Even without maps to guide them, Australian place names mean visitors to Australia – whether overseas tourists or aliens from beyond the Southern Cross – need not fear losing their way.

In some parts of Australia, anyway.

Thanks to the daring imagination and colourful speech of our colonial past, working out your location can be as simple as describing what you see.  So join me for a tour of several Australian place names that’ll have you scratching your head … NOT!

1 Big Bend, South Australia

The River Murray, part of Australia’s largest river system, wends its way from high in the Snowy Mountains, through Victoria and into South Australia where it meets the sea at – yes, you guessed right – the Murray Mouth.

But en route to this glorious spot on the South Aussie coast, the river winds through what would otherwise be the quite arid Riverland. What do you get when the river is winding through the cliffs? Bends, of course. So what would you call the biggest bend on the river just out of Swan Reach??

Big Bend, of course!  Incidentally, I bet you can’t guess how Swan Reach got its name …

MORE about Big Bend, Murray River

2 Black Mountain, Queensland

If the person responsible for naming Queensland’s Black Mountain had been slightly more descriptive, it’d be called ‘Mountain covered with house-sized black rocks, unusual plants and animals and odd smells – where weird things happen’.

The odd aroma surrounding Black Mountain National Park 25 km south of Cooktown en route to Cairns is as much a mystery as the local legends about disappearing people and stock, strange noises and unusual turbulence and magnetic fields over the mountain reported by pilots.

And it’s a habitat unique enough to support three endemic species – a skink, a frog and a gecko, the names of which are all preceded by ‘Black Mountain!’

But all that’s too much to fit into a single descriptive place name, so in a grand display of brevity, the unknown (to me) name-bestower chose the two most important words.

MORE about Black Mountain (Kalkajaka) National Park

3 Black Rock Falls, Western Australia

A waterfall that flows over black rocks can’t really be called anything other than Black Rock Falls, right?

And although this Kimberley beauty near Western Australia’s Kununurra wasn’t flowing on our visit, the path of the water was visible against the black rock surrounding the falls area.

When I saw our destination on the tourist map, my well-developed Australian place names deductive powers gave me a pretty good idea that I’d be seeing some combination of black, rocks and waterfalls.

I was right!

MORE about Black Rock Falls

 4 Yellow Water, Northern Territory

I’m not sure what colour the water is at midday or in the dark of night.  But I DO know what colour it was at sunrise as we clambered aboard the boat for Kakadu’s world famous Yellow Water sunrise cruise.

All the better to see the crocodiles with, the glow of the sunrise turned the lagoon into a shimmering sheet of gold, perfectly captured by Pilchard before the serious business of birdwatching began.

MORE about Kakadu National Park

5 Snowy River, New South Wales

OK, Ok, ok … this photo doesn’t REALLY prove my point!

But that’s because it was taken in autumn before the winter snow started. With its headwaters just below the summit of Mt Kosciuszko, Australia’s highest peak, and above Charlotte Pass, where Australia’s coldest temperature was recorded, the Snowy River is an Aussie icon. As is classic Aussie poem ‘The Man from Snowy River’!

I bet I don’t have to tell you how that got its name!

MORE about Mt Kosciuszko

6 The Pyramid, Queensland

I blame the Egyptians.

Their astounding ability to build massive and perfectly symmetrical three dimensional triangular objects from gigantic pieces of rock has given the rest of the world a ready-made name for any three-sided rock formation.

Even when the landscape in which the formations concerned are set bears absolutely NO resemblance to anything in Egypt.

I’m not sure whether or not the Pyramid at the bottom of OutBack Queensland’s Porcupine Gorge is a dead ringer for its Egyptian counterpart, but it really doesn’t matter.

I’m sure you can spot their similarities!

MORE about Porcupine Gorge

7 Circular Pool, Western Australia

To be fair, there’s a number of obvious names for a small body of water that’s pretty much round when viewed from above. So Circular Pool, in Karijini National Park could just as easily have been called Round Lake. Or Spherical Pond. Or Almost-Ovoid Baths.

HHHMMMmmm… maybe Circular Pool was the best choice after all!

MORE about Circular Pool, Karijini National Park

8 Rhino Head, South Australia

It doesn’t take much imagination to work out how Rhino Head got its name. At the eastern end of Stenhouse Bay and part of the spectacular scenery in Innes National Park, the Head is best viewed from the excellent Stenhouse Bay lookout walking trail.

And I can’t actually think of a better name for it. Can you?

MORE about Innes National Park

9 The Horn, Victoria

Victoria’s Mount Buffalo is a great hunk of rock like a landlocked island rising 1723 metres above the sea of the surrounding plain. While the climb (actually ‘drive’) up the Buffalo’s flank is steep, the plateau at the top belies its height above sea-level.

Mt Buffalo’s highest point is, of course, the Horn – a short but steep climb to a 360°view of the Victorian Alps.

And for an Acrophobic like me, the newly installed handrails, stairs and fence around the domed rocky summit made the whole thing a bit of a doddle. Well, almost!

MORE about Mt Buffalo

10 Pink Lake, Western Australia

The name of any lake in Australia that has a slightly different colour to normal is pretty much a foregone conclusion. But unlike other pink lakes in Australia coloured by salt, this Western Australian wonder’s unique colour is caused by beta-carotene!

Just south of Kalbarri near holiday town Port Gregory, the unusual and unnatural colour of the lake looks like a set from a B-grade science fiction movie.  But there’s no doubting the colour.  And hence the name …

MORE about Pink Lake

11 Redbank Gorge, Northern Territory

A dastardly combination of Australia’s ubiquitous RED Rock and our inability to think outside the square with our place names, Redbank Gorge’s name should come as no surprise.

Because yes, the rocky banks of this gorge are RED.

No secrets here! And the red is also a sobering reminder of fatal clashes between the local Aboriginal people and the early settlers.

While Redbank Gorge would fit the description of almost any of the several gorges along the Western MacDonnell Ranges from Alice Springs, it’s perhaps more surprising that it only describes this one.

Redbank Gorge, however, isn’t to be confused with South Australia’s Redbanks Conservation Park.

While this name doesn’t accurately describe the conservation park’s palaeontological wonderland, it DOES describe one of its main features!

See if you can work out which one from this photo … and see if you can tell which of these Australian place names is which!

MORE about Redbank Gorge, NT

and

Redbanks Conservation Park, SA

12 Five Rivers Lookout, Western Australia

Yes, there really ARE Five Rivers visible from this lookout on the Bastion (wonder why they called it that?!) high above Cambridge Gulf near Wyndham in the Western Australian Kimberley. The Ord, Pentecost, Forrest, Durack and King rivers all flow into the gulf but my camera wasn’t wide enough to capture all of them. Not even by stitching photos.

And even if it could, it wouldn’t do the staggering view justice. Or capture the view from what must be one of Australia’s most scenic public toilets.

So don’t take MY word for it – head up Wyndham’s Bastion and count those five rivers for yourself!

MORE about Five Rivers Lookout

13 Boulder Beach, New South Wales

What else would you call a beach covered with small boulders? At least it makes a change from the plethora of Sandy, Shelly, Rocky and Stony beaches along the Australian coastline.

And this fine beach, between Skennars and Lennox Head near Northern New South Wales town Ballina also lifts those coastal photographs out of the cliché category.

MORE about Ballina

Even though this is a long post, it’s really just a teaser! There are WAY more Australian place names that perfectly describe what you see, so YOU tell ME! Which ones have I missed??

The post 13 Australian Place Names that WON’T keep you guessing … appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.

The Evening Before …

I gripped the railing and looked through the deep shadows down the deep RED gash of Dales Gorge. WAAAAAY down. Late afternoon at the lookout meant the sun was long gone from the gorge floor.  Even though it had lit up the eastern wall quite spectacularly.

Ho Hum.

Another day in the Pilbara, another killer landscape …

A movement among the rocks far below caught my eye.

Two hikers, the size of ants negotiated massive rock slabs higher than they were.  They crossed vast tables of square-but rock, as they headed towards the imaginatively named Circular Pool.

Yes, that white speck at the waters edge in this photo really IS a person!

‘That’s where we’ll go tomorrow,’ Pilchard announced.

Say WHAT?? How in heck were we going to get down there when the map showed ‘cliff risk area’ symbols all along the gorge edge? Symbols whose warnings I was only too happy to heed?

That ‘killer’ landscape was taking on a whole new AND unwelcome meaning …

Hiking down Dales Gorge

The next morning, we picked our way along the goat track rocky path winding down the sheer cliff under the Three Ways Lookout and past one of those ‘Cliff Risk Area’ signs. I realised I didn’t have anything to worry about.

A strategically placed ladder made negotiating the really steep bits almost easy.

And if I DID slip and fall??

Well … it’d be hard to find a more picturesque location in which to receive a serious – or even fatal – injury. Or two. Or even die.

No, Karijini National Park was no place for a coward.

Set amidst the impossibly RED Hamersley Range and out in the deep heart of mining country, Karijini’s warning signs are for real.

Rangers and volunteers risk – and sometimes lose – their lives rescuing tourists who don’t heed the dangers.

I was watching my footing as we took the Circular Pool detour.  We crossed those same gigantic rock shelves we’d viewed from the lookout the evening before.

They weren’t as bad as they’d looked from above.

But I hoped the people at the lookout above didn’t throw anything down …

Blue Danger

After leaving the rock slabs, the river waters ran deep through groves of trees. Those red Red RED rocky walls towering high above, tinged every now and then with a dash of blue.

Blue?? In this location and in these rocks it took on a sinister meaning …

Only about 50 km away as the crow flies is the closed-down town of Wittenoom.That’s where crocidolite– otherwise known as the potentially deadly Blue Asbestos – was mined extensively in what surely must be Australia’s greatest industrial disaster.  It’s since been immortalised by Aussie Band Midnight Oil in their song Blue Sky Mine.

The mine was closed in 1966 for economic rather than safety reasons.  However, it is estimated that in addition to the 2000+ deaths from asbestos related diseases, the death toll will peak in the 2020s.

Were these crocidolite layers in the rock?? Perhaps not, but I was leaving them well alone …

Like I said. No place for a coward.

After the de-gazettal of Wittenoom, the nearby town of Tom Price*** inherited the ‘Karijini Gateway’ tag and is the closest provider of goods and services.

Hiking back up the gorge

Although only a small stretch of the 40+ km length of Dales Gorge is accessible, it’s a diverse and spectacular few kilometres.

The rocks and ledges that had first given way to the river and trees. Now they gave way to a series of cascades as we headed towards Fortescue Falls.

We negotiated the treacherous and slippery stepping stones across the river.  Then we climbed the natural rock layer steps and stairs to the top of the falls.  And then it was time for lunch – and a show!

With no bars or nightclubs within cooee, the falls and pool below had become an alternative outback meat market.

This walk definitely wasn’t for the faint-hearted as scantily clad travellers cavorted, strutted and posed with all their wares out on display!

The young man who climbed the amphitheatre’s rocky walls to take photos wasn’t necessarily showing off.

Not to me, anyway, although he seemed not to be plagued by the vertigo I would have suffered in his place.

But proving he was no one trick pony, I inadvertently captured him in a similar pose the next day at Joffre Falls.  Want to see him again?  Check out the link at the bottom of the post!

Time out for a swim

A little further up the river, we detoured to popular swimming spot the Fern Pool. En route to the clear, blue water and white bodies fresh from the cooler Northern Hemisphere climes, fig trees sprawl over the mossy rocks and ferns grow in the grottos. Fig leaves are optional …

Then it’s a steep climb up the track out of the gorge to the Falls carpark.

It’s possible my red face, gasping for air and frequent ‘photo’ stops showed the descending tour group what they had to look forward to after seeing the falls up close!  There are spectacular views of the falls from the vantage point above the trailhead if anyone wants to chicken out!

To complete the loop, we followed the return path along the Gorge Rim track back to Three Ways Lookout.  The tremendous view over the falls and river SO far below showed us where we were actually walking not long before.

Back to Camp

The Karijini Visitors Centre, set amongst yet another awesome landscape does a roaring trade in $2 hot showers.  Incomprehensibly, it was under threat from a cash-strapped government looking for mining royalties when we visited. After a few hours on the trail the shower is a perfect interlude before returning to the Dales Campground.  There you’ll find yet another scenic landscape with a late afternoon glow.  The light turned the WAY beyond RED rocks into a shade I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.

The plague of fears (heights, injury, death) I’d had at the start of this excellent walk faded in the afterglow of achievement.  We settled back into our comfy chairs for a meal from the best little café in Australia (see link below).

Maybe there WAS a place for this coward at Karijini after all.

We were done with Dales Gorge.

For now.

Want MORE?

• Red visits Joffre Gorge, Karijini National Park
• Tom Price, Pilbara Region
• Karijini National Park, Western Australia
• Pilbara Region, Western Australia

The post Walk Dales Gorge! Karijini National Park, Western Australia appeared first on Australia by Red Nomad OZ.