Bell and Windjana Gorges

 We arrived at the Silent Grove Campsite, which was fantastic, with lots of shady trees and HOT showers!! Yay! And who should pull in behind us but ...the Daddow Family.

Bell Gorge - a 10km drive and a bit of a walk early in the morning, brought us in at the top of the falls, at Bell Gorge.

Another beautiful spot, but not the jumping and diving that we enjoyed at Manning Gorge. A nice cooling swim tho'!

Who's that gorgeous couple??

Jed, Kurt & Kris swimming near the falls

We spent two nights at Silent Grove as it was a perfect place to "chill", and had a nice 'feel' to it! As well as good company.
Plenty of other people along this stretch of road were starting to become a bit familiar looking - the same faces kept cropping up!


Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek - we moved along, through a few more ranges, each one slightly different colour and rock type, and with different formations.
30kms or so, along a road with more red dust, ruts, dips and corrugations and we arrived at Tunnel Creek. We knew we had to walk through water, and weren't sure how deep, so I left my camera in the car. Hence, no photos of this amazing place. However, if you're interested I'm sure 'Google' has some great shots!

Instead of an open-air creek and gorge, the water has worn it's way through the rock and flows through a tunnel. Thus, you need to carry torches, as it is pretty dark in there. There is one spot in the centre, where the roof has fallen in to allow light into this area.

                 

images from google

The whole passage, of a few hundred metres, you are required to wade from one sand bar/beach, to the next with a waterhole inbetween. Some were shallow, and the deepest up to our waists. ( The camera would have been fine!). The first one was  a bit scary as we weren't sure of what to expect and how deep ... and it was dark! Lily and I had a firm grip on Jon's arms. At the end it opens out to a creek where some were swimming, and some Aboriginal rock art on the adjacent rock walls. This was OK if you liked "freshies" and the nest of wasps that was nearby. Needless to stay we weren't there long.

Rumour informed us that freshwater crocs inhabited the Tunnel water way, but were harmless if you left them alone. Of course, this did Lily & I a lot of good, as we stepped into the water at the entrance! However, I was very restrained and didn't tell her about the 'red-eyes' (only the one set!!) Jon & I had spotted in the tunnel as we walked, until we had safely emerged!

After stopping a few times on the drive back to photograph weird and wonderful boab trees, we arrived to a breezy, dusty campsite, that had considerably filled up since earlier. We took the opportunity to have "farewell" drinks with the Daddows, as we were heading to Derby and they were heading stright to Broome!

Up at 6.00am -ish again, with the sun, the birds, and other camper noises! At least we had an early start for a 'pack -up' and a walk up Windjana Gorge before we left. This Gorge, involved no climbing, but walking alongside the river, through the Gorge, and I found it a complete surprise, as it looked different once inside it, to what I thought the outside indicated it would be like. But again...Beautiful!!