Windjana Gorge

From Fitzroy Crossing to Tunnel Creek it’s a dry dusty rutted road dotted with Boab trees. This is Boab country. I can’t help but look at each one like a character from some story book. They are amazing , weird, funny, majestic and they can store up to 100000 litres of water. Geez!
As we drive into Tunnel Creek the landscape completely changes with these trees and gorges. It’s the land that time forgot.
At Tunnel Creek there are some fears to be faced! This is a tunnel running under the rocky gorge and filled with water for about 800 metres. Does not sound like much, but it’s cool and dark and we must wade sometimes head height through the water to the other end and back. For me it’s claustrophobia that is my enemy and Andrew not a fan of swimming ( in the darkness) albeit he did have the monster of all torches thanks to Makita. Andrew insisted that once upon a time he traversed out the other side and over the top to the car park below. The stuff of dreams! After trudging nearly 1 km in our wet boots and clothes ( now almost dry in the baking sun) and falling into the spiked Spinifex grass, I’d had enough! It’s back through the dark wet tunnel to face our fears again. It’s certainly an awesome thing to do but beware the black snake guarding the entrance. Yikes.
From here we followed the road into Windjana Gorge campground ( sooooo crowded). It’s from here you can hike into the gorge itself. It really is extraordinarily spectacular and we saw it with lots of water ( unusual) and some freshwater crocs. The recent flood has decimated the vegetation here. Huge fig trees and gums were reefed from their roots and tossed as the Lennard river rose in force, paving its way into the gorge. Since this event last year, young saplings have grown quite tall and the gorge is rejuvenating. Whilst this was a stunning place to visit, for me the crowds of people did spoil ( bugger those school holidays).Read more