SPIRITED AWAY

In the heart of the Pilbara region, just north of the Tropic of Capricorn, there is a harsh and unforgiving land of mostly red dirt and prickly grass – a land that looks like it was shaped by a giant being that had scratched the surface with enormous claws to reveal the ground beneath.

This place, the Karijini National Park, is a vast and hilly wilderness in the Hamersley Range of Western Australia, which covers more than 6,000 square kilometres. It is the traditional home of the Banyjima, Kurrama and Innawonga peoples, and ‘Karijini’, meaning ‘hilly place’, is the Banyjima name for the Hamersley Ranges.

Arriving at Karijini National Park, my