We are now back in Derby for the third time!  Yes, we left Derby on schedule on the Thursday, 9th of August and headed to Windjana Gorge on the Gibb River road.  We then visited Tunnel Creek and Bell Gorge.  However at Bell Gorge I crawled under the car to perform my usual inspection and found to my dismay that the exhaust pipe exiting the main muffler had almost broken off. 

This isn't a show stopper, but we weren't willing to wait for it to fall apart and then be arrested for noise pollution!  Also, we are interested in looking at the wildlife and didn’t want to scare it away long before we arrive at the various places.  Kylie of course jumped out and wanted to effect repairs, but didn't have the right tools or skills.  ps. don't tell her!

Kylie with scissors and a pencil, trying to fix the exhaust!

Thus, we decided to return back to Derby to have the exhaust fixed, but also stopped at the Lennard Gorge on the way back.  We had skipped that gorge on the way to Bell Gorge from Windjana Gorge.  This was due to wanting to be early in the Bell Gorge camping ground and get the best camping spot.  

We had planned to double back to Lennard Gorge when leaving Bell Gorge  on our way to the next stop i.e. Mornington Wilderness Camp.  However we headed right back to Derby and yes, the exhaust hasn't still fallen apart, but we are waiting on a new rear section that is arriving tomorrow,  Friday from Perth and will be installed asap.  Thus we plan to leave Derby again on Saturday 18th of August, this time drive all the way to the Mornington Wilderness Camp if we can.  Otherwise we will simply stop somewhere overnight and then continue.

To-date we have done the Horizontal Falls adventure trip, here out from Derby, explored Windjana Gorge, Tunnel Creek, Bell Gorge and Lennards Gorge.  So we have been quite busy for the past few days.  Following is a summary of our adventures.

Horizontal Falls Adventure Trip.  Wednesday 8^th of August.

This trip was due  to commence with a pickup at the caravan park at 8:15am.  However, around 7:30am the tour company called and advised that there was a delay due to fog in Broome.  It turns out that the seaplane came from Broome and couldn’t take off on time due to the fog.  The bus did arrive at 9:30am to pick us up and take us to the Derby airport.  After a short wait, the seaplane landed, unloaded, re-fuelled and we went on-board for our 30 minute flight to Talbot Bay, where the Horizontal Fall is located.  The pilot initially wanted me to sit in the middle of the plane, but after some re-thinking, he gave me the whole rear seat.  That gave me plenty of leg room and views on both sides of the aircraft.  

Flying over the mudflats on the way provided a great view of the interaction of the floodplain and the land.  Especially where the tides come and go.  The forks in the channels reminded me of the Mandelbrot set.  You can see it for yourself in the photos.  

The seaplane landed on the bay and coasted to the pontoon, which the tour company has put in place in the middle of the bay.  We boarded the pontoon and were told that due to the late arrival, we would spend an hour there before going to view the falls.  This was due to the timing of the tides.  We were told to watch out and whatever we do, “Don’t fall into the bay”.  There are a number of sharks that would happily make a meal of us.  They could be seen swimming all around the pontoon, waiting to be fed unlucky tourists, or fish from the crew.  The pontoon has a shark cage, which I jumped into with a  snorkel to view the sharks from below.  I also gave the sharks some fish to eat and managed to pat them as well.  They feel like coarse sand paper, so it’s not something you would want to rub up against for long, even as a friendly gesture.

After the shark cage swim we were put aboard the 600 horse power speedboat and taken to the Horizontal Falls.  In fact there are two falls, the main one and further along a smaller one with a narrower channel.   This natural phenomena occurs due to the huge difference between the low and high tides.  This difference can be up to 12 meters, so when the tide comes in or goes out, the ocean is forced through these narrow gaps and this creates a river flow and a waterfall.   The driver of the boat took us through both the major and mini falls a couple of times.  Once, he simply reversed through.  

They time the boat trip to make it exiting, but not to dangerous.  We then went back to the pontoon and had a fabulous grilled barramundi for lunch.  We were then taken back aboard the speed boat and went into the nearby bay to see another pontoon where the staff used to stay overnight.  It had now been taken over by a salt water crocodile.    The crock wasn’t at all happy to see us as it lay and sunbathed on the deck of the pontoon.  

We then went a bit further to see more of the interesting folds in the landscape that have occurred in this place over a long time.  After a while we went back and the driver of the boat insisted that we go to the falls again as now they were more exciting.  He took us through both of them a couple of times again and it was pretty exciting!   Then it was back to the pontoon to board our seaplane and head back to Derby.  This time around the plane flew out over the archipelago of islands that are just off the coast.  There are just over a thousand of them.  Upon arrival in Derby the bus driver took us back to the caravan park.  A pretty exciting and an eventful day.  Some photos from the day..

Boarding the seaplane in Derby for Horizontal Falls.

Derby seen from the air.  It's surrounded by mudflats..

The mudflats beyond Derby.  They flood plain is like a Mandelbrot  Fractal!

Horizontal Falls on the right, the mini falls on the left.

Horizontal Falls is the one closer to us.

The mini falls.  It's a narrower gap.

Arriving at the pontoon.

Our plane leaving, hopefully it will come back!

There are plenty of Sharks underfoot!  So, don't fall into the ocean.

They saw us coming and came in droves!

After feeding time, I got to pat the Sharks.  They are like sand paper to touch.

Our 600 Horse Power boat on the right, waiting for us.

Arriving at Horizontal Falls.

Passing through the Mini Falls, it was more exciting as it's more narrow.

Lunch time.  Everyone getting a grilled barra.

This is the Salt Water Crock that has taken over the staff quarters!

Interesting folding pattern that have occurred over time here.

The Kimberley Rose.  It only blooms on the tree when there are no leaves!

The pontoon and associated boats in Talbot Bay.

Heading back for Horizontal Falls.  Now the tide is flowing faster!

Heading back after a great outing!

Part of the archipelago that has around 1,000 islands.

This is a Barramundi fish farm.

Finally, back to Derby.. The caravan park is in the upper left corner with the red sand.

Windjana Gorge.  Thursday 9^th August.

The following day, we woke up early and packed everything into the car as usual.  We stopped at Woollies to re-stock the fridge and other supplies and then headed out onto the Gibb River road to the Windjana Gorge campsite.  It is about 149km from the Derby road turnoff, which is about 9km out of Derby.  The first 90km or so are bitumen, but only a single lane.  One has to scramble off the bitumen, when the oncoming car is a road train.  We met two of them and quickly gave way!  They won’t budge a centimetre.  The rest is gravel with the famous Gibb River road corrugations and associated dust and flood ways.  

We arrived at the campsite early afternoon and picked a nice shady campsite.  The facilities there are very good, flush toilets and solar heated showers.  We only realized later that we had camped close to a Bower Bird nest.  This meant that the bird came around occasionally looking for food and/or glittering things to enhance its nest with.  Fortunately for us, we didn't have anything worth stealing, so we survived these raids, but Kylie wasn’t impressed!

While relaxing after camping, we were visited by a couple, Colin and Gillian.  We had met them in Bungle Bungles during our walk there.  They recognised Kylie which sat on our table and came to say hello to her.  They were also going to do the Windjana Gorge walk the following day, plus the Tunnel Creek the day after.  As it turns out, they are quite good at spotting and recognising various birds, so we talked them into walking with us through the Windjana gorge.  It’s not hard convincing someone when you are almost two meters tall and have a threatening Viking demeanour!!  

The following morning we left early with them on the walk, so we could catch the wildlife in bed.  We took our time to walk the 5km return walk and with Colin’s and Gillian’s help spotted and could name all of the birds we saw along the way.  The Windjana Gorge is the same old Devonian reef as in Geiki Gorge.  Here it towers up to 120 meters above ground level and has been cut by the Lennard river.  Along the path of the river there are pools of water, where the birds and a number of fresh water crocks live in as they got stuck there after the rainy season.  In one pool we counted up to 30 fresh water crocks.  They are so used to people walking along the pools that it’s possible to walk up to a meter away from them without them being disturbed.  It’s not advisable to get too close as they do have very sharp teeth!   The last section of the gorge was closed, due to erosion, so we sat down there and had our lunch before returning back.  The limestone has also preserved some fossilised images of Devonian creatures.  The ranger at Bell Gorge also told us that apart from rising up in to the air, the limestone goes another 100 meters plus into the ground as well.  Back at the campsite, we had another chat with Colin and Gillian and convinced them to join us for the Tunnel Creek walk the following morning.  Some photos from Windjana Gorge.

Checking out the info on the walk, Windjana Gorge, which is part of the Napier range in the background.

The limestone towers up to 120 meters above ground.

Entering the Gorge through a narrow tunnel gap.

The Limestone preserves fossilized images from the Devonian period.  This is a fossilized nautoiloid.

The gorge has numerous pools that have survived since the summer rains.

A view out to the entrance, where the Lennard river rushes through during summer.

This is a fresh water Crock that has become stuck in the pool over winter.

The Gorge has lots of birds.  The most colorful is the Rainbow  Bee-eater, here in full flight.

This is a yellow billed spoon bill, looking for food in one of the pools.

Due to the constant supply of water, the Gorge has lots of vegetation.

There are lots of Crocks in the pools.

This is a magnificent place to see and experience!

These are double barred finches, just in case you didn't know!

Tunnel Creek.  Saturday 11^th of August.

This time around we didn’t wake up with the birds, but left around 9ish for Tunnel Creek.  It’s around 24km drive from the Windjana campsite to the  Tunnel Creek.  We parked the cars in the visitor car park and entered the 750 meter long tunnel.  This required us to climb over boulders and squeeze through some narrow rock gaps.  The tunnel is very wide and high in places, plus around half way the ceiling has fallen in so daylight can flow into it.  The tunnel is the path of the Lennard river, when it flows.  During winter the tunnel has a number of pools in it that have to be crossed by foot, some deeper than others.  

We could see small fish living in the pools, but nothing large enough to be a threat to any limbs.  There are no crocks in the pools. I gather the rangers remove them if any have been left after the rainy season.  

The walk through was fantastic.  We used our flashlights to light up as many interesting things as we could find.  Colin discovered aboriginal paintings high up on the walls.  Most people never see them as they simply stroll past without pointing their flashlights that high.  We couldn't work out how the paintings had been done as they were so high on the wall.  Perhaps using a modern ladder!  We hope not.  We also saw the bats that also live in the cave.  They hang around as bats do.  We also saw couple of small frogs, no bigger than a small match box.  In many places there were stalactites that had grown from the ceiling.  In one place there was this huge stalactite like an “Altar” that had grown out from the wall.  It was very wide and quite fascinating to see the patterns in it.  There was even a mini stalactite waterfall along the way.

Once we got to the end of the tunnel, there was of course a pool where one can swim.  We hadn’t taken with us any swimmers so all we could do was to watch some of the other tourists chill out in the pool.   

The walk back was equally fascinating.  On the way back to the Windjana Gorge campsite, we stopped at the Lilimillura Police station ruins.  This police station harks back to the late 1890’s when the police was in residence to assist pastoralists with settling in and dealing with “rogue” Aboriginies.  It’s little more than a few collapsed walls, but if they could speak they would tell of the time when Jandamarra, the Aboriginal tracker turned a new leaf and began a campaign of defending the tribal lands.  Back at camp I waited for the sunset so I could capture the colours on the Windjana Gorge walls.  Some photos from the day.

This is the entrance to Tunnel Creek.

Once you climb over rocks, you enter this fantastic chamber.

Then you venture into the dark and the unknown!

The Aboriginal paintings, high on the ceiling, spotted by Colin.

Stalactites growing from the ceiling.  This has taken thousands of years.

Sibba and Gillian inspecting the ceiling.  Half way through the ceiling has collapsed and daylight seeps through.

The last pool before getting to the end is the deepest!

Even I can't reach that high!

Colin and Gillian by the stalactite water fall.

Me and Sibba at the stalactite waterfall.

This is towards the end.  Gillian viewing the ceiling.  You can see the dust  in the sunlight.

The pool at the end, where we would have liked to swim!

Little people in a big cave!

The "Altar" was pretty impressive.

Can you spot the bat hanging there!

At the Tunnel Creek entrance, a flock of butterflies were taking a siesta.

Sunset over the Windjana Gorge.

Bell Gorge.  Sunday 12^th of August.

We woke up early to pack up and head for Bell Gorge.  Bell Gorge is a 124km drive from the Windjana camp site.  All on corrugated gravel roads, apart from very short sections through the King Leopold ranges.  

Where the road cuts through the Napier range (The Devonian Reef) there is a very prominent crag that is thought to resemble Queen Victoria.  This is like a profile view, so we stopped of course to make our courtesies as one does in the presence of royalty.  The Queen didn’t blink an eye so we simply continued through the pass, just under her nose.  Fortunately, she didn’t sneeze while we went through.  I took some photos, but they were too bad to be presented, so perhaps the next time.

The next range was the King Leopold range, which is quite scenic to see and drive through.  This is where the road gets a bit more corrugated and rougher.  There are various “Floodways” on the road, that are often fairly deep dips and on occasions contain a pool of water.  This means that one has to drive carefully so as to not take the last “Dip” into eternity!   The side road into the Bell Gorge campsite was even worse.  A couple of shallow river pool crossings and a good measure of corrugations.  

The campsite is called Silent Grove.  This is of course a misnomer, as there is a large flock of Corellas (A type of Cockatoos) that inhabit the trees above all the best camping spots.  The Corellas are by no means silent and also seem to enjoy sitting in the trees and crap all over the visitors.  One has to be on constant guard, just in case.  Mercifully they are quite overnight.  Of course we had to pick a spot where the largest flock seemed to camp out.  We can only blame this on Colin and Gillian, as they arrived ahead of us and chose the spot, plus reserved the spot next to them for us.  At least we were close to the toilets, showers and in a shade.  

Colin spoke with the volunteer ranger when they arrived and he told him about the spotted Quoll that lives in the rangers shed.  Later in the evening, we headed out to the rangers quarters with our flashlights in order to spot the spotted Quoll after dark.  When the ranger arrived and established that we were not gate crashing or trying to steal anything, was most accommodating.   He even went and showed us where the spotted Quoll lived in the shed and got us a can of tuna as enticement to bring hit out in view.   We waited and watched without success.  We did see a couple of Northern Bandicoots roaming around the rangers back yard, but eventually went back to our tents to have dinner and go to sleep.  It was then late in the night that I heard some strange sounds coming into the tent from the tent annex.  I opened up and use the flashlight to light up the area where the sound was coming from.  And there it was, the spotted Quoll.  Mauling away on a tissue that Sibba had used to wipe her hands on after having cut the lamb meat we had on the bbq for dinner.  Apparently the Quoll loves meat!  It then ran off with the tissue outside, so I lost sight of it and went back to sleep.  The following morning, we took measures to reduce the risk of this occurring again and hung our trash bag on the top tent pole so it would be impossible to get to for the Quoll.  I was also pretty chuffed, having been the only one to see the Quoll.  Colin and Gillian insisted that I should have woken up the whole camp, so they had a chance to see it as well!

We left the campsite around 9am and drove the 10km track to the Bell Gorge visitor car park.  The walk into Bell Gorge is 3km return via a rocky path along the Bell Creek.  Bell Creek is probably the most visited gorge on the Gibb River road.  The Bell Creek still has water running and it cascades down a stepped waterfall into a large pool.  It’s possible to take a swim, both at the top of the waterfall and also down in the pool.  To get to the pool below, one has to cross the Bell Creek and then climb down on the other side into the gorge.  This of course we did, so when we got there, I, Colin and Gillian went for a swim in the lower pool.  The water was crystal clear and not too cold.  When it’s around 30 degrees hot, it’s not a bad thing to do.  We had a great time and swam in the pool and inspected the waterfall from below.   

After the swim we had our lunch and hiked back up to the upper pool.  This is where I and Gillian went for a swim again.  We went to the edge of the waterfall and had our legs massaged by the falling water, while Sibba and Colin ran around taking pictures and worried about us falling down.    I can’t say I’m surprised that this is a popular spot to visit.  Very scenic and lots of fun swimming and playing in the pools.  

Back in camp, Gillian found some green ants.  They have a green bulbous rear that has a lemony tasting liquid.  Gillian offered Sibba and myself a taste.  She had a squirming ant in a plastic bag.  Sibba politely declined and I wasn’t all that keen, however, after Gillian euthanized the ant and broke the green bulb I had a taste.  The taste was a bit lemony, but with a stronger acid flavour.  Gillian told us the aboriginals simply grab a handful of these ants, rub their hands together and then suck up the lot.  Not our cup of tea I must say! 

In the afternoon I crawled under the car to check if I could see anything amiss.  I did find that the exhaust pipe was about to break off the main muffler.  I put some wiring in place to alleviate the pressure and hold it up if it broke apart.  We then decided to go back to Derby to have it fixed the following day, but still stop at Lennards gorge.  Colin and Gillian were also heading back to Derby with a stop at Lennards gorge as well.  So we once again decided to do the Lennards Gorge walk together. 

 

We had our dinner and then went to sleep.  Around 2am, Sibba woke up and shook me.  There was a huge noise from the annex again!.  She shouted “Oye, anyone there!” as I proceeded to open up the tent, grab the flashlight and check.  It was the spotted Quoll again.  This time it hadn't been able to get to the garbage bag.  It had climbed up on the table and thrown things off in it's attempt at getting at the bag.  It quickly gave up and ran away as I shone the light at it.  The following morning, Colin and Gillian told us that it had come their way first, earlier in the evening.  Gillian had soaked some tissue in oil from sausages and they left it outside their tent.  The Quoll came just before midnight to grab it and they managed to snap a few photos and video of it before it scampered away, to then return and terrorize us.   Gillian was kind enough to share the photos of the culprit, so you can see it munching on the tissue under their car.  Some photos from the day.

The Spotted Quoll munching on the tissue!

Our camping spot in Silent Grove.  You can see the Corellas above us!

The rocky path to Bell Gorge.

We have arrived in Bell Gorge!

View over Bell Gorge from the top of the waterfall.

The Bell Gorge Waterfall.

View down the Bell Gorge..  Can you spot Colin taking a photo?

We had to cross the Bell Creek to get to the lower pool.

Sibba climbing down the rocky path to the lower pool.

The waterfall seen from the lower pool.

I'm ready to jump into the cool water.

Me and Colin swimming in the pool.

Colin and me inspecting the waterfall.

Happy campers in the pool.

Gillian joined us as well.

Gillian also inspected the waterfall close up.  It was hard as the  water pushed you  away.

A panoramic view of the lower pool and waterfall.

Gillian heading back up to the upper pool.

Me swimming in the upper pool just above the waterfall.

Me and Gillian having fun!

Sitting on the edge!

Sibba and me viewing the waterfall.

View up river.

Me and Gillian having fun in the upper pool.

View over the waterfall with me and Gillian having a good time.

Me, trying to block the waterfall, without any success!

Sibba found some shade near by.

Lennard Gorge.  14^th of August.

We drove from Bell Gorge, back to the Gibb River road and turned towards Derby.  The turn off for Lennards Gorge is only 23km from the Bell Gorge turnoff, so we got there quickly.  From there it’s only 7km to the visitor car park.  The walk to Lennard Gorge is about 3km return.  It follows a rocky path and over a hill and then down again into a viewing platform for the gorge.  

I was just thinking that how much difference having proper hiking shoes makes when walking on this rocky path, when a young bloke in shorts passed us barefoot.  So much for that theory!  He seemed to skim across the rocks like he was on skates and nothing bothered him.  I could feel my feet groan, just thinking about it!  

Lennard Gorge is a pretty rugged gorge.  It’s cut deep into the landscape between different rock formations.  Like Bell Gorge, it has running water with waterfalls and a nice inviting pool to swim in.  At the lookout, visitors are strongly encouraged not to climb down to the pool and swim.  So of course Colin and Gillian did just that.  There were already some people down there swimming and the path was pretty well obvious, so they went down and I followed.   Sibba stayed back on the visitor lookout, not game enough to do the climb down.  As it turned out the climb down was pretty easy, just hopping between a few ledges and down you go.  Not a high risk climb by any means.  Colin and Gillian went for a swim and I took some photos.  

Although I was dying for a swim, I felt that we needed to get back to Derby early so we could find the place to have the muffler fixed before closing time.  So I headed back and Sibba and I returned to the car to go back to Derby.  On the way, Sibba told me she had met a woman that came to the lookout by herself.  She told Sibba that she was travelling with her husband, but he refused to do any walking and always stayed in the car whenever she went to see the gorges or do any walks.  Why leave home in the first place?  

Anyway, we drove back to Derby and got back just after 2pm.  Close to Derby we got Telstra coverage so I got Sibba to look up yellow pages for an exhaust repair place.  We found one and once in Derby headed straight there.  As it turned out, the premises was empty.  We then then went to the visitor centre to enquire about where they were.  They had no idea.  In the end we went to one of the mechanics and asked them.  They gave us the direction and eventually I found the place.  The guy took one look at it and told me it would be best to replace that main muffler section.  After checking that he didn’t have a new one, he found that he  had an old one that had been traded in during a muffler upgrade.  He told me that he would prefer to put a new one in, but if I insisted he could give me the used one.   Either way he couldn’t do the work until Friday, so I got him to order the new one with the hope that it would arrive on Friday so it could be fitted.  We then proceeded to the caravan park and set up camp.  Some photos from Lennard Gorge.

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The Gorge from afar.

The view from the visitor lookout.

The Gorge has waterfalls and the pool looks pretty inviting.

Colin wondering, how do I get down there?

The view once you get down there!  Another tourist doing a twist and a splash!

Looking down stream.  Pretty sharp features.

Colin and Gillian swimming.

Derby.  17^th of August.

We are now ready to go tomorrow, Saturday onto the Gibb River road again.  The muffler arrived this morning and was fitted in the afternoon.  So there is now, no risk that we will be arrested for noise pollution, unless I start singing.  That is unlikely to happen!  

Colin and Gillian departed for Broome yesterday morning, so we won’t enjoy their company anymore or bird expertise for the remainder of the trip.  We are but hatchlings on our own, trying to identify some of the birds.  So I hope we manage to see a few that we can identify in our bird field guide. Colin told us that if we see a Gouldian Finch, we should feel privileged.  They are quite rare and are only here in the north west corner of Australia.  I'm sure every finch will look Gouldian to us, the amateurs!

 Last night I also used Skype to talk to my mother, who just turned eighty yesterday.  She is staying at my sisters place, who lives in Denmark.  My mother was pretty impressed with the technology, i.e. us having the ability to do video conferencing from our tent here in Derby.  Unfortunately I called her after sunset, otherwise I could have shared with her the fabulous sunset that occurs here in Derby.  She will have to make do with the photos!

I’m not sure when the next update will occur as we will be on the Gibb River road for a couple of weeks.  Until next time,

Warmest regards,

Simmi and Sibba