We left Broome around 9:30am and made a beeline for Derby. Had a look at the prisoners boab tree just before the Gibb rd turnoff. Had pies from the Derby bakery and went out for a drive to the jetty.
Then we started what we have been working towards for the whole trip! The Gibb river road!
The turn off to Windjana was about 125km along the Gibb road and majority of the road was bitumen to the turn off. On the road to Windjana it became dirt and got a little corrugated but no where near what we have done before.
We got to the turn off for the campsite and had to self register. You need to have exact money to pay as there is no one monitoring to give change. The ranger comes around later in the evening to check passes. We got there in time to set up and watch the sunset on the Napier range. There was discussion had as to length of time we were going to stay and what walks we were going to do and when. It was decided that we would stay an extra night so we could just relax for the night then do the walk into Windjana gorge in the morning then head up the road to tunnel creek in the afternoon without having to pack up and rush through things.
While driving around trying to find a place to set up in the quiet area of the camp site, we saw a fire pit in the middle of a large open space. As we stopped near it a woman came running out from behind a tree saying you don't want to camp to close we are having a big fire tonight. The group of caravan/trailers that seemed to be surrounding the fire pit were set up miles from the actual pit taking out heaps of area where people could have set up camp. We found a different spot near our own fire pit but as soon as we left they raced out with chairs and started the fire as if to claim it for themselves.
We got set up, cooked salmon and rice for dinner and relaxed with a few wines around our fire pit.
The next morning it was great not to have to rush. But we still managed to be up by 6:30am. We watched the sunrise over the range, had breakfast and then all walked into the gorge where we got to see crocodiles galore! A very easy walk and nice to do in the cool of the morning.
We got back to camp about 10:30ish and were going to go straight to tunnel creek but people started doing things so we made lunch and relaxed in the shade for a bit then made the journey to tunnel creek about 12:30 pm. This was a really cool adventure. We had been told that the water on the tunnel was still pretty high so we dressed for this and got Sam into his swimmers but the water wasn't as high as we thought. It was great fun to explore through the pitch black tunnel wading through the murky water. A beautiful spot at the end of the tunnel to just sit and relax for a while.
We finished by 2:40pm and headed back to camp just stopping for some firewood on the way. Tonight we can just relax again and have a nice leisurely pack up tomorrow.
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