Day 27 Bell Gorge to Windjana 144km
Heading into Windjana gorge on Billiard Table smooth dirt
roads takes about 2 hours owing to the winding nature and hills. Arriving at
Windjana, and yet anther brilliant DEC run Campsite. Memo Victoria’s DSE/Park’s
Victoria: This is how you run a camp site. The access fees ($11 per car day or
$80 for a year) plus $11 per adult for camping, goes towards Septic tanks and
facility maintenance. DSE/Parks Vic need to lift their game considerably!!! We haven’t seen and Long Drop (Known here as
an EcoToilet) since Purnululu.
We head down to the Gorge around sunset, as there is said to
be Freshwater Crocs (crocodylus johnstonii). Max read the Warning sign without
any help!
We see some crocs, but the gorge is amazing anyway.
It is said tat the gorge is part of an ancient Barrier Reef
from 300,000,000 years ago! There is even a fossilised Nautiloid shell (like a
nautilus shell) in the rock to support this
Day 28 – Day 2 at Windjana – Tunnel Creek – Drama strikes
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| Half way along tunnel Creek - there was a cave in....... very cool |
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| Under Construction: Tunnel Creek Diversion Dam |
We did see bats, insects, Stalactites and the like and the
walk to the far end, where Jandamurra and his mob hid out after killing a
Station owner and a few cops was quite spectacular.
The boys decided that after seeing Lake Arglye that they
would build a diversion damn on Tunnel creek. Playing in the sand, in a cave…….
Cool
The whole thing was pretty amazing and we were all on a buzz
after doing it. We had left car parked, like most others had, and returned the
25km back to the camp site where I realised that we didn’t have a tow hitch!
What the??!! Some low life had pinched the tow hitch! It meant we couldn’t hook
the trailer up to the car and couldn’t leave.
Windjana Gorge also happens to be the only place on Main
Land Australia where Optus has coverage and Telstra does NOT. Thankfully RACV
total care has a 1800 number, and the payphone allows calls to 1800 numbers
with credit on a Telecard, which I didn’t have anyway L
We had a spare Tongue, Pin and R Clip but no spare Treg U
Coupling. Bugger.
While managing a few choice words about the shallowness of
the Genepool that some people must come from, a lovely lady happened by our
site. She asked Mandy how she was going, reclined in her camp chair, the answer
“ Stranded actually”. Mandy related the story and she went about her business. She
then went back and mentioned it to her husband. Now we had never met Alan and
Sue before this incident. Alan wanders over, Beer in one hand, and a U coupling
in the other. Are you kidding me? Someone had a spare one? We were
contemplating staying 3 extra nights. This all happened on a Saturday Afternoon.
Everything up here shuts around lunch on Saturday, and is closed Sunday. So
there wasn’t anything to be done until Monday.
However, Alan came to the rescue. Sure the thread on the
bolt was a little damaged, but it was fixable. After a few hours we had the U
coupling on and we could leave. WE were heading towards Karartha, where Alan
and Sue’s daughter lives and we were to drop it off there for a safe return to
Alan. Problem Solved!
Next morning, when we went to give Alan some money to buy a
Slab with and a nice bottle of Chardy for Sue, they knocked us back. Can you
believe that? What a bloke!! We insisted, he refused, said we were insulting
him!
Alan and Sue: You are legends. The true Aussie spirit,
helping someone out when they are in
strife!
We were now able to stay on track and head to Fitzroy
Crossing and see Geikie Gorge, as the fall back plan was for me to drive on Monday
to Derby (145km) or Broome (250km) and return with another U coupling if we
could get one
RACV were going to get a loan hitch from a RACWA “agent” in
Derby, but we would have then been in Derby and not Fitzroy Crossing.
In the end it all worked out
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