Photographing Karijini National Park

About Karijini National Park

How to get there

Karijini National Park is located in the North West corner of Australia, some 1055km North of Perth in the Tropic of Capricorn. This is the Pilbara region of Western Australia, iron ore and rugged landscapes. The Park itself is the second largest national park in Australia at 627,422 hectares or 1,550,390 acres.

Viewpoints

Karijini is famous for blue skies, rough red cliff faces, and narrow gorges with still crystal clear waters. There are a range of locations within the park:

  1. Fortescue Falls.
  2. Kalamina Gorge
  3. Joffre Falls
  4. Weano
  5. Hamersley Gorge

How I photographed the park

What I took - what was in my kit

I have not been yet. I plan to take my LowePro Backpack loaded with Canon 5DSR body, Canon 24mm TS, Canon 16-35, Canon 24-105mm zoom, Sigma Art 50mm and Sigma Art 85mm, Manfrotto 190 Tripod, and of course a range of lens wipes, spare batteries, sunscreen and bug repellant. While the 5DSR can shoot 50MP, I will take a Gigapan to capture the really big shots. (300 - 1000MP)

I am also going to take my Linhof Technorama here and shoot with Velvia 50 and Velvia 100 film. These will be stored in the freezer.

I plan to take my drone here. These sites look wonderful, but they have been photographed before. Doing something a bit different can be as simple as chosing a diffrent viewpoint. The drone is not a wonderful camera - but it is able to go places that no photographer - tripod could.

Note, I will note be carrying all of the above everywhere I walk. I tend to scout with the 5DSR and 16-35mm lens, and then go back again for something really interesting.

Other things to look out for

The Kimberley is full of places that are 'off the beaten track' and dramatic. Firstly, regardless of whether you drive from Perth or from Darwin, you are going to pass a range of interesting places.

Location

Location: Karijini Visitor Centre, Banjima Drive, Karijini WA ///basket.shredding.hardtop (-22.481053, 118.462658)

Techniques used

See the individual locations above.

Kit used

How to get there

You can fly into the park. I am not sure if it would then be possible to rent a car though, so I would not do this unless i was part of a tour group that had arranged its own transport. This is the outback, and dont expect local buses, trains or taxi to be around. Paraburdoo Airport is not far away from Karijini National Park. About 2 hours by car. This airport is serviced by Qantas, and it has several car rental firms. If renting a car from one of these firms, please ensure that the agreement covers off road / dirt road use. Newman airport is a little further away, but also well serviced.

The best way to get to the falls is by car. Any car with good ground clearance should suffice, although of course a 4x4 car with recovery gear etc. is certainly preferable. The road to the Park is sealed, and there are several sections that are sealed within the park. However, to really see the park, you will need to be driving on dirt. These dirt roads are well maintained though, and should not be a problem for most cars and drivers.

If you fly into Tom Price, then there was a Bus that does day tours to the park. The link to their site stopped working though, so I am not sure if they are still doing this or not.

Best time to visit

Rains in the north of Australia tend to come in the 'the Wet' (Summer) but this makes a lot of the dirt roads difficult. The 'Dry' is better for access, but this means that the pools and waterfalls are not the best. The best time to visit is really just a balancing act around these two issues. The Pilbara region, like most of northern Australia, has day time temperatures from the low 20 C through to mid 30 C. In summer though, it regularly reaches 38C or 100F. At night it can drop to single digits. (under 50F) These extremes mean that you need to have sun protetion during the day, lots of water, insect repellant, and the ability to 'rug up' in warm clothing as the sun starts to set.

The best time is therefore between May and September (i.e. late autumn through to spring).

Accessability

Depends on the location.

Where to stay

This is the outback. The best choice is a tent, camper-trailer, RV or caravan etc. However, there are also other options:

Karijini Eco-Retreat Karinijni Eco-Retreat As their website says: "Karijini Eco Retreat is one of Australia’s leading eco-tourism attractions. Situated 1,500km north of Perth in WA’s second largest national park, the retreat offers eco tents, cabins and campsites nestled amongst native bushland at the edge of Joffre Gorge, along with an outback style restaurant and access to the park’s walks and guided adventure tours." For those from overseas, the 'eco-tents' are what Australian's refer to as 'glamping' or glamorous '4 star' camping. They certainly are tents, but you are not 'roughing it' in the slightest. They have all the amenities. Check out the webiste for photos.

Tom Price Tourist Park (Tom Price caravan park). This is around 100km away. It has Chalets, Cabins, Caravan sites and camping sites. While 100km does not sound too far, it is around 2 hours in the desert. That makes a round trip 4 odd hours. Not ideal for a lot of sight seeing. The road in is also not suitable for caravans.