaming in and small waterfalls trickling over between the cracks of the rock platforms… great places to take a break and sun yourself if you were feeling cold after the walk through the water…

We continued onto the last extremely narrow section where the water was gushing though a narrow chain of waterfalls – the description on the internet said this section had to be “by using your arms and legs to crawl along the wall above the water – having seen that I was unsure if I would have been able to hold myself up with my repaired shoulder for that length… however when we looked at it, there was no need to “spider walk” if you were ok with getting your feet wet as it was shallow and not slippery – you just had to take care walking the length…

Once at the end the rock walls opened up into another circular chasm that contained Kermit’s Pool – an amazingly deep water hole that you could swim in… so of course we jumped in…

It was not cold just very refreshing and we swam over to the other side and climbed out to take a look beyond… the rest of the gorge flows on but is chained off and not accessible to the public as it is too treacherous – we could see a couple more deep pools similar to Kermit’s Pool ahead and then the gorge took a turn and we could see no further…

It was certainly worth the effort to get to Kermit’s Pool – not an easy walk by any means but certainly achievable by most if you take care and don’t mind getting wet…. Reef shoes are definitely the best footwear to use for this walk….

We walked back through the gorge the same way enjoying every minute of it… finally reaching the long climb up the ladders… which really gave a good perspective of just how deep the gorge is….

Once out we met up with the others and went back to the Eco Retreat for coffee….

That night we were booked in at the resort restaurant for dinner – which was delicious and used some indigenous garnishes and bush tucker in some of the meals… the pavlova with native fruits was a real treat!!!