Rodney Campbell's Blog

Something I didn’t know before coming to this gorge is you can make it to the Handrail pool and down the handrail and just under half way around the pool at the bottom by skirting around the sides without having to fully swim. However that is normally as far as the general public would go.

The Drop

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 1.3 sec at f/16, ISO 250

You can however swim across the last of the Handrail pool to a cut and a further gorge on the other side of the pool from the handrail. This gorge extends another 100m further on and in some parts you HAVE to swim (you can’t even wade – it’s deeper than I was tall and the sides are cliffs of slick rock).

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

What Flows Below

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 19 mm, 2 sec at f/16, ISO 250

After going through a bit of an underground tunnel you come to a spot where there is a dropoff where you cannot go any further (without ropes, guides, etc) however you can shoot down the dropoff to the pools below and the gorge extending beyond. This is yet another spectacular vantage point with water cascading over a dramatic series of cascades.

Hidden Waters

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 26 mm, 4 sec at f/13, ISO 250

If you want to take your camera here you must have a dry bag. You push it in front of you with your gear inside as you swim along.

Golden Valley

NIKON D750 + 16.0-35.0 mm f/4.0 @ 26 mm, 8 sec at f/16, ISO 100

If you plan to swim you may want to factor in that the water is freezing – I mean take your breath away cold. Before heading there I was considering buying some sort of light wetsuit/sharkskin thing to wear for this single bit. In the end I didn’t and I figured I’d risk it and just take a towel and something warm to wear afterwards (a thermal top). I’m glad I did because I was shivering to death by the time I got back to the Handrail pool :).

It was now nearly 10AM and still no-one else has ventured down here. My daughter and I have had the place all to ourselves since we first started down here at 7:30AM. It was now time for us to leave and head back to camp for a well earned meal and rest :).

Actually before we drove back to camp I took my daughter to see the view from Oxer and Junction Pool Lookouts. This would be our last chance – we were leaving Karijini tomorrow to head towards the coast in the direction of Exmouth.

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