Tunnel Creek and Windjana Gorge 22.8.12

We booked into the National Park campground, set up and unhitched the vans. Once again hot showers and flush loos. No doubt the WA National Parks are a step ahead of the other states.

After a quick lunch we drove the 16 kms to Tunnel Creek and headed off with backpacks, headlamps and torches to explore. It's an easy walk of 750mtrs one way, except for the scramble over boulders at the entry to the tunnel. From then on the walk is along the creek bed in almost complete darkness. Water levels varied from ankle deep to hip-high for the shortest of us (Nanette), with sand and rock underfoot. There are stalactites and stalagmites, one small one reminiscent of the tiers at Pamulkale in Turkey. We saw the Ghost bats hanging from the roof of the tunnel and four small freshwater crocodiles. Small pockets in the stone ceiling were full of grass and debri left by floodwater. Half way along the roof of the tunnel has collapsed and we emerged into bright sunlight briefly, before walking again into blackness. It's a most unusual experience..quite spooky, and we were glad we had done it once before with a guide with our 'Butterworth Reunion Friends' in 2007.

 

Back to camp for cold beers, showers and dinner cooked on the campfire...spaghetti-Bol!

We spend a lot of time viewing the night sky and have learned a lot thanks to resident expert Kerry. There is a triangle of stars which includes Mars, and we regularly check the configuration to see the changes. Sometimes Mars is the point of the triangle and sometimes it lines up with the other two stars in a straight line. Stargazing is our most common form of night-time entertainment apart from watching the 'bush TV'. ( campfire)!

Next morning we packed up before walking into Windjana Gorge. It's a spectacular 3.5km gorge forged by the Lennard River through an ancient Devonian reef. As we walked into the gorge we could see the height of the reef, now above water. It"s amazing. We saw lots of 'Freshies' lounging around at the water's edge and walked further in to where the flying fox colony is. You can smell it before you see it and the trees were dotted with squabbling creatures wrapping and re-wrapping their wings around themselves in an effort to sleep. Below them in the river were very large Barramundi and cruising crocs. We searched in vain for the Olive Pythons which we were told were coiled in the trees nearby, waiting for a feast of bat meat. There were lots of double-barred finches in the trees as we walked along too. The walk from the campground to the gorge and back is along a track through savanna grasses. They are beautiful in the sunlight, bending with the breezes.

Back to camp for showers and into the last leg of the Gibb R R to Derby. There was some dirt and then onto the blacktop at last! What joy to have a smooth ride. The road is mostly one lane of tar so we had to move over several times for road trains to let them pass but the reduction in dust was very welcome.