Karijini in June
Submitted: Thursday, Mar 31, 2016 at 11:46
ThreadID:
131979
Views:
3774
Replies:
8
FollowUps:
7
This Thread has been Archived
hanlonm2014@icloud.com
Hi everyone, we are planning a trip towing a 4 wd camper trailer to Kennedy Ranges , Mt Augustus and than cut through the Dooley Downs/ Pingandy Road through to
Tom Price and than Karijini.
Can anyone give me an update on how good these tracks are (soft sand or gravel etc).
I am also looking for a some advice on how crowded the camping areas in Karijini get in early June?
Dales campground looks like a good option, but is it likely to be full? Don't really wish to
camp in the tourist park if we can avoid it.
Also, how much time (days) does it take to see the sights and do some of the walks in Karijini? I was thinking 3 days - is this too short/long?
Cheers
Mike
Reply By: Member - sparra - Thursday, Mar 31, 2016 at 15:25
Thursday, Mar 31, 2016 at 15:25
G'day Mike, Can,t tell you much about how karijini is these days,not been there for years,all roads there were gravel then but mostly bitumen now.
The Dooley Downs /pingandy road is a good run,reasonably slow going as a lot of dips and bends. If there has been a fair bit of rain about ,the road from
the junction of Pigandy/ashburton road to Ashburton station can get a bit slippery and boggy. All in all ,a very nice run,hope you enjoy it.
Cheers, Sparra
AnswerID:
598018
Follow Up By: hanlonm2014@icloud.com - Thursday, Mar 31, 2016 at 16:17
Thursday, Mar 31, 2016 at 16:17
Thanks for the info Sparra :-)
FollowupID:
867135
Reply By: Neil & Pauline - Thursday, Mar 31, 2016 at 15:48
Thursday, Mar 31, 2016 at 15:48
Will be busy in June but worst case scenario would be to stay in overnight area near
visitors centre then move to Dales first thing in morning. A better option may be to stay and hour or so away from Dales and get going as early as possible.
I have not been there (
camp hosting) in June but understand it bit easier to get in in June than July.
If you have time and like walking you could fill in a week without much trouble.
My favorite place in Australia
AnswerID:
598020
Follow Up By: hanlonm2014@icloud.com - Thursday, Mar 31, 2016 at 16:20
Thursday, Mar 31, 2016 at 16:20
Thanks for the info Neil and Pauline, sounds encouraging :-)
FollowupID:
867136
Follow Up By: Neil & Pauline - Friday, Apr 01, 2016 at 11:11
Friday, Apr 01, 2016 at 11:11
There is a
gorge about halfway between Weano and Dales, something like Kalamino (not right way to spell but sounds like that). It is very easy access, not big climbs and if you go down stream there is an side
gorge on the right. Very hard to see. This side one is great for swimming, like a huge spa with water falls.
not much on an information about it.
Neil
FollowupID:
867177
Follow Up By: Member - ACD 1 - Friday, Apr 01, 2016 at 15:25
Friday, Apr 01, 2016 at 15:25
Kalamina Gorge
About six km off the main road through the park, about 35 or so kms from the
Dales Gorge campground.
We will be up their in early July, we have booked at the Eco Retreat purely so we are guaranteed a couple of spots - it is already pretty booked for that time as it will be WA school holidays. You may be lucky and avoid the rush if going earlier.
We are spending 3 full days in the park - but we have spent a lot of time in there when we lived in Paraburdoo. This is just an Alzheimer's Tour - remembering the bits we have forgotten. You will see a fair bit, but I think you will be a bit rushed if it is your first visit.
Most of the gravel roads are
well formed, but as with any, they are entirely dependent on weather and maintenance. You just need to drive to the conditions. We have towed both an off-road caravan and a camper trailer through the area and have had no problems.
Cheers
Anthony
FollowupID:
867190
Reply By: Member - johntoyo - Friday, Apr 01, 2016 at 19:21
Friday, Apr 01, 2016 at 19:21
Mike we went up to Karrijini in June 2014 via
Newman which was our last overnight stop and then its only a couple of hours to Dales
camp ground.
At Dales you have a choice of camping with or without gennies, and at about 10am when we arrived there was plenty of choice, but it' s first in. We had 4 nights there which was enough to see the local gorges and a few to drive to. Shared gas bbq's and clean serviced long drops are spotted around the sites. The walk along the bottom of
Dales gorge from
fern pool (great swiming) to
circular pool is a must do. (Did it each way)
We then movesd to the Eco park for a night. Very empty and not the same atmosphere as Dales, but still nice.
Roads in the area are gravel and can be loose and corrugated even to the
Information centre which is
well worth spening some time at.
We are setting off up there again in about 2 weeks to do the western side of the park and planning staying out of
Tom Price this time before heading a lot further north.
Enjoy your trip.
John.
AnswerID:
598088
Follow Up By: hanlonm2014@icloud.com - Friday, Apr 01, 2016 at 20:09
Friday, Apr 01, 2016 at 20:09
Thanks
John. Sounds like as long as you get to the
camp ground at Karijini in the morning you should be ok for a
camp site.
Cheers Mike.
ps We are thinking of staying at the Cheela Plains Station overnight and into Karjini the next day.
FollowupID:
867202
Reply By: Motherhen - Friday, Apr 01, 2016 at 23:12
Friday, Apr 01, 2016 at 23:12
Hi Mike
Be sure to include
Hamersley Gorge which is accessed from the west side of the ranges. It is different to the structure of the internal gorges. Member WBS may have meant to say
Hamersley Gorge from
Tom Price. The country around
Tom Price is beautiful.
We stayed at
Dales campground and driving to the gorges was easy and not time consuming. Internal roads were corrugated at the time, but not much different to the south west rural roads we are used to. We walked into all the gorges that were open, and only missed parts of the walks marked "extreme". Improvements in access have been made since then.
We did not go to the top of
Mount Bruce due to the time left in the day, but walking was easy as far as we went.
See brochure
AnswerID:
598100
Follow Up By: hanlonm2014@icloud.com - Sunday, Apr 03, 2016 at 01:39
Sunday, Apr 03, 2016 at 01:39
Thanks for the info??
FollowupID:
867245
Reply By: Member - J&A&KK - Saturday, Apr 02, 2016 at 13:57
Saturday, Apr 02, 2016 at 13:57
Mike. We did this trip last year in May June with Prado towing a
Kimberley Karavan. Road from
Kennedy Range to Mt Augustus is good dirt road. From Mt Augustus to
Tom Price via Dooley Downs also good. Some steep and windy bits between Mt Augustus and when the road meets the Ashburton River. There had been heavy rain 2 weeks previous to when we went through so there were a lot of minor washouts and gutters across the road. This was quite bad where the road runs parallel to Ashburton river. Very difficult to spot as
well as gutters caused by water damming up behind the roadside graded berm then breaking through the berm. So not an obvious
creek crossing. So take it easy. It is a very very scenic drive. We took 2 days because we could. Very little traffic, probably 10 cars per day that we saw.
Enjoy. We will do it again soon.
John
AnswerID:
598108
Follow Up By: hanlonm2014@icloud.com - Sunday, Apr 03, 2016 at 01:43
Sunday, Apr 03, 2016 at 01:43
Was wondering what to expect as far as track conditions, sounds like our type of country! We've done lots SA outback, this will be first real WA red dirt territory! Can't wait ??
FollowupID:
867246