We headed out to Weano Gorge today , to do the extended walk through Upper Weano Gorge then down to Handrail Pool . The road out to here was rough & corrugated , did I mention dusty - extremely !!
Arriving at the carpark , we got organised and headed off up the track - it wasn't a long track but we hadn't done that end before .
Check out the photo - what do you think it is ?
A close up of a termite mound of course !!
Trees grow in some bizarre places , wherever they can find a grip I suppose .
There were very few flowers , so when one appears , here it is .
If you look closely at this rock it's almost like a jigsaw - the top piece looks like a neanderthal kids jigsaw puzzle that got fossilised !! Hahaha
Trees grow happily in the gorges , some have had a harder life than others .
Need I say more ?
Back down into the main ( busiest ) section of the gorge , and this next shot shows some of the interesting ways you have to traverse the gorge .
Another small tree .
And this is where Weano Gorge starts to get very interesting . The gorge gets narrow and vertical , the rocks are highly polished from the water passing through during flood events .
These narrow sections lead to this huge pool - Handrail Pool - you can see the slot in the rocks where you come out into this pool area , the handrail itself runs down nearly to the water and there are a few blocks bolted to the wall to use as foot steps . It does get very busy down here and there's not a lot of room for too many people , so after my photos I headed back up and disappeared up into the slot in the rock .
This is just above the handrail , gives you an idea how slippery it can be on the polished rocks .
Back to the top and some lunch before tackling Hancock Gorge . it's only about 100m away from Weano Gorge , but is different . It also requires you to do some wading through water - about 500mm deep - and it's also rather refreshing .
There's sections where you walk along the edge of the pool , in the water , out of the water and it can be slippery as well . This pool is 2m deep in parts and only about 1.5m wide , little wonder that they shut down this walk if it rains , far too slippery !!
After wading through this next pool , you arrive at the amphitheatre .
More colourful layers in the rocks.
This is the small waterfalls in the amphitheatre , the water runs to the right , through a small shute and over another little waterfall about a metre high , so more walking through water .
This is that waterfall .
Water flows down that shute over a wider U shaped section and down into Kermit's Pool - a lovely narrow pool of beautiful green water . 5m past the pool is the end of the walk , with a roped off section .
This is one of the best reflections of the day - this is the 40m section where you're in the water & out of the water regularly , and people can only go one direction at a time , I waited for 7 people to come through before I could make my way back out .
We met some young backpackers from Canada & Netherlands yesterday , they were here at Weano Gorge today and should have been coming down Hancock Gorge as well . We found out later that 3 of the 6 had gone downstream from Handrail Pool and had been gone for 20 - 30 minutes . Given the cold water , one of their friends reported it to the ranger who was there - he then went swimming , looking for them - they had gone into an area where they shouldn't have been . They were escorted back out and had to report to the Head Ranger , who proceedingly told them to pack up and leave the park - they had been camping near us at Dales Campground - not anymore though !! So it pays to do the right thing !
We decided to go out to Karijini Drive and do a larger loop drive rather than going over the dusty track again , It was a good decision with excellent scenery and also some fiery action as well - they were doing controlled burns in the park , and it looked spectacular as it was racing up the hills .
What an exceptional day , here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=15pKrUDn1ak_2Ey4R2mD0q0aVQlP8Ile8&usp=sharing
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