Imintji to Windjana Gorge NP

While we awoke early there wasn't a big rush to head off as the community store opened at 8 am as we awoke a cyclist backpacker was just packing his tent and was on his merry way down the Gibb .

Not long later we crossed the creek and fueled up and grabbed some early morning ice creams.

We stopped at the town dump to empty the last few days rubbish out of the camper and we took off for the King Leopold range with a few nice pics along the way then a misleading drive to the Leopold gorge 8 Kms in and proceeded to walk in when a sign said it was only to the lookout above the gorge not the water below so we said bugger that it was too hot not to swim .

Back out onto the gibb it was past kookaburra rock then the valley and queen Victorias plump head rock then a left turn after the dry expansive river bed onto Windjana gorge campground twenty something Kms later where we paid the exorborent entry fees and camping fees before setting up in a well shaded area hiding from afternoon and morning sun .

A quick shift around of the fridge and freezer due to a loose wiring of a charge lead on the dc- dc charger and setting up the solar panel we set off for Tunnel creek cave for lunch and to explore .

Only three other people were in the car park here , we had yet another episode with Ej and some lunch of yummy salad wraps and we torched up and donned boots ready for the walk .

The entrance was a bit of a rocky clambour and then a splash down , we were in the cave system following the creek .a stroll along the rocky shores in the huge tunnel and then we had to go into the creek where it was up to shahla's belly and I spied some orange eyes on the shoreline and hesitated before conforming yes it was a crocodile in the almost black water ahead .

Luckily they were all freshies here but we were too see all 5 of them before we had merged out the other side .

Along the way we also spied many large cherubin , archer fish and bream some attracted to our bright lights others darting for cover .

The largest freshie was hanging around a small limestone waterfall halfway before the roof cave in area , Corinna was being very brave , as she wasn't the biggest fan of caves or any type of crocodile and the other kids were taking it all in their stride making it a proud family afternoon despite one sons earlier outburst .

I think the previous highlight of W.A ( Lake Argyle ) had now been superseded by this natural wonder and it was free from Mother Nature but wasn't easily accessed by the multitudes .

We stopped shortly after the caved in roof section where a colony of bats had taken up residency in the ceiling of the cave  by the thousands .

Seemed like a good spot for a pic as light was better for the Nikon Dslr so I paced forwards and turned to face the family and just as I snapped a few images a bar shit fair and square down corinna's top making a stinky black mess which was making her gag and us laugh hysterically ( nice sympathetic family that we were , lol , not !) , Corinna mentioned it actually smelt sweet at first( fermented fruit I imagine !) before she wiped it away in the creek water .

We walked through two more substantial patches of cold creek water and a few more freshies before reaching the end of the cave with some stalactites visible with the naked eye above us .

Back out the warmth was onto us immediately so after a quick drink and snack we ventured back the way we had come but enjoying it even more this time around .

We passed so e other travellers along the way back though the cave who didn't know about the crocs and were a little wary after this , oops !

Wet boots off at the car and another cold drink we headed back to camp for a walk along the almost dry Windjana gorge riverbed where between 70 - 100 freshies convinced us it wasn't worth a splash in the murky waters to cool down so a walk along the gorge before sunset it was waiting for bats to be feasted upon by the large number of crocs around but no luck there either .

Interesting rock formations abounded here which made for some excellent low light photos .

Sunset pics weren't real good here but that was ok .

Back at the campgound Ej made tuna patties as a sign of repentance of his earlier actions and fresh salad complimented the dish as did our tasty soy bean mayonnaise we so dearly loved .

Most of us relaxed with a book by head lamp then a nice shower in the fairly good facilities considering.

A cooler breeze had arrived and signalled a good nights sleep , wow I'm loving the Kimberly .