Has anybody stayed at Dayles Gorge Camping area at Karajini. I have tried to book into there on the National Parks website, and it says you cant book in advance. Its a busy time of the year that we want to stay there [early June] so having a booking would be great. Does anyone have any suggestions. We have a 2wd Motorhome....
Meredith said
03:13 PM Apr 20, 2018
We have stayed there, its a convenient basic campground, with just drop toilets, no other facilities. Its a very big campground with several loops of camping, some allow generators and some don't. We were there late in the tourist season and it was almost empty. My understanding is that except for school holidays you should always get in, they do have an overflow area if the main camping area happens to be full, but in June I feel you won't have any problems. The road to the campground is sealed, the camping loops are good gravel, no worries for 2wd.
Splottboy said
03:31 PM Apr 20, 2018
Thanks, its just that its the long weekend
jrg said
04:09 PM Apr 20, 2018
Arrive about 10 am and be first in the que all should be good arrive at 5 pm and you could be dissappointed.
woolman said
07:32 PM Apr 20, 2018
There is an overflow area if you get in later and Dales is full. Will always find a spot but may have to move into Dales next day. If you take your time there is lots to see. Been camp hosting there many times and is my favorite place in Australia.
Neil
Gaylehere said
09:12 PM Apr 20, 2018
In 2015 when we were up there we stayed in the overflow area. We arrived just after 5pm and the NP office was shut for the day. There was 2 good drop toilets at the overflow area. Like most places take a roll of toilet paper just in case. We were happy with the overflow area.
Hylife said
06:28 PM Apr 21, 2018
awful place to camp. expensive for a 3 x 6 m parking bay that is either muddy from a previous camper or so rocky you might easily roll your ankle.
generators droning all day and night. no camp fires or other things to while away the later hours and truly smelly drop toilets.
Karinjini is however worth at least a few days of your time. Truly awesome gorges and swimming holes. wear your swimming gear on each gorge walk.
Best place to stay is at the Albert Tognilini Rest Area on the great northern hwy only a few km outside of the national park. Fantastic views and heaps of space well off the road. Safe to unhitch and day trip into the gorges of Karinjini NP.
Meredith said
07:07 PM Apr 21, 2018
Hylife wrote:
awful place to camp. expensive for a 3 x 6 m parking bay that is either muddy from a previous camper or so rocky you might easily roll your ankle. generators droning all day and night. no camp fires or other things to while away the later hours and truly smelly drop toilets.
Karinjini is however worth at least a few days of your time. Truly awesome gorges and swimming holes. wear your swimming gear on each gorge walk.
Best place to stay is at the Albert Tognilini Rest Area on the great northern hwy only a few km outside of the national park. Fantastic views and heaps of space well off the road. Safe to unhitch and day trip into the gorges of Karinjini NP.
Almost sounds like you stayed at a different campground to us. Our site was considerably larger than 3 x 6m, it fitted our 20 ft van with the awning out and our car comfortably, and were reasonable gravel. The toilets were about as clean as a drop toilet can be, the camp hosts were regularly doing the rounds cleaning. We were in a non generator loop, some loops do allow generators so in those I would expect generator noise. At $22 a night it isn't as cheap as a free camp, but I didn't think it was overly expensive either.
Agree about the awesome gorges and swimming holes.
Splottboy said
03:44 PM Apr 22, 2018
Thanks for that correction Meredith ... great stuff
PeterD said
06:50 PM Apr 22, 2018
I think Hylife was referring to the overflow camping and not Dales. It is a bit bare and some people have little consideration for others as to where they drop their water.
Gaylehere said
07:30 PM Apr 22, 2018
I think with all places they can be very different at different times. When we were at the overflow area the toilets were clean. Don't remember any generator noise and you just drove in and found a spot. No mud and we wouldn't think to drop our water, but like PeterD said some people have little consideration for others no matter where they are.
Splottboy said
03:18 PM Apr 25, 2018
Thanks to everyone for their input..
Hylife said
08:37 PM Apr 25, 2018
PeterD wrote:
I think Hylife was referring to the overflow camping and not Dales. It is a bit bare and some people have little consideration for others as to where they drop their water.
Nope, was at the main Dales Camp.
Generators had their allocated area but the noise simply carried everywhere. Even the camp host had two generators running 24/7. Silly twit had no idea about power requirements. Said his 3way fridge used too much gas and he was contracted for 3 months which meant he couldn't go get his gas bottles refilled and his batteries would only last a couple of hours.
No worse than so many inconsiderate campers these days that simply get around the no generator rules by starting their tug and letting it run at a fast idle for 3 hours. Worse than a generator.
Could barely fit our 16 footer in and certainly couldn't open the awning. All around were big wooden posts 1 foot away on offside and 3 feet out on door side. We had to park the tug on an angle to get most of it off the loop track.
Every car that arrived or departed had to drive right around the one-way loop track kicking up storms of dust regardless of how slow they drove. The entire camp area is all rock (well duh, of course it is, that's why we visit) which means any water released from previous campers flows widely across the ground making muddy boggy sites.
$22 a night for tiny unpowered sites covered in baseball sized muddy river rocks? I dunno if anyone else has every stopped at the massive Albert Tog rest area just down the road, but it is far superior and free.
jules47 said
08:47 PM Apr 25, 2018
Crikey, we were there in 2005 or 2004 - It was great - and about $9 - we had a camper trailer, and had no problem parking in the alcove allotted - there was a bbq or stove thing in the middle of our section, everyone was boiling water, etc. Must say though, that we were showering at 3pm and in bed by 7pm - boy it was cold - early June - beautiful days though.
PeterD said
09:26 PM Apr 25, 2018
Hylife wrote:
PeterD wrote:
I think Hylife was referring to the overflow camping and not Dales. It is a bit bare and some people have little consideration for others as to where they drop their water.
Nope, was at the main Dales Camp.
Generators had their allocated area but the noise simply carried everywhere. Even the camp host had two generators running 24/7. Silly twit had no idea about power requirements. Said his 3way fridge used too much gas and he was contracted for 3 months which meant he couldn't go get his gas bottles refilled and his batteries would only last a couple of hours.
No worse than so many inconsiderate campers these days that simply get around the no generator rules by starting their tug and letting it run at a fast idle for 3 hours. Worse than a generator.
Could barely fit our 16 footer in and certainly couldn't open the awning. All around were big wooden posts 1 foot away on offside and 3 feet out on door side. We had to park the tug on an angle to get most of it off the loop track.
Every car that arrived or departed had to drive right around the one-way loop track kicking up storms of dust regardless of how slow they drove. The entire camp area is all rock (well duh, of course it is, that's why we visit) which means any water released from previous campers flows widely across the ground making muddy boggy sites.
$22 a night for tiny unpowered sites covered in baseball sized muddy river rocks? I dunno if anyone else has every stopped at the massive Albert Tog rest area just down the road, but it is far superior and free.
There are plenty of comments in WikiCamps. The only one bad comment was in reference to the overflow camp site.
leajoy said
09:46 AM Apr 26, 2018
Hylife wrote:
PeterD wrote:
I think Hylife was referring to the overflow camping and not Dales. It is a bit bare and some people have little consideration for others as to where they drop their water.
Nope, was at the main Dales Camp.
Generators had their allocated area but the noise simply carried everywhere. Even the camp host had two generators running 24/7. Silly twit had no idea about power requirements. Said his 3way fridge used too much gas and he was contracted for 3 months which meant he couldn't go get his gas bottles refilled and his batteries would only last a couple of hours.
No worse than so many inconsiderate campers these days that simply get around the no generator rules by starting their tug and letting it run at a fast idle for 3 hours. Worse than a generator.
Could barely fit our 16 footer in and certainly couldn't open the awning. All around were big wooden posts 1 foot away on offside and 3 feet out on door side. We had to park the tug on an angle to get most of it off the loop track.
Every car that arrived or departed had to drive right around the one-way loop track kicking up storms of dust regardless of how slow they drove. The entire camp area is all rock (well duh, of course it is, that's why we visit) which means any water released from previous campers flows widely across the ground making muddy boggy sites.
$22 a night for tiny unpowered sites covered in baseball sized muddy river rocks? I dunno if anyone else has every stopped at the massive Albert Tog rest area just down the road, but it is far superior and free.
Wow sounds like a different place to when we stayed there last year. Being peak time we arrived mid morning and had no trouble getting a good spot. It was a bit tight getting out 21ft van in because of bollards but plenty of room once in and the sites were well spread out. The toilets were as clean as I have ever seen for drop toilets and the bucket of water and brush beside them helps. Certainly no smells. From memory we only paid $14/n concession. We were in the generator section but could only run it certain hours if we needed to. We thought it was a well run camp with camp hosts doing a great job.
The park itself is amazing and we loved exploring the gorges with some of them being quite difficult and rugged walks. The roads were in need of a good grade but we lowered tyre pressures and took our time. Karijini was one of the highlights of our 7.5 month trip.
Splottboy said
09:06 PM Apr 26, 2018
Now I am totally confused ... we had planned on staying there in June ?
PeterD said
09:38 PM Apr 26, 2018
What are you confused about? It is a primitive campground with the some long drop dunnies well placed amongst the van sites. The sites are grouped in areas along the loop roads. There is an area for generators, the rest is generator free. There is only one respondent that has anything against and he sounds like he was in an area that had a crowd overloading it or in the overflow area which is a short distance from the ranger station. There is no adverse comment at all in WikiCamps (I suggest you get a copy if you do not have one.)
You can not book so I suggest you find an overnight camp within an hour or two of Dales. Arrive by mid morning and you will most likely get a choice of sites.
Hi,
Has anybody stayed at Dayles Gorge Camping area at Karajini. I have tried to book into there on the National Parks website, and it says you cant book in advance. Its a busy time of the year that we want to stay there [early June] so having a booking would be great. Does anyone have any suggestions. We have a 2wd Motorhome....
We have stayed there, its a convenient basic campground, with just drop toilets, no other facilities. Its a very big campground with several loops of camping, some allow generators and some don't. We were there late in the tourist season and it was almost empty. My understanding is that except for school holidays you should always get in, they do have an overflow area if the main camping area happens to be full, but in June I feel you won't have any problems. The road to the campground is sealed, the camping loops are good gravel, no worries for 2wd.
There is an overflow area if you get in later and Dales is full. Will always find a spot but may have to move into Dales next day. If you take your time there is lots to see. Been camp hosting there many times and is my favorite place in Australia.
Neil
generators droning all day and night. no camp fires or other things to while away the later hours and truly smelly drop toilets.
Karinjini is however worth at least a few days of your time. Truly awesome gorges and swimming holes. wear your swimming gear on each gorge walk.
Best place to stay is at the Albert Tognilini Rest Area on the great northern hwy only a few km outside of the national park. Fantastic views and heaps of space well off the road. Safe to unhitch and day trip into the gorges of Karinjini NP.
Almost sounds like you stayed at a different campground to us. Our site was considerably larger than 3 x 6m, it fitted our 20 ft van with the awning out and our car comfortably, and were reasonable gravel. The toilets were about as clean as a drop toilet can be, the camp hosts were regularly doing the rounds cleaning. We were in a non generator loop, some loops do allow generators so in those I would expect generator noise. At $22 a night it isn't as cheap as a free camp, but I didn't think it was overly expensive either.
Agree about the awesome gorges and swimming holes.
Thanks for that correction Meredith ... great stuff
Thanks to everyone for their input..
Nope, was at the main Dales Camp.
Generators had their allocated area but the noise simply carried everywhere.
Even the camp host had two generators running 24/7. Silly twit had no idea about power requirements. Said his 3way fridge used too much gas and he was contracted for 3 months which meant he couldn't go get his gas bottles refilled and his batteries would only last a couple of hours.
No worse than so many inconsiderate campers these days that simply get around the no generator rules by starting their tug and letting it run at a fast idle for 3 hours. Worse than a generator.
Could barely fit our 16 footer in and certainly couldn't open the awning. All around were big wooden posts 1 foot away on offside and 3 feet out on door side. We had to park the tug on an angle to get most of it off the loop track.
Every car that arrived or departed had to drive right around the one-way loop track kicking up storms of dust regardless of how slow they drove. The entire camp area is all rock (well duh, of course it is, that's why we visit) which means any water released from previous campers flows widely across the ground making muddy boggy sites.
$22 a night for tiny unpowered sites covered in baseball sized muddy river rocks? I dunno if anyone else has every stopped at the massive Albert Tog rest area just down the road, but it is far superior and free.
There are plenty of comments in WikiCamps. The only one bad comment was in reference to the overflow camp site.
Wow sounds like a different place to when we stayed there last year. Being peak time we arrived mid morning and had no trouble getting a good spot. It was a bit tight getting out 21ft van in because of bollards but plenty of room once in and the sites were well spread out. The toilets were as clean as I have ever seen for drop toilets and the bucket of water and brush beside them helps. Certainly no smells. From memory we only paid $14/n concession. We were in the generator section but could only run it certain hours if we needed to. We thought it was a well run camp with camp hosts doing a great job.
The park itself is amazing and we loved exploring the gorges with some of them being quite difficult and rugged walks. The roads were in need of a good grade but we lowered tyre pressures and took our time. Karijini was one of the highlights of our 7.5 month trip.
Now I am totally confused ... we had planned on staying there in June ?
What are you confused about? It is a primitive campground with the some long drop dunnies well placed amongst the van sites. The sites are grouped in areas along the loop roads. There is an area for generators, the rest is generator free. There is only one respondent that has anything against and he sounds like he was in an area that had a crowd overloading it or in the overflow area which is a short distance from the ranger station. There is no adverse comment at all in WikiCamps (I suggest you get a copy if you do not have one.)
You can not book so I suggest you find an overnight camp within an hour or two of Dales. Arrive by mid morning and you will most likely get a choice of sites.
See the aerial view of the park.