Spa Pool

Quite possibly the most iconic location in beautiful Karijini National Park, the Spa Pool is a stunning natural pool in Hamersley Gorge. A small but deep, round pool it features a beautiful waterfall and is a popular place for a swim in the warmer months. I have visited Spa Pool over 10 times now during many trips to Karijini however never captured a photo from the classic view looking into the pool. In May of 2025, I conducted our annual Karijni Photography tour with a great group of photographers from across Australia. After the tour concluded, I headed back out to Karijini for a night to spend some time shooting for my own collection (I don't take my own photos while running tours). I spent the afternoon in beautiful Dale's Gorge then went to bed soon after getting back to my tent, in preparation for an early start the next day. I rose at 4:30am and made the 1 hour drive from the Eco Retreat out to Hamersley Gorge so I would be there at the perfect time. When I arrived, the pre-dawn glow was lighting up Spa Pool perfectly. It's a tricky area to navigate with steep, slippery rock ledges and as I was trying a couple of different angles I suddenly lost my balance and began to fall off a ledge. I had my tripod in my hand with my Fuji GFX 100s and 20-35mm Lens secured on top. Although I landed without injury myself, the impact of the tripod hitting the ground resulted in the camera/lens flying off the top and landing in the stream coming out of the Spa Pool! By the time I realised what had happened and retrieved the camera and lens from the water, it was probably in there for at least 5 seconds. The lens had a huge dent in the front making it an instant write off, however the camera miraculously survived! Thankfully, despite the unfortunate incident I was still able to walk away with this unique composition of a popular location.