Pilbara
Bushwalking in the Pilbara
This page contains general information about the Pilbara which has not yet been uploaded to our new website.
For up to date information about specific trips, see our new mobile-friendly website.
The Pilbara is the region immediately to the west of the Kimberley. It contains some of the most interesting and least known bushwalking country in Australia. Most of our bushwalking trips take place in Karijini National Park and the Hamersley Ranges just outside the park.
Despite its remoteness, Karijini is well known for its deep, spectacular, red-walled gorges which hide magnificent pools and waterfalls. Fortunately for us, much less well known is the fact that extended bushwalks are not only possible, but incredibly enjoyable and not too difficult. A hike of less than one kilometre from a tourist track can bring us to a lovely pool we have all to ourselves.
We also sometimes offer treks in the little-known Chichester Range in the Millstream-Chichester National Park. We hike deep into the heart of the range seeking out hidden pools and gorges which will remain forever unknown to non-walkers.
Our April and June-July Pilbara-Karijini tours depart from Tom Price.
If you'd like a better idea what bushwalking in the Pilbara is like, have a look at
- a photo gallery from our 2001 Karijini trip.
- a story about our 2002 trip written by one of our clients. Most of the text appeared in the Sunday Tasmanian.
- Tracey Dixon's Karijini photo gallery. Tracey took the photos on our April 2009 Karijini trek.
Pilbara Links
All our Pilbara trips depart from Tom Price. Click here to find out how to get to Tom Price.
The Tom Price Tourist Bureau website has more information about the town and the area.
The Australia's Northwest Pilbara page has a wealth of information about the region.
The WA Department of Parks and Wildlife has a number of pages which give good information about the area.
- The Karijini National Park page gives a good summary of the park environment.
- The Karijini brochure which includes a map of the park.
- The Millstream-Chichester National Park page has good information about tht park.
Also worth noting, we visit the Karijini Visitor Centre page on all our Karijini treks.
Neither of the official park pages mentions the possibility of doing overnight hikes. They give no hint as to just how good trekking there can be. Anyone who has ever been on one of our trips can tell you just how big an omission this is.
Weather
The Pilbara climate is similar to, but somewhat warmer than that in the Red Centre. Autumn and winter are the most comfortable times for trekking, so all our trips take place then.
Want more info about our weather? Try these links from the Bureau of Meteorology. Wittenoom is the closest weather station to Karijini. Tom Price is slightly higher and further inland. The weather in Karijini is somewhere between the two. Climate graphs are not available for Tom Price so we've substituted Paraburdoo which serves as the airport for Tom Price.
For easy to understand graphs showing average temperatures and rainfall, click Wittenoom or Paraburdoo.
For detailed tables of climate averages, click "Wittenoom or Tom Price. For even more information, click "all available" instead of "main statistics" at the top of the tables.
For a picture of recent rainfall so you can see what the current or last wet season is or was like, click "Rainfall" and choose the interval you would like to see.
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