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GETAWAYS | Karijini National Park
ONE SOLITARY ROCK IS all that it takes to unleash it.
Just a seemingly benign souvenir, from a landscape with billions of
such specimens, carelessly plopped in your pocket and forgotten about.
Forgotten about, that is, until it comes knocking.
What is it? Hard to say, exactly. Cynics say it’s a steaming pile of hocus-
pocus doo-doo. But then there are the believers; reluctant converts to
the idea of the inexplicable, nebulous curse known as ‘Karijini Karma’.
What do we know about it? It’s OK simply to pick up a rock in Karijini
National Park, let its iron dust tint your palm; run your index finger along
its sharp edges. A paper trail of regret and repentance tells us that this
primordial can of whoop-arse opens up only when said rock leaves this
sacred national park’s bosom.
“I receive packages in the post from all over Europe, America and Asia,
plus every state in Australia, containing rocks from visitors who removed
them during their stay,” says Karijini’s Kennedy-jawed senior ranger Dan
Petersen, from under a sweat-stained hat that looks like it’s been snacked
on by a dingo. “Usually there’s no name or return address but just a note
saying: ‘Dear Ranger, I removed this rock from the park and have had
nothing but bad luck ever since. Please put it back’. Some have mud maps
of where the rock was taken from, so it can go back to exactly the same spot.”
After an impulsive career change five years ago flung him north into
the West Australian outback, Dan has come to know Karijini as well as
any white man can. “There’s an energy that runs through this place,”
he says. “It got into me straight away.” Some say Dan wears a khaki cape
with a big D on it under his ranger’s shirt. On his days off, just for kicks,
he trawls Google Earth to discover the “less discovered” places in the
gargantuan park’s remote south. He grabs his backpack, a compass and
strides out into the remote wilderness (solo) for five days at a stretch.
Luckily, Dan’s the kind of outback superhuman who can eat grass in
the unlikely scenario that he can’t source water.
“I sometimes see random lights in the night sky out there, which
move really quickly,” Dan says. “In some places, it feels like you’re the
first person who’s been there for thousands of years. The wildlife out
there don’t have the fear. They come up and sniff you.”
Luckily, you don’t need Dan’s superpowers to access Karijini’s
superstars: a medley of bewitching gorges that dramatically and
CLOCKWISE FROM
TOP:Eucalypts and low
mulga woodlands camouflage
the gorges at ground level;
Ranger Dan Petersen is an
outback superhuman who
spends his spare time
exploring the most remote
parts of the gargantuan park ;
Termite mounds are giant
in this part of the world.
OPPOSITE:Be sure to
stop and absorb the energy of
the gorges, especially if you
are privileged enough to have
one all to yourself.AUSTRALIANTRAVELLER.COM1