Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek

The spectacular West Kimberley was once part of an ancient reef, 350million years old. Winjana Gorge soars 100m above the Lennard River, and during the dry season is full of freshwater crocodiles. Although not considered dangerous there is no way anyone would swim here..we saw at least one croc every 10m...all laying just under the water. There were also hundreds of bats here...wow, they are noisy. A bit like a newborn baby's cries...I didn't like the sound too much at all!
The view from the campground..


You can see us here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgQ2KSdokuk&sns=em






We visited tunnel creek early in the morning..hoping to avoid the crowds with their torches. Tunnel Creek is where the famed Jandamarra, an aboriginal freedom fighter, hid from police for over 2 years. This whole area has an extremely sad and violent history which we have found quite upsetting at times. There is a memorial plaque at the ruined historic police station for a police officer killed during these violent times...but no mention made of the hundreds (if not thousands) of indigenous people forcibly removed, enslaved and often murdered in this region.

Tunnel Creek is a 750m tunnel which is pitch black and full of bats. Wading through water with our torches (and all alone) it was a slightly frightening, and pretty exciting experience. At one stage we turned off the torches, hoping to catch a glimpse of a ghost bat. We were slowly wandered on the sand when all of a sudden there was a loud shuffling, and a splash right in front of us...we quickly turned on our torches, and discovered a 1.5m long crocodile! I'm not sure who was more startled...but it scared the pants off all of us!!
We made it all the way through to the other side, where we relaxed for a while, and had a look at some rock art...then made the trip back passing a couple of tour groups along the way.








One thing we have discovered here is that if there's nowhere to swim, we can't stay too long. The weather has been so hot and dry...around 35 degrees during the day...which is not much fun when you're camping!
Having seen everything we wanted to see...we have decided to head over to broome 3 days earlier than planned. I can't tell you how excited we all are...to see the coast at last!

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