The greatest Australian national park you’ve never heard of

The pepper pots of the Bungle Bungles in Purnululu National Park, the majesty of Uluru at sunset, and the dizzying scale of Nitmiluk (Katherine) Gorge – these natural wonders are world-renowned but there’s another as spectacular that’s seldom mentioned and largely unknown on the eastern seaboard.

Words by Matt Preston for Escape.com.au

Western Australia’s Karijini is a match for any of these landmark national parks. So what’s so special about the greatest Australian national park you’ve never heard of?

The age

Karijini is one of Australia’s most ancient places, as well as one of the most spectacular. More than 2.5 billion years old, the tropical semi-desert high plateau is dissected by deep gorges carved by rivers over millions of years as sea levels dropped. It’s also WA’s second-biggest national park.

The night

With minimal light pollution the night sky at Karijini is one of the darkest in the world, making it an amazing place to gaze at the stars or take photos of the bedazzled firmament.

The isolation

The adventure of descending into the gorges here is the perfect distraction for even the most recalcitrant teenager deprived of internet access for their devices.

This makes Karijini a great destination for active family holidays with a healthy side of digital detox. Especially if paired with the manta rays and whale sharks of the Ningaloo Reef at Exmouth.

Oh my, the gorges 

What makes the gorges here so special is that at the bottom you find anything from lush oases shaded by paperbarks and little ghost gums to spectacular rock formations rippled with red, white and black seams of silica and ironstone. It’s a huge difference from the baking dusty spiky spinifex country on the surface.

Access to most of the gorges is via metal steps or rock paths, which are graded for difficulty. In our view Joffre Gorge is the most challenging, but you’ll also need a little bravery to swing off the slippery rock onto the metal handrail to descend to the beautiful Handrail Pool. Wear proper footwear and take care.

Everywhere the reward for all that clambering in the heat is cool, but sunny, swimming holes surrounded by high rockfaces where strangler figs or iron plants cling. The latter, indigenous to the Hamersley Range, only grow where iron ore deposits are rich, making them extremely valuable for bioprospectors.

The pick of the gorges

There are loads of gorges and it would take a week to explore them all, so I took a poll of the mob I was there with. These four were the favourites.

Hamersley Gorge

Hamersley is one of the easiest gorges to access – a broad amphitheatre surrounds a wide swimming hole and deep-water gorge that runs for about 600m before it peters out into rocks, reeds and falls. Floating on your back in the black water as a 30m rockface towers above you is something special. While scrambling upstream, you can clamber up to a smaller spa-like pool. It can be busy at weekends given its proximity to the town of Tom Price.

Kermits Pool

Hancock Gorge is accessed via steep metal steps down to a hidden succession of swimming holes lined with bulrushes and medicinal cajuputs leading to a narrow “spider walk”– you make like a human “X” to inch down the chasm towards Kermits Pool.

It’s worth it for the cool waters and rock walls that swirl up high around the waterhole. Take care – the rocks leading to the pool are hellish slippery and don’t forget to take that killer snap for your socials.

Fern Pool 

There’s a long metal stairway down to the large swimming hole at Fortescue Falls but head to the right and you’ll find the beautiful, calm Fern Pool. This impossibly photogenic spot is fringed with reeds and ferns such as maidenhair and ladder brake; at one end is a low, wide waterfall to swim out to sit and under.

The pool has great significance for the traditional owner and visitors are requested to be respectful, though it’s hard not to giggle as the little fish in the pool nibble at your feet, or scream if you come across the 3m olive python that also hangs out here.

Fortescue Falls is in Dales Gorge and you can walk a couple of kilometres to the famous Circular Pool here. Also make time to tour all the lookouts to see how the fingers of gorges spread out across the country with a scale that dwarfs even the tallest trees growing in their depths. This is really a full day excursion so take food and plenty of water.

Handrail Pool

Next-door to Hancock is Weano Gorge where the crowning attraction is this deep, wide waterhole surrounded by soaring red and yellow cliffs. It’s known as “handrail” for the metal pole that helps you descend from the lip of the narrow waterfall that feeds the pool. There are footholds as well so it’s not as scary as it looks. It’s a gem of a place to snooze, splash and picnic.

Where to stay

Most people who come to Karijini are self-contained and camp either up at the Dales Campground or in the west of the national park around Joffre Gorge.

If you’re a little softer, the Karijini Eco Retreat has well-equipped fixed tents with ensuites, good beds with linen, and power, but you’ll still hear the mournful calling of the dingoes at night. The reception here has ice-creams and ice, there are good barbecue facilities and the café does about the best Spanish-style baked eggs in Australia. Pre-booking sites or tents is essential.

Getting there

Karijini is roughly a nine-hour drive from Exmouth or 3.5 hours from Port Hedland. Or you can fly into Paraburdoo and hire a pre-booked 4WD from there. You’ll need to stock up on supplies and fuel at Tom Price before hitting the park because there’s really not much there.

This article originally appeared on Escape.com.au as Matt Preston discovers the best Australian national park you’ve never heard of.