We were pleasantly surprised by the length of the sealed part on the Gibb road from Derby to the Windjana turn, about 70% of the 130km. The few the dirt sections are good all the way except for some from Windjana to Tunnel Creek, 35km. This will change frequently. We were fortunate to have this access, as the annual floods always wreck the roads and bridge approaches, and had only open up a week back but it was already pretty busy.
A self-registration and payment is required at the entry to the day park and camp areas. We walked the short distance to the southern sandy river bank under good shade against the limestone cliff. Freshwater crocks lay in the sun on the sandy north bank. 10 minutes in and we arrived at an extensive sand bank on which a very large rock sat. From here I had a clear view up and down river of the dark cliffs, parts of which are clear of the cyanobacteria revealing the true orange rock colour. The Kimberley guide book has a photo of the gorge I wanted to shoot, but I couldn’t identify the position initially, though it looked like it was from this sand bank. In the morning light the cliffs were dull, yet the photo showed a low sun causing these orange areas to glow. Was it early morning or late afternoon? The gorge runs about West-East. So I continued along the path upstream to near the end of the cliffs at 1.5km, and returned.
The Tunnel Creek entry is also 100m from the car park. It requires a scramble over several large boulders into the cave, and then it’s alternating sand, smaller rocks, and wading through half metre deep water. My Keen sandals were essential, but I only had a small dull torch; others had bright lights, so I didn’t complete the walk, stopping about halfway, beyond a rock fall which allows the sunlight in. This is a good spot for shooting.
We returned to the Gorge and I was delighted to find the sand bank was the correct place to shoot the southern cliff now lit by the 3pm sun. The only element missing was calm for a perfect reflection.
We were back in Derby by 5.
