15^th July: Derby

We drove 360 kms today to see Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek. I remember Windjana vividly and Tunnel Creek well. The Gibb River Road which is taken from this end, is sealed for 91 kms but the rest of the way out is corrugated gravel with fierce dips containing limestone ridges. Not to be taken lightly! But it wasn't muddy although there was water lying everywhere in some places and we had to avoid stretches where it had obviously been treacherous! The rain had been patchy and unfair. Some desperate places missed out. Many boabs in some areas and some obviously very ancient. When they die, mostly because they are struck by lightning, they crumple up and rot away very quickly. The aborigines regarded the very old ones as spirit beings,powerful and both good and bad.

Windjana is beautiful. The 350 million year old Devonian limestone reef 2 kms deep was deeply cut by the Lennard River which' in flood' carries great volumes of water but generally is a small stream meandering around sand bars. Dozens, and I do mean dozens, of Johnstone River Crocodiles were basking in the sun. Some were large, 2-3 metres. They ignore people mostly but have been known to attack when annoyed. A very studpid man was encouraging his 2 yr old son to walk up to one and throw sticks and stones at it to see if it was alive. I thought we would witness a tragedy but the croc just opened its mouth and hissed! Hilarious!!

The Napier Range confronts one suddenly in the Savannah grassland and its sheer walls are spectacular. We walked in the river bed as we had before and along the sides. Glen and Gail were looking for birds but I was simply awe struck by the majesty of the place. So different to Geike yet same geological structure. We did see a pre-historic Nautilaus, a Nautiloid, a fossil of Devonian times, caught for ever in the rock!

Next we went to Tunnel Creek. This is a place where the creek has hollowed out a tunnel through the limestone range. This is the site of the story of Jandamarra – a young aboriginal guerilla fighter in 1890's. As a teenager after initiation, he became disturbed by the fact that the white settlers were invading his tribal lands with their sheep and cattle and destroying their hunting. He had worked with horses,sheep and rifles and was very skilled and he wanted to rid the Lennard River lands of these interlopers. His people couldn't understand why they couldn't spear and eat the sheep grazing on their land. It had a tragic end of course and he was finally shot and killed at Tunnel Creek which had been his hideout for some time. The more you read about white settlement of this land the less satisfactory whiteman's behaviour has been . There was no attempt to understand!!

I couldn't go into Tunnel Creek this time. I obviously had carried Cherie through but the moment I stepped into the cave, my lungs cramped and I knew I couldn't do it. Gail and Glen enjoyed it and I remember much of it. The other end is very scenic and the walk was interesting! I was surprised at how much of the limestone had been metamorphorised into marble. Pink streaky marble! Very pretty rock!

All the way today we had been dogged by bus loads of people. 4WD buses, mostly with older people, many with walking difficulties. The buses make it hard to get a car out of the park and the people slow progress on walks. Glen commented on the noise in Tunnel Creek. They were able to hear a little waterfall on the way back because they had overtaken the three tour groups in there. That is the difference this time. Windjana might be the same but it is now full of noisy people whereas last time we were there alone.

But we came home satisfied with our day. Gail especially as she had never seen it before. For us it was revisiting and remembering. But it was a long way for a day of sightseeing! We finished it with a visit to another prison tree but this one was regarded asa special site even before it was a prison and so holds double the significance. There is a fence around it now and visitors are asked not to approach it too closely. It is obvious some do! This was also where we saw the Myall Bore and water trough which was built in 1903 to water the stock as they were driven to Derby for live export even then. It could water 500 bullocks at a time. The sun was setting by this time and so we will have to go back to get some better photographs.