Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek 19-20 September 2013

Drove back to the Gibb River Road after packing up and headed off in search of Windjana Gorge. There are several other gorges along the way, but many of them are closed due to bush fires, so we went right past. Stopped at Imintji Store to top up the tanks, and had to wait while a 4x4 tour bus/truck/monstrosity pumped over $400 of the good oil into it's belly from the only pump. Don't envy them one bit as they head the other way on the Gibb with their 2 inches of suspension travel on the back wheels before the tyres hit the guards. Not very well designed I'm thinkin.
Anyway, we eventually filled up and headed further west. The road is a lot better maintained at this end than the other, and we could keep to 80-90 kph most of the time. Still shaking, rattling and rolling, but a bit easier on the fillings than the first bit.

Queen Victoria's Head

Turned off the Gibb onto Leopold Station Road and headed to Windjana Gorge National Park for the night. Had to ransack the truck for change to pay the camping fee.
Two things you tend to take for granted in life these days are mobile coverage and eftpos. Well you shouldn't if you travel out this way!!!!!
After setting up and having some lunch we set out to explore the gorge by foot, and happy days, no rocks to climb, just a nice winding dirt path to follow. The rock walls here are a little different to the East Kimberleys as while the east end is mostly sedimentary, the ones around here are the remains of a barrier coal reef from the Devonian era (bloody long time ago), and you can even find fossilized marine critters in the rock walls.



The other thing you find are fresh water crocs. Packs of them sunning themselves on the edges of the remaining water holes.





 

What we did not find was the 3 meter python the ranger told us was in there. She claims that it is as thick as her thigh, so it must be an impressive sight.
Another potential suicide victim was camped in the park. Yep, another idiot on a bicycle. This one had a single wheel trailer (told you these guys were weird), so technically I suppose he was riding an in line articulated tricycle.

Next morning it was off to Tunnel Creek where you walk along an underground creek bed which goes from one side of the old reef to the other, largely in pitch darkness. You walk through several permanent water pools along the way which have various fish and crustaceons in them and can get as deep as waist high, but you only needed to cross a couple of knee deep bits if you go the right way. Fresh water crocs are not unknown in the pools either, but we didn't see any (our torches were pretty useless so they could have been hiding in the shadows). The other major life form in the tunnel are bats. There are  Western Cave bats, the common bentwing bats, horseshoe nosed bats, and Australia's only carnivorous bat - ghost bats. All hang noisily from the cieling waiting to adorn your shoulder with white blessings. Around half way through the tunnel the roof has collapsed and if you stand there and actually look up into the trees above you can see flying foxes/bats of one species or another going from tree to tree and occasionally skimming just overhead as they enter the cave to roost. Very impressive indeed.