In addition to the miracle of a reliable waterfall in this part of the Outback in the heart of the very remote Pilbara region (it's several hours away from the port towns on the coast and still another hour or so away from the mining towns of Tom Price, Paraburdoo, and Newman), we were amazed to still find a crowd at the falls. We expected to be one of a few people to get all the way out here, but I guess the out-of-the-way distance as well as the desert doesn't stop this place from being immensely popular for both photography and for swimming.

Once at the car park (see directions below), an easy-to-follow trail on red sand leads to an overlook area, where you can look down at the gorgeous waterfall and its pool. A short 800m track continues further down the Dales Gorge towards the top of the waterfall. From there, additional class 2 or 3 scrambling on the red rock benches is necessary to access the base of the falls.

Directions: Fortescue Falls sits in Karijini National Park, which is some 275km south of Port Hedland and some 100km east of Tom Price (which is a rougher mining town and one that we happened to stay at) or Paraburdoo (which might be better suited for tourists as we saw a tour bus here). The road connecting the Great Northern Highway (skirting the eastern boundaries of the park) with Tom Price or Paraburdoo (both towns a fair bit west of the park) is Karijini Drive.

The sealed Banjima Drive is somewhere around 20-30km west on Karijini Drive from the Great Northern Highway or around 80km or so east of the Paraburdoo-Tom Price Road. The car park for the falls is reached by a well-signed spur to the Dales Gorge, which is an additional 10km drive east.