Day Two on the Gibb: Another Day, Another Gorge, Another HOT Shower

We slept in till around 8am this morning. Of course we were woken up by those who like to get on the road quickly, and those with children, but after that we took the morning to sleep in and it was wonderful.

After our simple breakfast of eggs (Alex) and yoghurt (I), because noting these things is important, especially for you to read about, we walked towards Windjana Gorge. The gorge was only 200 meters for our camp site. We had a stunning view of the gorge from our tent, a nice difference from the others we had seen at Karijini where we walked down, this time we just walked through.

There were plenty of signs noting that this gorge had many freshies in the water, so it was recommended to not swim. Freshies were harmless from what we had been told so far, especially those we passed in the water at Tunnel Creek the day before. However signage told us that if you encountered one in the wrong way they would still take a bite at you, and with those sharp teeth they could do a lot of damage. They had pictures, it was gory. Don’t worry we didn’t think you would want to see that so no pictures will be shown.

So right after walking into the gorge, seeing a large number of crocodiles, and then a father and his son decided to take a dip in the water, we got a little nervous. Right when they entered the water, just to take a quick dip it seemed, a few crocodiles that had been tanning away suddenly entered the water. Luckily the father noticed and got out, but the pile of clothes left there (in the image below), by someone else it seems, could have show a different story…

The gorge itself was stunning (as you can see above…minus the tiny spec that is the clothes), after all how can they not be in their own way. As it is the dry season there had not been much rain and so the gorge was mostly dry. But in the spots with water there were a sufficient number of crocodiles to take away our desire to go swimming. In fact the night before Alex had spoken to the volunteer rangers who said when they had done a sweep of the area just recently, they had counted over 150 crocodiles. That is a lot in a concentrated space, given there was not much water, at least we thought so anyway. The sweep was done in the same spot our image below shows, also where the father and son had been casually swimming…

It was really warm that day, so after our walk through part of the gorge, we had another shower, why not. Beats trying our luck swimming with the crocodiles.

We were back on the road and headed towards Bell Gorge. Along the way we stopped and had leftovers for lunch at March Fly Glen, a pretty little spot, where the toilet was definitely not worth visiting. And we can confirm that the spot did not live up to it’s name, thankfully!

Just to note the road thus far from the Windjana exit to Bell Gorge was pretty good. They had just recently, in fact maybe a day or two before we entered the Gibb, graded the road, so we were fortunate to have a smooth journey for the first two days.

We arrived at Bell Gorge campsite in the mid afternoon, dropped off our chairs and tables to secure a shady spot and then drove to the gorge. It was a shortish walk to the gorge from where we parked. When we arrived we saw a picturesque pool where a number of people were swimming and enjoying the afternoon sunshine. That pool flowed down into a waterfall and then an even more stunning pool at the base, where the gorge continued on.

We had to hike firstly up and then down the cliff, which was quite high. But given the angle we climbed down, it was not as scary as I imagined, you could not really see too far below you. I know that probably does not make too much sense, but for myself being afraid of heights, for some reason if I cannot see the bottom then I am not as afraid. Weird I know. Alex was fine with the hight situation, the climbing aspect up though was not his favourite part of the gorge.

We reached the base and had the most beautiful view of the waterfall and a swimming hole.

You would have seen this picture on our Instagram account also. It is just so amazing of a spot to not share it more than once! Do yourself a favour, get a 4WD and go see this gorge.

Now back to our story…Of course we had a wonderful swim in the pool and underneath the waterfall. We then relaxed in the sun for about an hour before it went behind the gorge. After the sun disappeared we had no other choice really but to trek back to our car and drive back to our campsite where our chairs and tables were patiently waiting for us.

After setting up our tent and then chatting to an older couple from Perth who were next to us, we cooked a lovely dinner and then enjoyed the stars above, putting our star gazing tour skills into practice again.

It must be noted that again this campsite, in the middle of the bush on a remote track, where there is no telephone signal, had hot showers and flushing toilets! Bush camping is really not bad at all, even more reason for you to grab yourself a 4WD and come explore the Gibb.

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