29. September – 3. October

Gibb River Road

We bought some supplies in Fitzroy Crossing and then turned north to discover and explore the Western Kimberley’s and the Gibb River Road.

Tunnel Creek National Park was the first stop. And it was crowded; several tour busses and private cars but anyway we packed our backpack – this time the most important thing was the torch not the camera. We walked to the entrance, climbed over some stones and were covered by darkness and got cold wet feets. We waded through some knee- to waist deep pools and saw some sunlight again. But we heard some noises and it smelled a little bit – there was a bat colony living in the tunnel. We kept walking  through the tunnel until we saw a pool in the end where several kids enjoyed swimming. We decided the water was cool enough so didn’t join the kids. We had to return the same way (actually didn’t take the same way  turned left at some stones instead) but we saw more fishes in the water. But they were afraid of us and swam away before closer examination. Now a little bit of explanation: the tunnel creek goes for nearly 1km through the Napier Range. The sunlight in the middle is where the roof collapsed some years ago.

Our next stop was the Windjana National Park just 30km further north. Just before starting dinner the ranger walked by and informed us that a spectacle is about to happen in the gorge. We couldn’t miss that, could we? So we grabbed our torch and started to walk. We saw several freshies in the water – they were waiting for something… Just 5 minutes later we heard noises and it became a little bit darker. The bats were starting their nightly activities. After a days rest they had to drink and that was what the crocs were waiting for. We could hear several splashes of water, gasped and applauded some times although I’m not sure if we happy that a bat survived or a croc triumphed. If we would have had better vision we would have seen more successful crocs but it was getting darker every minute as it was past 6.00pm.

The other day we explored the gorge by daylight. I think we counted around 15 freshies or so. Most of them were sunbathing on the stones and some were laying in the water. But three decided to be good photo models and lied on the sand. We got really close, just 3m away. We then continued to walk along the gorge before returning. It’s assumed that this area belonged to an ancient limestone reef.

We stopped next at the Galvan’s Gorge which is just 1km walk away from the road. The gorge is horseshoe shaped and had a little waterfall. But we decided to drive along and headed to the Manning Gorge. Manning Gorge offers two swim areas – one at the campground and the other at the waterfall. We had our first swim at the campground as the walk is around 1.5h one way. So we walked in the morning. The walk starts on  the other  side of the swimming area and you had some choices to cross: swim, take a little boat or walk around. We walked around and then on top of the escarpment before heading down to the waterfall. But the waterfall didn’t had any water but the plunge pools were full.  We had the site for around 15 minutes just for us. We found some rock-paintings but they are not liked by the local aboriginals and they call them “rubbish-art” Obviously they were not painted by them or their ancestors. We returned to the campground using the boat for our camera and swam across.

Bell Gorge within the King Leopold Range Conservation Park was on our agenda as well. We had a look at the wide waterfall which was climbed by back-packers so we walked down to the lower pool and had a quick swim. Before returning to the car we had a little encounter with a  water-dragon. It decided to lay on a stone directly in front of us. Then we drove to the Lennard River Gorge but you can’t enter the gorge just enjoy the view. The gorge is  approx. 200m deep and really steep.

Next we came to Derby, the town with the highest tides in Australia – the difference can be up to 11m. We went to the Jetty at low and high tide and yes there was a difference although we didn’t arrive at the extreme tides. We also hugged a tree – a Boab tree. There are a lot of them in Derby and the streets were built around them. We even had a look at the prison tree. Boab  trees grow really old (500years +), are around 5m wide and might be hollow. Such trees were used as “prison trees”, so to speak an overnight prison.

Keep safe,

Cheers, Tom and Anja

27. – 28. September

Purnululu (Bungle Bungles) National Park

The Bungle Bungles are an old mountain range containing sandstone. Over the years the weather has formed the range into what we can see today – several beehive-shaped domes. The domes even have different  colouring – an orange band and a darker band. The darker bands indicate the presence of cyanobacterie which protects the stone from erosion. 

It was not very hard to reach the Bungle Bungles as most was on a sealed highway (but with some one-lane bridges) just the last 50km were on a gravel road… We arrived in the afternoon so we couldn’t do any walks but watched the sunset and the glowing of the domes.

Our first walk was the domes walk in the southern part of the park. The domes walk just goes around several domes, we had a good look at them and could see the different bands in them. We connected this walk with the Cathedral Gorge. To enter the Cathedral Gorge we had to walk trough a dried creek bed, which showed several pot-holes and then we entered the big amphitheatre. The gorge opened itself to form this massive round amphitheatre. I guess the acoustic must be great for a concert. We drove to the other side of the park and walked into the Echidna Chasm. This chasm is probably 2km long and really narrow (sometimes not wider than 2m). The colours inside the chasm are varying immense – depending how the sun shines into it. Some times the sun fills the chasm and you might think there is a lava flow… We then headed outside into the heat of the day and went on to the next stop.

Talk to you later,

Cheers, Tom and Anja

24. – 26. September

Western Australia – we are on our way!

We left Katherine along the Victoria Highway and stopped at Joe Creek for a picnic and a short walk along the escarpment. We walked uphill and then parallel to the cliff. The walk featured some aboriginal arts but they were not as visible as the one in Kakadu NP. We enjoyed the views and had a good look at the interpretive signs along the way.

Our night stop was a Big Horse Creek which was close to a big bridge over the Victoria River. We didn’t have a clue what the bridge was for as there was nothing on the other side… but someone is using it. We could hear the engines and voices. The next morning while refuelling we noticed who is using the bridge. Several military cars (like tanks) were parked behind us and waiting to use the bowsers.

The Gregory National Park should be a paradise for 4WD enthusiast. There are 6 marked tracks. We drove the Limestone track first but it was closed halfway in. It was only possible to walk the last kilometer to the gorge. We stopped at the Calcite Flow walk. This Calcite Flow looks like a white waterfall although there was no water. The stones must contain so many minerals that they deposited at the flow so it looks white. We also looked at several stromatolites (pre-historic lifeforms).

We tried the Bullita Stock Route as well. The description said, 90km with  some slow-going rocky sections. We only drove 5km and then turned around. The rocky section didn’t stop and it was not only rocky it was such a nightmare that the co-driver was outside putting the stones in or out of place… We used the Tuwakam track to return to the highway. But this track had the same conditions as the first. Unfortunately it was so narrow that we couldn’t turn the car but we manage without any damage to the car or the tyres.

On the further way west we stopped at the Keep River National Park and  did one walk. This walk lead us through the hills and was informative. After our lunchbreak we passed through the WA check-point and had to open our fridge. It’s not allowed to import honey or fresh fruits and vegetables into WA. And then we had to adjust our clocks to the WA time zone which is 90 minutes behind. So it was dark just after 6.00pm and the sun rises at 5.00am. How weird!

In Kununurra we had a look at the Mirima National Park which should be a smaller version of the Bungle Bungles. We did the short loop walk which features several town lookouts. It was amazing to see such a green town in this arid zone. But it lies in the Ord-River-Irrigation Scheme and there are diamante mines in the area. The film Australia was shoot here and the actors planted a little forest.

 

See you later,

Tom and Anja

21. – 23. September

We got all our supplies and could leave Darwin. Our first stop was the Butterfly Gorge. We were hoping for a refreshing swim but the water was not clear and you had to hop around stones so we just enjoyed the views and headed to Douglas Hot Springs to relax in this warm water. Luckily there was enough water left – it felt like being in a bathtub.

Then we drove to the Umbrawarra Gorge and stayed overnight. There  was no time left for any evening discoveries so we had our look and swim in the morning. To reach the swimming area we had to climb some rocks and to pass a big tree snake. The snake was sunbathing before we interrupted it and it escaped into the tree. After the swim we had a further look into the gorge. All of this should have been possible with dry feets – but I slipped off a stone and tumbled into the water. Good thing was that I was wearing my aqua-shoes.

Our next stop was Emily Falls. We had a quick swim before starting the loop-walk along the top of the falls. It’s said that salties don’t venture into this pool but you should look for freshies – but we didn’t see any of them. We just had the company of other tourists and the curious little fishes. The walk lead us to the upper pool which were not crowded so we had a nice swim as well. Just when we were dry a group of 8 backpackers arrived… We returned to the car  park and left for Katherine Gorge.

The Katherine Gorge is formed by the Katherine river and sometimes around 100m wide. It consists of 13 gorges but only 9 are accessible via an overnight walk, actually it might take more than 2 days. It’s possible to explore some gorge by boat – you can go on a cruise or paddle your kayak. But it was really expansive so we decided just to go the a lookout and take some pictures.

Have fun,

Cheers, Tom and Anja