Karijini National Park

Karijini National Park Located in the northwest Pilbara region and covering over 6200 square kilometres, Karijini NP is the second largest national park in Western Australia. People from all over Australia and around the world come to marvel at the impressive gorges within the park.
StartClick to Reverse the Dynamic Map and Driving NotesGreat Northern Hwy & Karijini Dve
FinishTom Price
DifficultyDifficulty 2/5 Suitable for4WD 
Distance339.78 kmMinimum Days2
Average Speed42.02 km/hrDriving Time8 hrs 5 mins
Rating Be the first to rate this item0 Reviews
Article By: ExplorOz Team
Page Updated: 12 Jun 2012

Go to top Description

Many consider Karijini along with its harsh and unspoilt natural beauty - a ‘must see’ - being an absolute delight for photographers, hikers, and nature enthusiasts. Karijini National Park is awash with rich earthy red colours and spectacular scenery - famed for its sheer gorges, waterfalls and cool swimming holes. Some of the highlights in this park include: Dales Gorge, Circular Pool, Fortescue Falls, Fern Pool, and Oxer Lookout, which lies at the junction of Weano Gorge, Red Gorge, Hancock Gorge and Joffre Gorge. Karijini is very well maintained. The park provides plenty of amenities, excellent picnic areas, designated camping sites, modest accommodation, and an informative visitor centre. The park also features a system of walk trails of varying levels, for the beginner to the adventurous, with some trails leading deep into the subterranean gorges and through waterfalls and sparkling rock pools.

Karijini National Park may be isolated, but there are many access routes to get there. From the west you can head towards Tom Price after leaving the North West Coastal Highway near Nanutarra. Those coming in from the east can use the Great Northern Highway from Newman and then onto Karijini Drive. Those coming from the north from Karratha and Roebourne can also take in Millstream Chichester National Park before reaching Karijini. Although many people self-drive to Karijini, many tourists enjoy accessing the park via 4WD tour groups. There are a number of reputable and experienced tour operators that provides this service.

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Go to top Interactive Route Map

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Karijini National Park Help

From: Great Northern Hwy & Karijini Dve
To: Tom Price

This trek supports moving map, to take a virtual tour click on the Play button.
Map Legend

Go to top Permits

Entry and camping fees apply for Karijini National Park. Many tourists take advantage of the Holiday Park Pass or Annual All Parks Pass, which entitles the bearer to visit more than one national park in Western Australia. These can be obtained from WA CALM (Western Australian Department of Conservation and Land Management) and ExplorOz who are proud to be official agents for the complete range of WA CALM permits.

The Holiday Park Pass allows unlimited vehicle entrance into any fee paying national park for a period of four weeks.
The Annual All Parks Pass allows unlimited vehicle entrance into any fee paying national park for a period of 12 months.

For more information on fees and camping, please contact:
Karijini National Park Visitor Centre
Phone: (08) 9189 8121
Fax: (08) 9189 8113
Website: Karijini National Park - Visitor Centre

Tom Price Visitor Centre
Phone: (08) 9188 1112
Fax: (08) 9189 1441

There is also some good information including entry fees and camping fees on the DEC website.
Click for: Department of Environment and Conservation - Karijini National Park

Go to top Things to See & Do

Go to top Preparation

If you decide to tackle any of the walks within the park, please take great care. The gorges can be extremely hazardous and many of them are only recommended for people that are physically fit. You must notify a ranger before starting any of the longer walks.

Make sure you have all the necessary gear including good sturdy hiking shoes, adequate water and food, a navigational device such as a handheld GPS unit, and communications equipment such as a PLB and/or handheld UHF radio.

Take care in the gorges as rocks are smooth and slippery, especially during wet weather. If you are hiking overnight, let a responsible person know. Flash floods can occur in the region so always be vigilant of the weather. Do not enter the gorges if there is rain in the area. If you happen to already be in the gorges during signs of rain, you should leave quickly and safely.

Fuel Supplies & Usage

Fuel SymbolTom Price Diesel4cyl 48 litres ULP4cyl 55 litres LPG4cyl 68 litres
6cyl 52 litres6cyl 62 litres6cyl 60 litres
8cyl 52 litres8cyl 56 litres

Services & Supplies

The following locations have various services and supplies: Tom Price

Go to top Camp Sites & Accommodation

Go to top Environment

In the northern section of Karijini National Park, numerous small creeks hidden in the rolling hillsides suddenly plunge into sheer-sided chasms up to 100 metres deep. These spectacular albeit dangerous gorges widen further downstream and their sides change from sheer cliffs to steep slopes of loose rock. On the eastern side of the park, Dales Gorge provides a stream, pools, and waterfalls.

There are various types of ferns and the occasional snappy gum can be seen perched on rocky ledges. Wildflowers vary with the seasons, whilst in the cooler months, the region is covered with yellow-flowering cassias and wattles, northern bluebells and purple mulla-mullas.

Karijini National Park is home to a variety of birds, red kangaroos, euros, rock wallabies, echidnas and handful a bat species. Reptiles that frequent the rocks include: goannas, dragons, geckos, legless lizards, pythons and many other snakes. There are also huge termite mounds to be seen and you may even find a rock pile from the rare pebble mound mouse.

Go to top History

Karijini National Park is the traditional home of the Banyjima, Kurrama and Innawonga Aboriginal people. The Banyjima name for the Hamersley Range is Karijini and evidence of their early settlements dates back over 20,000 years ago. During those times, Aboriginal land management practises such as ‘fire stick farming’, which describes the practise where fire was used regularly to burn vegetation to facilitate hunting and to change the composition of plant and animal species in an area.

Before Karijini National Park was coined, explorer Francis Thomas Gregory had named it Hamersley Range after leading a party into the region in 1861. Edward Hamersley was a friend and generous supporter of F.T. Gregory’s explorations, and thus had the mountain range named after him.

Go to top Driving Directions

Time
Direction
Distance
Great Northern Hwy & Karijini Dve to Karijini Dve & Banjima Dve 29.34 km NW 296° 25 min
Karijini Dve & Banjima Dve to Karijini Visitor Centre 10.35 km N 12 min
Karijini Visitor Centre to Fortescue Falls 9.3 km E 89° 13 min
Fortescue Falls to Dales Campground 2.33 km NE 45° 5 min
Dales Campground to Dales Rest Area 1.01 km S 197° 4 min
Dales Rest Area to Dales Gorge Lookout 0.37 km NE 67°
Dales Gorge Lookout to Circular Falls and Pool 0.75 km E 100° 1 min
Circular Falls and Pool to Dales Gorge Lookout 0.75 km W 280° 1 min
Dales Gorge Lookout to Dales Rest Area 0.37 km SW 247°
Dales Rest Area to Karijini Dve & Banjima Dve 17.6 km SW 227° 18 min
Karijini Dve & Banjima Dve to Karijini Dve & Banjima Dve 87.86 km W 268° 1 hr 19 min
Karijini Dve & Banjima Dve to Banjima Dve & Weano Rd 25.59 km NE 42° 33 min
Banjima Dve & Weano Rd to Banjima Dve & Kalamina Rd 13.15 km E 105° 17 min
Banjima Dve & Kalamina Rd to Kalamina Gorge Lookout 5.93 km NE 63° 9 min
Kalamina Gorge Lookout to Banjima Dve & Kalamina Rd 5.93 km SW 243° 9 min
Banjima Dve & Kalamina Rd to Knox Lookout 15.92 km NW 319° 30 min
Knox Lookout to Banjima Dve & Weano Rd 8.44 km SW 226° 17 min
Banjima Dve & Weano Rd to Weano Gorge 12.82 km NE 32° 19 min
Weano Gorge to Karijini Eco-Retreat (formerly Savannah Campground) 11.53 km SW 218° 20 min
Karijini Eco-Retreat (formerly Savannah Campground) to Banjima Dve & Weano Rd 4.65 km SW 203° 11 min
Banjima Dve & Weano Rd to Karijini Dve & Banjima Dve 25.59 km SW 222° 33 min
Karijini Dve & Banjima Dve to RIP Lookout 32 km SW 240° 29 min
RIP Lookout to Tom Price 18.22 km W 260° 15 min
Great Northern Hwy & Karijini Dve to Tom Price 339.78 km     8 hr 5 min
Distance is GPS recorded driving distance (not straight line), Direction is straight line from start to end, Time is calculated from actual GPS driving data.
Burnin Up some Diesel - Seventeenth blog on the road
We have had some requests for photoes WhenI last Blogged we were still at Ningaloo Station. We left there a week ago today and came to Coral bay for three nights. Tonight is Sunday again and we are still in Coral Bay. What a special little place, we have snorkelled, fished and walked our little tooshies off. We have a had a couple of Party nights and went to an octoberfest at the little pub up the road. We have been on boat trips and well we are having a great time.
Burnin Up Some Diesel - Sixteenth Blog on the road
[Embedded Video] Howdy all, been a while we have been inland and out of range and on the odd day we have been in range I have been feeling lazy. We are on holidays and finally worked out that being lazy is what that is all about. It is the 9th of October and we have passed half way in time for our trip. We are currently camped on Ningaloo Station, right at the beach. Great spot but let me bring you up to date. I believe that in the last blog we were loaded up and ready to leave Marble Bar,
Road Trip to Broome Part 2 - Karijini National Park
Tuesday 5th July That was the first of our four nights at Karijini National Park. It rained a little overnight, again, and was still damp and drizzly in the morning. Everyone breakfasted and explored around the campsite a little whilst Fiona and I got the Dream Pot Pot Roast going so that we wouldn’t be in a rush in the evening. Then we headed off to the Information Centre to have a look – and to use the phone to see if Yellow Bear was being cared for in Newman.
Road trip to Broome Part 1 - Perth to Karijini
Saturday 2 July, 2011 Finally, the day is here. We’re off to Broome (via various stops along the way). The visitors are here, the trailer is packed, the van is packed and we are all ready to go. There’s eleven of us in total – 4 adults and 7 kids (not all mine!) aged between 14 (birthday today) and the little one who will be 3 on Monday. Our standard road trip kit is the Delica, which carries people, pillows and the fridge, and the trailer, which has the canvas cabin tent and everything else we need.
Solo camping in Karijini, old mates in Headland and sand blasted @ 80 mile.
The pack up took a little longer than usual but it was not like we had any appointments to keep and we estimated the drive would be a leisurely few hours. Showers, coffee, snacks and supplies packed and a quick stop to fuel up n clean the windscreen and we were bugging out of Newman. We were pretty stoked to be venturing into new territory and hitting a destination that Ren and I have been itching to visit for the last 15 years. The drive was fairly uneventful,
Rob & Jo's Oz trip Blog 10 - Around Alice
Thursday 2nd – Tuesday 7th September 2010 Chilled out in the morning at Trephina Gorge camp and in the arvo drove about 20km crossing the Ross River 4 times to N’Dhala Gorge to see petroglyphs (rock carvings). There are over 6,000 of the etchings dating between 2,000 & 10,000 years old. The designs of some of the petroglyphs are connected with the Caterpillar Dreaming story of the Irlwente people.
Karijini National Park 26th to 28th August
We went to the Savannah campground and were surprised by the rock and dirt that was the base of this massive campground. We nearly packed up and tried Dales campground, however it seemed much the same when we saw it later. This is the Pilbara and that is what the ground is like. After 2 nights we ended up feeling at one with the area and did not mind what we were camping on. Karijini had some incredible gorges and all very easy viewing access compare
Rob & Jo's Oz Trip Blog 8 - Gibb River Rd special
Friday 23rd July 2010 Left Broome heading toward Fitzroy Crossing. Starting to see more Boab trees which we adore. Lots of termite mounds and eagles flying. Decided to stay in a free camp to stretch out the savings tonight – so headed up the Leopold Downs Rd for a short way to the RAAF Boab Quarry. The drive in was gorgeous in the late arvo light. Ranges and Boabs. We loved the camp – with its white rocks, cliffs and huge Boabs. Got a nice spot to ourselves overlooking a gorge.
The Pilbara - Hamersley Ranges - An amazing (and frightening) quad ride on the catwalks of Bee
"Take this as a warning, you are more likely to die doing these catwalks than of asbestos related diseases!!!! The Bee Gorge route is via the western catwalk. This is still fairly hairy and the track may not last many more wet seasons. Extreme care and caution is required. The Eastern catwalk should not be undertaken. This is bloody dangerous and the risk of death here is high!" From the Mudmaps WA - Website ; (I wish I'd seen this BEFORE we went!
The Pilbara - Karijini National Park and Canada's own "Weapon of Mass Destruction" is unleashed!
Friday 2nd July, 2010 A creek bed to the west of Karijini It was a very chilly morning with no fire. It encouraged us not to linger so after pack-up we immediately headed down to Fortescue falls and fern pool. What a contrast the interior of the gorges are. No wind, lush growth, huge paperbarks and fig trees, birds and bats and water seeping from the confining walls allowing lush stands of ferns to flourish. Fern Pool was magnificent, heightened by the fact that we were the only people present.
The Pilbara - Taking the back way to Karijini via the Juna Downs (Packsaddle) Road on CANADA DAY!
Saturday 1st July, 2010 (Canada Day) Dales Gorge, Karijini. Again sleep came hard last night with the incredibly noisy Karaoke screaming out of the pub until all hours and then the 5am rush with vehicles beeping, doors slamming and dogs barking. Had breakfast in the camp kitchen with Al McCall before farewelling him on his journey south. After the last minute packing and a quick final trip to the supermarket, we marshalled at the BP service station before heading out of town at about 10.30 a.m.
Rob and Jo's Oz Travel Blog 5
Wednesday 16th June 2010 We woke up to a drizzly day in Carnarvon. As rain was forecast for the next few days, the road to Kennedy Ranges was going to be kept closed so we made the decision to move on up North. We drove most of the day and stopped at Rest Creek Bridge rest area (on the road to Tom Price) that night along with about 11 other campers!! Unfortunately the rain followed us and was fairly heavy overnight. We decided to sleep in the car again save packing up a soggy camper trailer.

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