![Joffre Gorge - view from lookout]()
Joffre Gorge - view from lookout
The
ranger didn't arrive until we had driven off but nabbed Dorothy and Rob. We thought we'd stop in at the
visitors centre as suggested in the NP brochure. It was a joke to see - 3 caravans and a tent that was meant to be the centre. However, it was boarded up and very "visitor unfriendly". Even the advertised water-fill station had a notice stating that the water was untreated and should be boiled - we didn't bother. We continued on to Kalimina
Gorge where the boys swam but Dorothy and I took photos. It was getting hotter and we agreed to just visit the lookouts and not attempt the long, steep climbs down and then back up to visit each
gorge.
We saw them all;
Joffre Gorge,
Knox Gorge, Hancock and Weano Gorges. To get photos we realised you would need to walk down to the bottom of the gorges, most being at least an hour or two effort. In the 40 degree heat we didn't bother and resigned ourselves to purchasing the beautiful postcards we'd seen at the tourist office
After our whirlwind tour of the gorges we'd had enough and started to drive out of the NP towards
Tom Price. At precisely 12 o'clock on Black Friday, Rob called us from behind on the
UHF radio and said he'd had a tyre blowout. We turned back to help him and spent the next 45minutes in the searing heat removing the bleep tered tyre remains from around his
suspension and fitting the spare wheel.
We finally rolled into
Tom Price around 3pm and set up
camp in the town's only caravan park at the base of Mt Nameless, WA's highest mountain.