Karijini Eco Retreat, WA

Glamp out near spectacular gorges at the Karijini Eco Retreat.

Glamping at the Karijini Eco Retreat. Picture: Paul Pichugin

The clip-clop of heeled shoes worn by the Japanese girl ahead of me was an unnerving sound as we headed up Hancock Gorge in Karijini National Park. One of the most starkly beautiful spots in Western Australia, Karijini is also one of the most dangerous places to clamber up steep terraces of smooth rock in footwear designed for a stroll along the Ginza.

Injured tourists are regularly plucked from the bottom of Karijini’s myriad gorges by long-suffering rescue teams and park rangers. Which is why WA’s second-biggest national park deserves – even demands – to be approached with a degree of preparation and respect.

My latest visit to Karijini is some years after the unnerving sight of Kyoko, the high-heeled hiker. I notice a new level of expert guiding has emerged to safely assist even inexperienced or unfit visitors through the maze of banded ironstone gorges. And unlike previous stays in a cramped pop-up tent, I’m booked into the Karijini Eco Retreat, where a deluxe tent with hotel-quality bedding awaits my weary return at day’s end.

Hiking in Hancock Gorge. Picture: Paul Pichugin

But first to Karijini’s canyon capers: I choose a short walk down a steep track into fern-draped Kalamina Gorge and watch as a family enjoys a picnic in a natural rock garden. I toy with the idea of a three-hour hike at popular Dales Gorge that forms a circuit of Fortescue Falls, Circular and Fern Pools, ending with a swim and a snooze on a warm rock ledge.

But there’s an even better way to appreciate the ancient fissures carved deep into this iron-ore rich Pilbara country. A group of us turn up to West Oz Active’s base camp, where Geoff and Hwee Carter kit us up with helmet, harness, wetsuit and proper footwear for our guided tour of Weano Gorge. We walk up wide canyons, the walls adorned with native fig trees dangling from small cracks, climb over boulders and scale sideways down a slippery wall using hand holds and a ladder. We are directed to swim through a narrow passage that opens out into spectacular Handrail Pool – and then we do it all again in reverse.

Hamersley Gorge. Picture: Paul Pichugin

The Carters – a scientist and a former medico – are uniquely licensed to take adventurers into Karijini’s more testing and restricted areas. If you fancy abseiling down a canyon and rock-climbing up a sheer gorge wall, they or their qualified guides will ensure your every move is safe and fun. They’ll even snap photos as you hang in mid-air and send them to you later.

Karijini’s broader landscape is an impressive sweep of scarlet outcrops dotted with wheat-gold spinifex tufts and white-barked gums. Nestled in this savannah-like country is the Eco Retreat, which includes 40 rigid canvas pavilions on sturdy wooden platforms. Lying in a luxurious king-size bed (there are bunk beds as well), I watch the dramatic Pilbara sunset framed in the canvas windows; the next morning I shower in my enclosed but roofless ensuite bathroom as dawn breaks above me in spectacular streaks of orange-red sky.

Karijini dining. Picture: Paul Pichugin

The retreat’s outback restaurant and bar offer good meals and snacks and facilities are open to those eschewing glamping for camping in the Savannah Campground. Further east at Dales Gorge are 140 sites accessible by regular two-wheel-drive cars. There you can throw a chop on a barbie, grab a picnic table and rejoice in the bliss of proper toilets.

The Banjima people have roamed the area for tens of thousands of years and now live and work in proximity to Australia’s largest iron ore mines. During the Karijini Experience, a 10-day festival held over the April holiday break, you might see a corroboree or take a bush foods tour with local elders.

The state’s park authority has come up with a perfect formula: good public facilities, expert private instruction and one of the nation’s best visitor centres. Inside the stunningly designed Karijini Visitor Centre, kids learn how the gorges were formed from underwater volcanoes, silica and salt. They are also introduced to Banjima “deep time” lore and the story of intensive mining – all of which have shaped this landscape, all part of Karijini’s incredible story.

A deluxe tent. Picture: Paul Pichugin

Perfect for: adventurous glampers.

Must do: Take a guided tour with West Oz Active from April to October, before monsoonal rains flood the trails in Weano, Hancock, Kalamina and Fortescue gorges. westozactive.com.au

Dining: Karijini Eco Retreat’s restaurant caters for all meals; dinner options include emu steak, crocodile green curry and barramundi (bookings essential). Barbecues, kiosk and bar on site.

Getting there: The retreat is about five hours’ drive south of Port Hedland or 130km from the nearest airport at Paraburdoo.

Bottom line: From $339 per night for a Deluxe Eco Tent with Ensuite (king or twin). Other configurations and packages available. Unpowered campsites $20 per adult per night.

karijiniecoretreat.com.au