FITZROY CROSSING (WINDJANA GORGE AND TUNNEL CREEK)

The oldest Pub in the Kimberley

Windjana Gorge

Ben on "Croc Patrol"

Beth looking for fossils in the limestone walls of the gorge

The beautiful Windjana Gorge

One of the many freshwater crocodiles

A congregation of crocodiles

DAY 47 – FITZROY CROSSING (WINDJANA GORGE AND TUNNEL CREEK)      Thursday, 18^th August

Bugger!!  Forgot the camera today!  So the photos are just from the kids’ cameras.  After a slow start, we headed out to Windjana Gorge, again on a 4WD road with creek crossings.  Everyone had said the road was pretty average.  I think our trip out to Palm Valley in the West Macdonnell Ranges was excellent preparation for us.  That was “extreme” four wheel driving so now everything else seems tame!!

Tess dying of thirst on the walk

Windjana Gorge was just stunning.  We did a walk beside the Lennard River in between the enormous limestone cliffs.  Just gorgeous – pun intended.  Walking along the riverside I think we counted 31 freshwater crocodiles sunning themselves on the sand, oblivious to all.  It was a pretty hot walk so we had lunch in the car on our way to Tunnel Creek.  We read all about Jandamarra and the conflict he lived with daily.  He was an Aborigine who became an expert stockman and best friends with Richardson, the manager of the station.  There was much conflict between the Aborigines and the white pastoralists and when Richardson became a police officer, he and Jandamarra, as the tracker, were very successful at rounding  up “troublemakers”.  On one such occasion, Jandamarra was convinced by his people to let them go and he killed Richardson in the process.  He then became a leader and hero for his people, refusing to allow them to be captured.  He was hunted for three years and hid around Windjana Gorge area until he was finally killed outside the entrance to Tunnel Creek.

We went to Tunnel Creek which is a subterranean creek so we needed torches!  You walk through the dark into permanent pools of water for about 750 metres until you reach the other entrance. They saw bats but not the olive pythons or fresh water crocs that were apparently there. Mummy decided that she did not really need to challenge herself any more than she was already doing, but I was so proud of the kids who all went with David through to the other side.  Although nervous at the beginning, they were professionals by the end and so proud of themselves that they had done it!