Family Fun and Adventure: Tunnel Creek and Windjana Gorge 1st and 2nd August 2014

We left Fitzroy Crossing the morning of August 1st and headed for Windjana Gorge. It was only 140km although it was on red dirt with corrugations. Along the way we stopped at Tunnel Creek, a cave system that could be explored as long as you were prepared to get your feet wet and use a torch to help you find your way.

It didn't take long before we all got wet feet, Strick and the kids prolonging the inevitable climbing over big boulders while mum and I just went through the water to begin with. It was an amazing site with the stalactites, bats and a big dark cave system. We walked to the end to find the creek open up into some great scenery. Poor Hannah walking through the water in the cave had the water come up to her bottom so not only did she have wet feet, but also wet pants as well (lucky it was warm enough that they didn't take long to dry). It was a warm day, so the water and the caves were a nice place to be.

When we came out of the walk we took off our soggy socks and shoes and replaced them with the good old thongs once again. We were only 30km from Windjana Gorge so decided to move on and have lunch when we got there.

That 30km though took us about an hour with the state of the road being similar to that going up to Kalumburu.

Once set up kids had time to up date their diaries and have some chill time and attempt to stay out of the heat.

Saturday we ventured into Windjana Gorge to complete the 7km walk into the Gorge. Again due to the heat we left early so that we could try and beat the heat. It was a walk that was along a dry, sandy river bed along with along the bank of the river. We didn't have to walk far before seeing crocs. The Ranger had told us there were over 100 croc in the Gorge system at present. The kids counted about 30 in the first pool of water. At the beginning of the walk there were a few information signs and the kids found a fossil of a fish in the rock wall. The walk was comfortable while in the shade, but as soon as you ventured into the sun it was quite warm. Hannah was wilting (this was a good test to decide whether we were going back to Mitchell Falls or not as if we did Hannah would have to go in and out as we had no one to fly out with her). The path kept disappearing and we would find it again. We ended up walking for about 2 hours with no success of reaching the end (I don't think we were far away but we still had to walk back).

On the way back Hannah seemed to get a second wind and even though we thought she was tired it was her that found a snake on the path. It was what we believe to be an orange python. She did well with not panicking and bought it to my attention and we waited for it to move away. Talking the Ranger later we found out there was another one in the same area and one back in the camp area.

We got back from our walk about 12pm (it only took us an hour to walk out after 2 hours in). We were all hot and exhausted. Cool showers were on the agenda and that is what we did and tried to stay out of the heat. Jacob I think had about 3 showers for the afternoon as he was warm. I made a cake on the stove top in my saute pan for afternoon tea (that didn't last past this point). We just waited then for the sun to go down for some relief from the heat (it was probably our first day where the heat had got to us) Strick and mum had 4 beers between them so they were rationed out while we watched our entertainment for the afternoon of people coming into the park and setting up their camps (it is interesting how different people like their set ups and the different set up that are around).

Although the camp ground is in a National Park and is a cheap camp the facilities are great with flushing toilets and solar heated showers.

Sunday was back into Derby to get the car fixed on Monday.