I’m so excited to share my ultimate guide for exploring the remarkable and jaw dropping Karijini National Park in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia. I had so many questions before visiting this incredible and unique national park, and that’s what I’m answering all here to help you too.
If you’re wondering how to plan a trip to Karijini National Park, wondering which Karijini gorges to visit, how to plan your trip around fuel, how safe the gorges are, and more, I’m answering them all here.
Welcome to one of the best national parks not only in Western Australia but in the whole of Australia.
Why visit Karijini National Park
Karijini National Park is what many people doing the Big Lap reveal is their favourite place they visit in the whole of Australia. We thought that was a big claim, but after visiting, I can confirm they could be right.
With over eight picturesque gorges open to the public, the iron rocks here are believed to be over 2.5 billion years old.
This in itself is a mind-blowing fact to get your head around.
As the second largest national park in Western Australia, it is known for having some of the best wild swimming holes in Australia within the spectacular gorges, you have to see it for yourself.
It’s also a national park that doesn’t have crazy hard or long walks to do, so you don’t need to necessarily be into hiking to come here. With short walking distances to jaw-dropping scenery and lookouts, this is the type of place everyone should come to see in person.
How to get to Karijini National Park and where to stop off on the way
If you’re on a road trip from Perth to Broome, Karijini National Park should be high on your list to visit. In fact, it was easily the best place we visited on this WA road trip because it is honestly incredible.
The way to get here is to drive 7h30m East of Exmouth into the outback to reach Karijini National Park. We had planned to drive the entire distance and stop at Tom Price for the night, but we ended up staying at Cheela Plains Station Stay (which has some amazing waterfalls and places to visit) before heading to Tom Price.
If you’re coming up from Perth and have no idea about places to visit on a road trip to Karijini, I recommend going the coastal route and stopping off at Shark Bay, Carnarvon, Coral Bay and Exmouth.
If you’re heading on from Karijini National Park up to Broome, it’s best to finish in Dales Campground before heading out of the park up to Port Headland.
If you’re flying, you’ll need to go to the town called Parabudoo which is literally in the middle of nowhere. It’s a tiny town, the type of town you’d line up a hire car and drive staight out of it. It’s about 1h30m drive from Tom Price which is the largest town near to Karijini National Park (if you’re driving up from Perth, you’ll drive through this town as well).
We also wanted to visit the lesser known Millstream Chichester National Park but the road between there and Karjini National Park is 4wd only and you need to get a permit. So we decided to hold off and hopefully visit another time as it really does look amazing as well.
What time of year to visit
While it’s not wise to visit in the summer months because of flash flooding and temperatures exceeding 40C, your best bet is to visit between April – September (either early Spring or Autumn). If you visit like we did in May, you’ll more than likely be able to book into the two campsites in the national park. Usually people book these campgrounds months in advance, yet we booked days before and got in. I think this is because we visited on the shoulder season.
If you visit between July – September, you’ll be in luck to see the famous Western Australia Wildflower Season. We saw a few wildflowers coming out during our visit in May and I think it would be really beautiful to see them all in full bloom. The only thing about this is you’ll need to book your accommodation ahead because it does get booked out.
Where to stay in Karijini National Park
When looking for Karijini National Park accommodation, you have two options to consider in the park itself. First up is Karijini Eco Retreat which offers up glamping tents and campsite options. They have toilets, showers and a restaurant here.
The campsite is lovely although you could be parking a fair way from the toilets and showers. We could only find two showers so either arrive like an hour before sunset or get up just as it gets light to take a shower. If you’re cooking food at your campsite, you’ll need to wash up at the toilets wash basins. There’s no other option to do it other than here (I asked the staff and they said that was fine).
Karijini Eco Retreat is a great option for visiting Weano Gorge, Hancock Gorge, Knox Gorge and Joffre Gorge. We couldn’t visit Weano Gorge or Hancock Gorge at the time of visiting as they were both closed, but I have to say Knox and Joffre Gorge are both outstanding. You can even walk to Joffre Gorge from Karijini Eco Retreat.
Your other option is Dales Campground (pictured above) which is next to Dales Gorge which you can walk to. Dales Campground is lovely and pretty big. We stayed at Dingo 56 site and although I read different stories about which part of the campground to stay in, I don’t think it really matters personally.
If both campsites are booked up, your other option is to stay at Tom Price Tourist Park which we stayed at on the first night. It’s fine, but the other two are nicer campgrounds which larger spaces to stay in.
Otherwise if you’re coming from Port Headland, stay at Auski Roadhouse instead.
Can you visit Karijini National Park in a 2wd car, motorhome or campervan?
The biggest question I had about visiting Karijini National Park was about whether it was 4wd only. The advice I found online felt confusing and I contemplated booking a tour instead. We were driving our amazing Star RV van (get 10% by using our code LIS24) so I knew we wouldn’t be able to drive on 4wd roads.
We also met a couple at Cheela Plains Campground who were in an RV too. They told us that they ended up booking at tour and felt like it was totally not needed in the end. They also said they spoke to someone who drove to Hamersley Gorge and that there was no way we would make it in our motorhome.
When we went to Tom Price Tourist Information Office, they said we’d be OK driving to Hamerlsey Gorge and we were. In fact, we saw loads of motorhomes, camper vans and 2WD cars at the Hamersley Gorge car park.
The main roads in Karijini National Park are sealed and we saw people working on the roads while we were there. Other than Kalamina Gorge, we had zero problems driving our car. If you’re worried about finding your way in the gorges, it is so easy as there are markers everywhere guiding you where to go.
How to plan your visit to Karijini National Park
The thing I was concerned about is how to plan a trip to Karijini National Park because I didn’t know how far I’d be driving between gorges and campsites. This meant I had to figure out how many kilometres it was going to be to drive distances and bearing in mind fuel as well. There are no petrol stations in Karijni so you need to fuel up before you go into the park.
With my planning, we only used half a tank of fuel even though we bought and filled up two jerrycans in Exmouth before we started our adventure to the outback. The short cut road between Karijini Eco Retreat and Dales Campground was closed so we had to drive nearly all the way back to Tom Price to take the other road again, still only using half a tank of fuel. We fulled up before we went to Hamerlsey Gorge, then again the morning after in Tom Price before heading to Karijini Eco Retreat.
Our itinerary
Day 1: We had spent the night in Cheela Plains and drove from there to Tom Price, stopping of at the tourist information centre, fuelling up and heading to Hamersley Gorge. We then drove back to Tom Price and stayed the night at the Tom Price Tourist Park.
Day 2: We fuelled up again in Tom Price and spent the day at Joffre Gorge, before attempting to go to Kalamina Gorge (we turned back after 5 minutes as it was only 4wd access – yes we thought maybe we would make it). We then arrived at Karijini Eco Retreat at 4pm and chilled out for the rest of the day.
Day 3: We woke up and went to Joffre Gorge, before driving to Dales Campground and visited Fern Pool and Fortescue falls in Dales Gorge, before calling it a day.
Day 4: We visited the Karijini Visitor Centre before heading out to Port Headland.
How long to spend at Karijini National Park
While we spent three days at Karijini National Park, I would say this is enough time to spend here, unless all of the gorges are open of course. We visited all of the gorges that were open (Knox Gorge, Joffre Gorge, Dales Gorge and Hamerlsey Gorge) except Kalamina Gorge because it was 4wd only.
Hancock Gorge and Weano Gorge were closed at the time of visiting. If they were open, I would have put aside four days for exploring Karijini National Park. But, in saying that we could have easily seen two gorges a day if we had to (we tracked our time and spent about two or three hours at each gorge).
Stop off at the Tom Price Visitor Centre & Karijini Visitor Centre
We stopped off at Tom Price Visitor Centre before going into Karijini National Park because we really didn’t know if our motorhome was going to be OK to get there on the roads in the park. We were told here that we would be OK and that Hamerlsey Gorge is currently suitable for call cars, including 2wd.
The Karijini Visitor Centre is absolutely fantastic and full of amazing natural and cultural history. We even overheard one of the guides tell a family that she learnt to swim at Hamerlsey Gorge which is pretty incredible.
You can also buy reef shoes here at the visitor centre for the gorges. We bought some at a fishing shop in Exmouth (near the IGA) as well as a dry bag and waterproof iPhone case. We didn’t need to use the dry bag or iPhone case in the end.
Check to see what gorges are open
Make sure you check which gorges are open before planning your trip because it’s pretty much guaranteed to see some of them closed when you’re visiting (they are constantly upgrading the roads in the park). This will impact how long you spend at the park.
Gorges to visit in Karijini National Park
There are plenty of gorges to visit in Karijini National Park. Here’s our run down on which ones to visit:
Knox Gorge
This is my favourite gorge as it really is a jaw dropping experience. This hike takes you to an amazing chasm with a couple of small pools to swim in. The walking distance took us about 2h30m in total. To find out more, read our travel guide; 10 Tips for Visiting the Amazing Knox Gorge in Karijini National Park WA which includes everything you need to know about this wonderful hike.
Joffre Gorge
Joffre Gorge is an incredible gorge to swim in. Honestly it is amazing! It only took us 30 minutes to walk down to the bottom and we did see a lot of families here. This is one of those swimming experiences you really don’t want to miss out on. Read our 12 Tips for Visiting Joffre Gorge Karijini National Park guide to help you plan your trip here.
Hamersley Gorge
This is the most famous gorge because of the Spa Pool which is a rock arch pool and super easy to get to. It is a must visit, but we thought the scenery is more impressive than the pool personally. It is also the busiest gorge we visited with families, but be so, so careful with the extremely slippery rocks at Spa Pool. Takes about 5-10 minutes to walk to Spa Pool from the car park. Read our tips to help you plan your trip to this gorge including whether you need hiking boots etc, 13 Tips for Visiting Hamersley Gorge, Karijini National Park.
Dales Gorge
Welcome to beautiful swimming holes at Fortescue falls and Fern Pool, both of which are nice and easy to get to and perfect for everyone. It’s a five minute walk to the two swimming holes from the car park, or can be part of a 2h30m walk including Circular Pool as part of the Dales Gorge walking trail. To learn more about this gorge, read our guide; 7 Tips for Visiting Dales Gorge in Karijini National Park.
Kalamina Gorge – a family friendly gorge, and although only 4WD, we heard it’s amazing inside and possibly better than the incredible Knox Gorge.
Hancock Gorge – famous for the Kermits Pool spider walk which looks exceptional but it was closed at the time of visiting.
Oxley Lookout – incredible lookout that was closed at the time of visiting.
Weano Gorge – Famous for the incredible Handrail Pool which was closed at the time of visiting.
Can you take cameras in to the gorges?
I can’t say on behalf of Hancock or Weano Gorge because these gorges were closed at the time of visiting, but you can definitely take a camera into the other gorges we visited. We didn’t take them into the first two because we thought we would be wading through water. You won’t be. Truth be told, for Hamerlsey Gorge, you need to swim at the end to reach the pool, but you can leave your stuff on the rocks in full view so you can keep an eye on them.
For Joffre Gorge, you can leave your camera by the rocks, but if you swim right through the gorge, you won’t be able to keep an eye on them. I left my phone in my bag here and it was fine.
At Knox Gorge, you don’t even need to go into the pools to complete the hike so you’ll be fine with a camera. And at Dales Gorge, you can go for a swim in full sight of your belongings.
And before you ask, there are no crocodiles in Karijini National Park. I would recommend bringing a pool noodle or floatie for Joffre Gorge (even if you’re a strong swimmer as the gorge is quite long) and Fern Pool as well only Hamersley Gorge if you’re not a strong swimmer.
Other things to know
There are a few other things you need to know before visiting the incredible gorges at Karijini National Park. Firstly there is barely any phone signal in the park (we are both with Telstra). We also have StarLink and it worked fine for us in the park, but the park is all about disconnecting from the outside world and appreciating nature here.
Red dirt especially from the Hamerlsey Gorge road will get everywhere in your vehicle. Literally everywhere. We have found it in our oven, in our outdoor cupboard spaces, even on our bed inside the van where the windows were closed.
You also need to be aware of wildlife in the park. Look out for snakes at nighttime and you will hear howling dingoes. I never knew they howled like they do here! You also need to be aware of spinifex which is a prickly plant which can be found at the park. And look out for signs of asbestos. If there are any signs about it, be very careful and do not enter any gorge off limits.
If you come in spring, you’ll get to see the beautiful wildflowers but it will be peak season as wildflowers are a rare Western Australia phenomenon.
There are park entry fees to get into Karijini National Park, check the Western Australia Parks website to find out how much they currently are.
What to bring with you
There are a few things you’ll also need to bring with you that you may have not thought about yet. Here’s what you need to know.
Warm clothes
As you’ll be in the outback, the weather is pretty much all seasons in one day with very cold temperatures at night and early in the morning. By the time the sun is out, you’ll be putting on shorts and t shirt for the day. Do not visit during wet season as temperatures will hit over 40C.
Fly hat
You’ll absolutely need a fly hat as the flies are intense here. They are actually some of the worst we saw in WA (except Shark Bay) so pick up a fly net before you come. We didn’t see any for sale and we luckily bought one at a fishing shop in Denham in Shark Bay for $10.
Loads of water & food
We stocked up on water and food in Exmouth because we were worried that water would be sold out (we noticed this a lot on our Perth – Esperence trip). While there is a Coles in Tom Price, we didn’t visit it. If you do shop in Exmouth, be prepared because the IGA is ridicuously expensive (it was $13 for a small punnet of raspberries at the time of visiting).
You’ll need to bring your own food and water as there isn’t any in the park at all. If you stay at Karijini Eco Retreat, you can book in for dinner but the costs are quite expensive (you’re looking at $40 for barramundi, eggplant & chickpea curry $32).
If you’re staying at Dales Campground, there is no water at all (not even at the toilets) so bring handsan with you.
And of course, bring rubbish bags with you. There are no rubbish bins at all so please do not litter and take everything with you.
Check out our Karijini National Park guides
If you’d like to learn more about visiting Karijini National Park, check out the rest of our guides!
- 10 Tips for Visiting the Amazing Knox Gorge in Karijini National Park WA
- 12 Tips for Visiting Joffre Gorge Karijini National Park WA
- 13 Tips for Visiting Hamersley Gorge, Karijini National Park WA
- 7 Tips for Visiting Dales Gorge in Karijini National Park WA
- Ultimate Guide for Exploring Karijini National Park
