karijini- part 2

the next morning, we decided to visit weano gorge, comprising of 2 different sections: "hand rail pool" and "the spider walk". they had come as highly recommended walks, so off we went. we started with the spider walk, mostly because all of the other tourists seemed to be heading towards hand rail pool.
the spider walk is a small component of the hike down the gorge and is considered to be a class 5 walk. now, in canadian terms, this is probably more like a class 3. it was challenging but not too much so, as the families with young children proved.

after making out way down into the gorge, via ladder and steep "steps", we snaked along the gorge walls, mostly to avoid the unbelievably cold water below. some people chose to venture into the water, because they felt the walls were a bit too challenging. we felt fine and i hadn't warmed up enough to justify the freezing water. we finally arrived at the "spider walk", which wasn't too bad at this time of year because there was minimal rushing water, so you could just walk along it if you felt like it. apparently in summer (wet season) you actually have to "spider walk" along the spider walk. at the end of this loop, before turning into a class 6 (meaning you have to be a rockclimber with gear or in a tour group doing that kind of stuff), there was a rather large, deep pool of freezing cold fresh water. john was brave and jumped in (twice!) while i sat above and took some pictures.  we then headed back for lunch with betty.

after lunch, we chose the "hand rail pool" option. by now, we were actually getting quite hot, so felt much better that we'd saved this one for the afternoon. while in the spider walk we were able to chose to get wet or not, in the hand rail pool walk, you had no choice. after removing our shoes (and then keeping them off...) we waded sometime waist deep in really cold water, before having to snake our way along the gorge walls, then back into cold water, then back on the walls, etc.

hand rail pool itself was awesome. you climb down into the pool using a small hand rail (hence the name!) to help you down/up. we got into the pool and continued to explore a bit further down. again, a class 6 sign popped up and we had to turn around, but not after a full immersion in the frigid water. sadly, our camera met it's untimely demise at handrail pool, so we only have photos up until then.

we lazed around the entrance to the walk and jumped into the water again to cool off before we packed betty up again and headed to the other side of karijini, where we'd be staying for the next 2 nights.

xo