One of the lesser-known National Parks in Western Australia is Kennedy Range National Park. It seems to be one of those places that is perfectly positioned to be largely overlooked by many would-be casual travellers and photographers. Perhaps I'm being a little over-dramatic, but there seems to be little awareness of it amongst the circles I travel in. Perhaps it's because of its relative isolation, and if you're going to drive that far north from Perth, why not go a little extra distance to Karijini? Or Coral Bay and Exmouth, with their excellent diving, very accessible snorkeling, and whale sharks? Or why not stop short at Kalbarri to visit Nature's Window and have the convenience of a nearby supermarket and swimming beaches? As a destination, I think it is well worth looking into. I took the chance of a visit, and made the journey up to Kennedy Range National Park, staying three nights there in the increasing September heat and then visiting once again nearly exactly a year later. And I really enjoyed it! It is well worth the detour from the normal touring routes to see the grand buttresses of the plateau, and although I have only visited the Park twice, I think it worthwhile to present a guide to photography there.
Getting there:
Driving across from Carnarvon is the most straight-forward means, through Gascoyne Junction, and then heading north along 60 kms of gravel road that my small hatchback handled just fine. The campsite there is sparsely equiped, and only has toilets and designated areas to park your camper or pitch your tent, so everything will need to be brought in with you.
Getting around the park itself is simple, with 2WD-suitable gravel roads leading to the gorges and viewing points north and south of the park. There are also walkways that lead to all of the areas from the camground as well, so using your feet to get around is also easy.
It's no surprise that this area is more suited for sunrises, simply because there is a rather tall wall, and you are on the eastern side of it. You're mostly looking to catch the sun's light on that wall, or looking out toward the sunrise itself. There is little opportunity to see or appreciate the horizon to the west, and certianly no chance of getting any elevated perspective looking west outside of what a drone may provide. Still, there is opportunity for any time of day here!
In regard to the views in the park, there are fantastic views and sights to photograph nearly anywhere, and certainly from the ground level. The amount of plant-life here is relatively sparse, and for the most part it doesn't heavily restrict the views toward the plataeu walls. Because of this, you don't need to climb anything to get some great shots. Parking up beside the road and walking 20 metres can give you a great point of view. Besides, I do not recommend actually trying to scale the plateau wall - even the slopes of scree rock that lead up to the wall become steeper as you near it, and even slipping could leave you a few metres further down the slope nursing some cuts.
Oh, and I certainly recommend having a fly net handy. The little pests are quite numerous here.
However, let's start by looking at some particular areas.
Sunrise View
The Sunrise View area is the furthest north of the designated general Park area. There is a car
park at the foot of the buttress wall and then a short walkway up to a level gravel area a little further up. This gives good views of both the south and north plateau walls. However, some more scaling would be needed to get even better views of the northern face. Even before the sun rises, the buttress walls catch the pre-dawn light in a deep red glow that matures into a luminous orange once the sun breaks over the horizon. During the summer months when the sun is rising to the south-east, I found that the northern view from this point was much better than looking south, as the cut-out that forms Honeycomb Gorge to the south simply did not catch the dawn light. During the depths of winter, this would not be the case, and the views in both directions would be fantastic.
Using the walkway between Sunrise View and Honeycomb Gorge to the south will bring you to another gravel mound that is intended as an elevated viewing point. The buttress on the edge of the plateau here is quite striking, and catches the morning light. It will also catch the last of the evening light as the sun sets over the plateau, and is one of the few times that I have actually purposefully shot for a monochrome output.
Honeycomb Gorge
To the south is Honeycomb Gorge. This was completely dry when I was there, and unfortunately I did not find any composition that interested me. When flowing, the waterfall would be quite dramatic, although you would likely need a very wide angle lens to capture its sheer size. The cut-out in the plateau makes for an ideal wide-angle panoramic location for a sunset, if you can get some colour in the sky.
Further south is the juction where three roads intersect, and it was one of my favourite locations to shoot. Here the plateau ends in a dramatic spur, with one side facing east and catching the pre-dawn glow. Parking up on the side of the road and walking out onto the plain gives a fantastic view, although again, this is probably more suited to the summer months when the sun is rising further to the south.
Temple Gorge
Further to the south again lies the campground, and the access to Temple Gorge. I walked the gorge, and was largely left without any kind of impression. The gorges are spectacular, however they don't really compare to Karijini in a sense of intimacy or Kalbarri is its sense of scale. The fact that there was no water flowing added to this, and the pools that lay at the end were stagnant and murky - it felt more dead than dormant. There is certainly potential in Temple Gorge with the junction where the two gorges fork off, and climbing up the wall does give an impressive view that would be worth pursuing a sunset or even a sunrise ( at the right time of year ) with. I visited for a second time in September, and at this time of year the sun pokes through the gap in the gorge, and even before the sunrise the pre-dawn glow illuminates the front edge of the rock with a deep, rich, red colouring.
The Escarpment
From the camp itself, there is a walkway that leads south along the base of the wall to a gorge that cuts up onto the top of the plateau. This is the walk that leads to the Escarpment, and is one of the best points in the park to view the sunrise. I made the walk up there twice - once during the afternoon to scout, and then the next morning before dawn to view the sunrise. The top of the escarpment is flat, with a well-defined track that follows its northern side and leads to a bench with fantastic views down toward the campground. I wandered a bit further around to the south side of the escarpment that looks down over the road leading to Draper's Gorge. The sunrise was fantastic, and the resulting photo is one of my all-time favourite photos. This is a great sunrise spot, and if you have the opportunity to view one from here and the privelege of having a good sunrise; what a thrill! I did not explore the top of the plateau from this point. I recall it being an undulating plain with no real landmarks or features, that simply vanished into the distance. However, a satellite view does show the distint ripples, and there certainly is part of me that would like to know what they look like up close!
The last area of the Park is Draper's Gorge. The road leading in to the gorge has some good views looking north, and can be worthwhile stopping along for some snaps. The gorge itself again was dry when I visited. I made the walk, but had no desire to return. Again, the grandeaur and allure of the plateau walls outweighed any draw that the gorges had on me.
And how about the night sky?
Being so distant from civilization, the skies are nearly free from light pollution, although looking west may pick up a little light from Carnarvon. The fantastic thing here is that the best direction to shoot panoramas of the Milky Way arch is west, when the arch drops lower in the sky, and so this place is ideal for that pursuit. You can include the buttresses in the composition, and there is certainly a lot of potential for some incredible photos.
Final thoughts . . .
Kennedy Range National Park is a great spot to spend a few days; but for those who just want to visit, this may be the limit. In reality, there is not a great deal to see, and a full day of walking the gorges will pretty much cover what the Park has to offer. In the dry season, there are no water holes to swim in, and there is not really any larger areas or nearby places to visit. However, I would recommend visiting it in conjunction with a roadtrip north, as it is not that far off the route up the coast, or pair it with heading a little further inland to Mt Augustus, which is also worth visiting. Either way, make a stop in here, because it is well worth it!