Tunnel Creek and Windjana Gorge

Wednesday 12th
The Gibb River Road from Derby was bitumen until it split either heading south to Fitzroy Crossing or heading to Mt Barnett. The road is only 1 car width wide so you had to be looking ahead and if someone was coming you both got a wheel off into the dirt, passed , and then back on the road again. A lot of locals didn't even slow down, and they safely completed the  manoeuvre without waisting any time, in a cloud of dust!
We had planned to go as far as we could on the Gibb then if need come back passed Tunnel Creek down to Fitzroy Crossing. BUT in case we could get all the way through we had to do Tunnel Creek first.
The road was corrugated but Tim was prepared and let the tyres down and it made a lot of difference.

This is the start of Tunnel Creek. We had our lights and we were ready to go.

There were fish in the water and little waterfalls that you could hear as you walked through.

There was a lot of water you had to walk through and in the middle of the tunnel you can't really see in the water that you are walking through so we all had cheep closed in shoes for this. A real adventure for the kids. It had bats and stalagmites and stalactites. Really cool compared to outside.
We then headed back on the road heading north to Windjana camp grounds. As we were driving into Windjana a big goanna walked across the track and we stopped and wound down our windows and looked at him and he stopped and had a look at us.
Once we had set up camp we headed to the gorge to have a look and were told to expect to see crocodiles!

First we saw the sign.

Then we saw the crocodiles! About 40 all floating in the water. They are fresh water ones so they are not very big. They were very lazy and didn't move. We were up on about a 2m bank and were sitting on a fallen tree watching them. The kids would creep a little closer to the edge to try and see them better but being such diligent and caring parents that  we are we would quickly scold them and get them to move back an extra 2 steps than needed just to be safe. We were all happily watching them in the serenity that a gorge has to offer when there was a huge crack which startled us all followed by the sound of a body rolling helplessly towards the water. I turned around and yelled  "TIM!" and just watch him roll down the 2m bank with 15L of water strapped to his back, arms and legs flying, as he plummets towards the crocodile infested waters...........................................................
He stops 30cm from the water and we all hold our breath. The crocodiles didn't even move but we inspect Tim's body for any broken limbs, crocodile bites that might of happened even though we didn't see any movement there, before we laugh about having to tell the parents to stand back next time and don't lean on broken branches above crocodile infested waters!

So after all that excitement we went back to camp with the view of the gorge walls behind us.
Day 1 on the Gibb and it all held together well!