The Gibb River Road - Part 2 (Mornington, Windjaner, Tunnel Creek, Fitzroy Crossing, Tumblegoodiron)

Mornington Wilderness Camp is wonderfully remote and peaceful. Run by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (it was recommended to us by one of the AWC directors who we met at Lawn Hill National park in Queensland) it is nearly 100k down a dirt road thus not so attractive to the casual caravaners. It has a range of accommodation from 5 star safari tents to bushcamping by the creek – and as usual we opted for the bush camp. This was not as rough and ready as it may seem as we were provided with flushing toilets, showers, a bar and a restaurant – all to a very good standard.

Mornington’s main attractions, apart from the peace and quiet, are an abundance of wildlife, particularly birds, and two big gorges – Dimond Gorge and Sir John Gorge along with a number of swimming holes. For Dimond Gorge we blew up our two inflatable dinghies and set sail – however readers of this blog will recall that Johann and Stretch’s inflatable had the unfortunate habit of deflating! Having been bought second hand (and untried) it had a number of punctures which we thought had been repaired. A few hundred yards down the gorge, with Sandra and I paddling in front, we lost sight of them so decided to tie up and wait, me to read my book and Sandra to do some crafting. After half an hour there was no sign of them, then, as the worry started to build, a couple of canoeists paddled by with the message “Your mate’s boat is sinking so they’ve turned round!” Deciding to leave them to their fate we went on, had a picnic lunch, then set sail for home – only to find them a few hundred yards away tied up under a cliff in the shade. We left them to their own devices. Photo shows Johann either looking for the leak or blowing the boat up - whilst Stretch holds up the sunshade!!

Mind you I got my come-uppance trying to get the boat out of the water when I slipped and went under – luckily no crocs were about!

Our next ports of call were to be Windjaner Gorge then Tunnel Creek which Sandra, Johann and I had visited before but which Stretch had not seen . Setting off and hour or so behind the others Sandra and I had our next bit of bad luck on the 100k back to the Gibb River Road – another puncture, the second in a couple of days. This time however it was on a little used road with minimal passing traffic and the tyre was totally shredded – irreparable. The wheel was changed with no problems but we were now vulnerable as we had no spare and little chance of buying a new tyre for several hundred kilometres – there was nothing for it, I had to slow down and drive more carefully for a change!

Windjaner Gorge is awesome – in my opinion one of the best gorges in the Kimberley. A massive cliff, which has the uncanny knack of changing colour throughout the day and is particularly stunning at sunset, has been eroded by wind and rain to form a narrow gorge which has permanent water and sandy beaches providing a home for numerous crocodiles. The entrance is through a narrow crack in the cliff wide enough to take a single person – provided they are not too fat – Sandra and I both made it! (See photo)

Last time we were here I counted seventy crocs basking on the shore before I gave up counting – although it was earlier in the season. This time we probably only saw a couple of dozen. Another big difference was this time we did not have Sandra’s nephew Fletcher with us. Normally crocodiles tend to terrorise humans – however, when Fletcher was with us last time, I think it was the crocs that were terrified – and I’ve got the photos to prove it!

That night we camped next door to an old Grey Nomad who regaled us round the campfire with the story of his life. Johann, with years of teaching experience behind her, insisted that if anyone wanted to ask a question they had to raise their hand – and of course set a good example (see photo)

Tunnel Creek is not for the faint-hearted. An enormous red-black cliff, similar to that at Windjaner, has been eroded by water – but this time forming a tunnel rather than a gorge. A difficult clamber over large, slippery boulders takes you to the tunnel entrance and into darkness. The tunnel is approximately 1k long and, apart from where the roof has collapsed about half way through, there is no natural light – torches are a must. An added adrenaline rush comes when you unexpectedly plunge waist deep into cold water and have to wade into the unknown - all this and crocs too! Mind you, it was a lot more demanding when I did the same walk five years ago as at that time I was on crutches! The end of the tunnel is slightly disappointing although the thrill of the trip is in the journey rather than the destination – and there is always the return leg to look forward to.

We had been out of phone and e-mail access for over a week and Stretch, who is still trying to run his business in Sydney by remote control, needed to get to the internet so we did a slight back-track and headed for Fitzroy Crossing. I was keen to back to FC as, five years ago, I had happy memories of a night spent in a wild and woolly pub called the Crossing Inn and wanted to see if it was still there. I particularly remembered the pub restaurant, which in decor, furniture and ambience resembled a run-down works canteen and yet, under the sole command of a chef from Blackburn in Lancashire, served getting on for superb food. One painful memory of my meal of lobster, steak and lots of red wine was a bout of gout! Although I did try to pass it off as a poisonous spider bite.

We camped next to the pub, which was heaving although not a white face was to be seen except the barmaid’s – it was obviously the local Aboriginal watering hole. However the restaurant was a revelation. Still within the same building but tarted up almost beyond recognition – tables set with crisp napery, wine glasses, matching cutlery and a team of chefs working the kitchen – offering a la carte and a buffet service. Highly recommended and in total contrast to the mayhem in the pub next door. Drinking and general misbehaving is obviously a problem within the largely Aboriginal community as can be seen from the sign erected in the park opposite the pub (see photo)

After Fitzroy Crossing we headed towards Broome spending the night at a little used, and wonderfully named, site – Tumblegoodiron. This was well off the beaten track and provided excellent, quiet camping next to the mighty Fitzroy River. Although fairly benign at this stage in the dry season being only about 50m wide- in the wet season the river can spread up to 15k wide and has an 80,000 square kilometre catchment area making it, believe it or not, the second largest river in the world in terms of capacity (presumably second to the Amazon) and its outflow could fill Sydney Harbour in 21 hours – good pub quiz material!

As I type this we are in Broome and I have been abandoned by Sandra and Johann who have gone shopping and Stretch who has gone to get his car repaired – yet again! As I bought two new tyres this morning I feel a bit more confident about the journey we set off on tomorrow – north to Cape Leveque.