Joffre Falls

Karijini National Park / Tom Price, Western Australia, Australia

About Joffre Falls

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Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

Joffre Falls was an attractively tall seasonal waterfall tumbling into a natural amphitheater at the head of the red-cliffed Joffre Gorge.

It was said to be around 50m tall so that set it apart from many of the other reasonably accessible but short waterfalls in the state of Western Australia (or WA).

Joffre_Falls_010_06102006 - Joffre Falls
Joffre Falls

That said, like the other waterfalls of Karijini National Park, a distinguishing feature of the falls was the contrast of bold colors.

Specifically, this contrast consisted of the bright reds of the gorge cliffs, the green of the foliage growing atop the gorge itself, and the blues of the cloudless skies as well as the bluish hues of the shadows we encountered during our visit.

Timing Joffre Falls for flow

We happened to have timed our trip to maximize the likelihood of the waterfall flowing (i.e. as close to the Wet Season as possible) while also trying to maximize the waterfall’s accessibility on unsealed roads (i.e. as deep into the Dry Season as possible).

It certainly seemed like the deeper into the Dry Season you get, the drier the falls would become.

So given these competing requirements, the state you see the falls in on this website reflected how well we timed our visit in June 2006.

That said, admittedly, we were helped by an unusual late season cyclone (Cyclone Monica) in early May.

Timing Joffre Falls for lighting

Joffre_Falls_016_06102006 - Closeup of Joffre Falls in an attempt to resolve the dark shadowy areas at the expense of blowing out the bright areas
Closeup of Joffre Falls in an attempt to resolve the dark shadowy areas at the expense of blowing out the bright areas

The timing also impacted our waterfall visit in a different way.

In this sense, we happened to show up a little bit too late in the afternoon.

As you can see from the photos on this page, there were shadows that dominated the Joffre Gorge, which conspired to subject our photos to the extremes of light and dark contrasts.

In other words, the shadowy regions were either too dark or the light regions were too washed out.

We couldn’t achieve a happy medium of the light and dark zones.

Thus, our photos were always split by shadows, and I’d imagine that the best time of day to photograph the falls would be right at the height of the day where shadows would be less of a problem.

Not A Swimming Hole

We were easily able to appreciate the falls from a lookout platform just a short walk from its car park (see directions below).

As for going into the gorge itself, from what we could tell, it wasn’t safely possible.

Thus, this place could not really be looked upon like a swimming hole, unless the other waterfalls of Karijini National Park.

Authorities

Joffre Falls resides in Karijini National Park near Tom Price in Western Australia. It is administered jointly by the Western Australia Government with the Banjima, Innawongka, and Eastern Guruma People. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website.

Maps and Routing Content are for annual subscribers. See Membership Options.
Content is for subscribers. See Membership Options.
Tagged with: karijini, tom price, paraburdoo, pilbara, port hedland, outback, western australia, australia, waterfall, mining, joffre, oxley



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Johnny Cheng

About Johnny Cheng

Johnny Cheng is the founder of the World of Waterfalls and author of the award-winning A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls. Over the last 2 decades, he has visited thousands of waterfalls in over 40 countries around the world and nearly 40 states in the USA.
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