It, as always, was funny to watch how the scenery can change in such a quick way. We knew we had really hit the Kimberlies when all you could see for miles where the Boab trees. On the way into Derby we stopped at the 'Prison Tree'. It has a very sad history from the late 1800's involving the early settlers and Aboriginal people.
Next stop was Derby. We literally came, saw & went.
It was hard to believe that after all of the talking, all of the planning and all of the anticipation that we where actually about to start heading on the Gibb River Road. Of course it involved stopped for the 'must have' picture in front of the signs, even if we are technically doing it backwards.
Much to our surprise 90% of the road into heading towards the Windjarna Gorge turnoff is actually a real road. No dirt road, no mud holes, no corrugations but a reasonably smooth ride. With no stops between Derby and our final destination we made good time and arrived just before 2pm.
Windjarna Gorge is a National Park so there was a choice of silent & generator camping. We ended up with the later due to our traveling partners {which given the lack of sun did work in our favour also over the course of the trip} and it meant that we managed a nice big area all to ourselves. I was even more impressed that it had flushing toilets, hot showers and even drinking water available. Pretty good for $24/night.
After we had set everything up we decided on a walk up into the Gorge, which at the time I didn't know has over 100 freshwater crocodiles living in it. No swimming for anyone traveling with this group {although there did appear to be some people game enough to do so}. The children did all however have fun playing in the mud just on the edge of the water {even with the crocodiles just behind them floating in the water}
Day two saw us pack up and head over to explore what Tunnel Creek had to offer. Now we might have been on the road for sometime but given our set up we have not really had a need for headlamps or even water proof torches... Turns out that Tunnel Creek is actually a very dark tunnel full of water. After my initial freak out it was absolutely amazing to walk through here & explore everything that the darkness had to offer and even better the random spots of light that came during the walk. The smalls loved it, even if Kyla took a wrong step not long after we entered and ended up soaking wet!
However this did also mean that we had another unexpected day spent here, hard life for some. A morning washing and an afternoon crocodile tormenting, perfect!
Next stop on the journey is Silent Gorge......
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