WINDJANA GORGE AND TUNNEL CREEK

Having re-stocked and refueled we were heading to Tunnel Creek and Windjana Gorge. Whilst in the IGA supermarket doing some shopping, we came upon a kangaroo tail in the supermarket. We have again seen these here in Derby, must be a snack that our indigenous brothers whoof into.

Several people had said the road into Tunnel Creek and Windjana Gorge was rough, so we decided to leave the van at Fitzroy Crossing and take the tent. We arrived at Tunnel Creek and prepared for the hike into the Tunnel. The hike requires a bit of a rock scramble and then a walk through a rock tunnel or cave that is about 400 metres long. While most of the tunnel is sandy, there are parts where we were required to wade through water upto waist deep. To add to the experience there are crocs that inhabit the water. We didn't actually see any, and I seriously doubt if there are crocs as the water was very cold, but lots of people claim that they are there. It was very interesting and refreshingly cool in the tunnel, and it's quite unique.

We got to Windjana Gorge early afternoon and setup camp for the night. Later that afternoon we met the local ranger who suggested we sneak into the gorge at night. It was amazing, we saw so many crocs. We could see them clearly in the water, and then when we shined the torchs across to the bank you could see all the eyes. We estimated that we saw at least 30 crocs that night.

Next morning we hiked into the gorge. Again we spotted plenty of crocs sunning themselves in the morning sun. I managed to get within 2 metres of a small croc just lying on the bank. Windjana Gorge is amazingly scenic, and very different to the other gorges we had visited as you can hike through whereas most others you do are by boat. We hiked up the gorge for about 2 klms and then returned.

We packed up our tent and headed back to Fitzroy Crossing. The road going back was a shocker. Its strange as going in was ok, but going back was very rough. We did however manage to spot about 20 brumby's on the return journey. We stopped and watched them graze for 5 or 10 minutes before we had to restart the corregations. We are seriously over corregated roads, they are so uncomfortable to drive on. Sometimes the slower you go the worst they are, but then you can't get the speed up to get across the top,due to the corners and creek crossings.

We arrived back at Fitzroy Crossing and gave the car a bit of a wash, and sorted out all the gear ready to push on to Derby. Lynette and Warren had taken their van into Windjana and were going straight onto Derby so we will catch up to them the next day.

Derby is the gateway to Horizontal Falls, and we have booked this adventure.

Google Horizontal Falls to find out all about it.