6 June
We left Birdwood Station this morning and headed for Windjana Gorge National Park and as it was not a long journey, arrived early and had some of the best sites to choose from. This was another National Park that had great facilities that included flushable toilets and hot showers and were really well maintained. These parks are looked after by volunteers that camp on site also and are only too willing to help if there is a problem. While talking to the volunteers they suggested that we go to Tunnel Creek first and then come back and walk Winjana Gorge once the temperature had dropped a bit later in the day.
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| Tunnel Creek |
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| Tunnel Creek |
After setting up camp we drove the 30 odd kilometers to Tunnel Creek. Tunnel Creek runs from one side of the Napier Range through Western Australia's oldest cave system to the other side. Donning our head torches the walk through the caves found us wading through waist deep water (nearly neck deep for Declan) that was quite chilly but definitely worth it. There were stalagmites and stalagtites and even waterfalls inside the caves. At first the red eyes that were lit up by the torches were a bit disconcerting but upon closer inspection we found it to be fresh water yabbies. We had lunch by the river after walking back through the tunnel system and then headed back to our campsite.
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| Windjana Gorge |
Winjana Gorge is a very pretty walk and only a short distance from where we stayed. The walk took us through some grasslands before entering a narrow crack in the rocks and into the gorge. At first we were walking along a narrow track next to towering limestone cliffs that belong to the same Devonian Reef we experienced at Geike Gorge. From there we found ourselves on a sandy beach where there were dozens of freshwater crocodiles making the most of the last of the suns rays for the day. They did not move for anybody and we could get up quite close to take photos.
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| Freshwater Crocodile |
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