Let there be light

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Day 160 - Derby

It’s another early morning start, 5.20am and the sun is up with the birds singing away in the trees. We hear the rasping of the Bowerbird, unfortunately it’s not the most beautiful bird song ever but it does signal that his search for a new love is underway!

We had our fill of the gorgeous gorge yesterday and we’re still a bit stoked at all the activity we saw in the water. How lucky was that to watch the freshies getting fresh!

Everything gets thrown, packed into the car and we’re soon on our way back down the track towards Tunnel Creek. We have a quick stop at the historical site of Lillimooloora which was a homestead and then a police outpost. There’s a whole story here about a well respected Aboriginal stockman turned police tracker called Jandamarra. This area saw conflicts between the European settlers and the local Bunuba people when in 1885 the goodwill between the groups had collapsed over disputes surrounding the lack of success of the pastoral land versus the invasion of sacred places. Jandamarra soon became disillusioned with the treatment of his county men to the degree that he shot and killed his colleague then went on the run to evade capture having released the elders who had been captured and awaiting transport to other areas in Australia. During a shoot out at Windjana Gorge he was badly injured but it wasn’t until about three years later when he was eventually found, ironically tracked down by another Aborigine and killed close to the back entrance of Tunnel Creek.

That is where we’re heading next. .

Back along the track we spot an Australian Bustard in the bush alongside the road. It’s only the second time we’ve seen one of these huge birds since we’ve been here. It doesn’t hang around unfortunately so the shots are a bit blurred, nothing new there!

We get to Tunnel Creek and the first thing we find once we’ve clambered over the rocks to get to the entrance is a dead snake in the water. It was dark and with the reflections on the water it’s not a good photo but neither of us really wanted to investigate what type he was just in case there was another lurking close by!

Tunnel Creek is a 750 metre tunnel which has been carved out of the limestone by the water flowing through it. The tunnel is within the Napier Range and the creek originally ran across the top.

The walk means wading through cold and potentially deep water and the tunnel will be pitch black so we really need a good torch. We were hoping that our little one would be good enough but it really wasn’t so Darryl went back to the car for the lantern. We got a little way in using that but it still wasn’t really what we needed. Darryl thought we had something that fitted the bill and returned with the jump start kit tied up with a ratchet strap over the shoulder handle plus the light beam from the emergency kit in the car! Perfect!

We were lucky enough to be in the tunnel on our own, well apart for whatever creature we heard make a loud splosh into the water the second time we walked in and of course the dead snake!

It was a great giggle walking through the tunnel and making our way through the cold water. There’s a section where the roof has given way and we can see daylight and the trees outside. Fruit Bats are roosting here, you can tell by the screeching and the stench! It’s not just Fruit Bats though as this place is home to Ghost and Orange Leaf-Nosed Bats. We watch them for a while and a few fly into the tunnel to rest for the day! We make it to the light at the other end of the tunnel and find a beautiful creek with flowing water. Jandamarra hid away here for sometime before he was finally caught and shot dead.

The tunnel is really eerie with just the two of us here. When we turn the lights off in the middle of the tunnel away from any natural light it gives you a really weird feeling!

We make our way back towards the entrance and right at the beginning we find people just on their way in. One guy has been unable to convince his wife to make the walk because of the bats and what ever else might be hiding in the water instead she’s sat in the car outside!

Just as we got back to the entrance our light power had faded so that was pretty lucky although we did have the lantern and the rubbishy torch as back up!

So that was our great morning and now all we needed to do was make the journey back to the highway via the 4WD track, collect the caravan and then make our way to Derby.

We’re not far along the track and we spot a 2WD Wicked van coming towards us! Tee hee, we knew someone would try it!

The caravan was just where we’d left it, safe and sound in the campground so we hitched up and set off for Derby. Belinda, Nige, Lachy and Zali had already reached Derby and Belinda left a voicemail for us with the details of their campground. She was laughing a lot on the voicemail saying what a ‘funny’ little place Derby is! Oh dear, that doesn’t sound good!

Our journey takes in a million roadworks, we spend more time on a temporary gravel road which is corrugated just a teeny bit, something we’ve never done before with the caravan! We get held up for quite a while as they re-lay bitumen and we laugh when a certain amount of criticism is made about the ‘pretty pattern’ that the tarmac lorry has just made with his last drop! At the next set we can see a roadtrain coming in the distance as we’re held at the stop sign then a car shoots out from a layby right in front of the roadtrain. The UHF radio lights up with the sounds of “Can someone get that *&%$£%’s rego”, we willingly oblige as we could see it clearly but the car had already sped off so what good it would have done we’re not quite sure!

There’s a Prison Boab Tree on the way into the town so we make a teeny detour off the highway and give that a visit. It’s a huge tree where they used to lock up prisoners when transporting them between Kununurra and Derby. The prisoners were Aborigines and the tree is seen as something of significance today so you’re asked not to climb into it or approach it out of respect. Sadly people have carved into it over the years so it’s looking a bit sorry for itself.

We find the caravan park easily enough and because Belinda & Nige have picked such a good spot we join them as the only ones on the back row over looking the mud flats. There’s a Woolworths here so we get some supplies and stock Darryl back up on beer. Another liquor store, another set of rules for buying it! This time there are no wine casks for sale and you cannot purchase alcohol after 7pm unless you are in a car! That makes me laugh so I ask the lady serving behind the counter what it’s all about and she tells me it was to discourage people from buying the booze at night and then sitting in the car park outside drinking it. Fair enough!

We have a good catch up with Belinda, Nige and the kids when they get back from swimming in the local re-vamped pool. Nige sets about fixing the punctures that they’ve got in his and Lachy’s bicycle tyres as we thought it would be good to cycle to the jetty and watch the sunset. They’re fixed in the nick of time and we pedal like crazy along the dirt track from the campsite to make sure we get there! It was well worth the extra pedalling effort, the sunset is sensational and the jetty is a great spot to watch it from. There’s some yahoo’s going on up here with lads jumping into the water below, they must be nutters - don’t they know there are salt water crocs here and a really strong current?! Mad.

We tuck into the nibbles we’ve brought out with us and then start the ride back to camp. Unfortunately none of us have lights on our bikes so the pedal back is interesting but we make it home and are soon ready for dinner!

Another beautiful day.

Night night everyone

Dar and Sar

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