Tuesday, 26 May 2026
We packed the car again this morning to continue our Kimberley adventure. We drove back towards the turn off for Bell Gorge, but continued this morning on the Gibb River Road rather than turning. The road climbed to the top of the Leopold Ranges and for once, there was a view point with a clear and spectacular view. The road descended and passed the access track to the Lennard River Gorge. Not that we saw it. Lennard Gorge is not open at the moment and it rather seemed like that have taken the signs away until they decide it is accessible?
Nearly 40 kilometres from where we started this morning, we passed the entrance to the Mount Hart Homestead. This is an accommodation option that takes you 50 kilometres off the GRR. It sounds idyllic, but we are happier to have stayed at locations not quite so far off the beaten track. We now found ourselves passing through some flat plains country where we spied another Australian Bustard. Approaching the sheer sides of the Napier Range at Yammera Gap we saw the rock formation that is known as Queen Victoria’s Head. Approaching from our direction of travel, the resemblance was quite obvious.
We reached the Fairfield Leopold Downs Road where we turned left. Twenty-three kilometres later we turned into Windjana Gorge National Park. Yep, another gorge. However, the geology was different this little bit further south, with the gorge characterized by its fissured grey-and-orange cliffs reaching up to 90 metres in height. Originally an ancient reef, when this area was an inland sea, the gorge has been carved through the Napier Range by floodwaters of the Lennard River. After the wet season the river becomes a series of waterholes that are an important refuge for aquatic wildlife including archer fish and freshwater crocodiles.
Once a much longer walk (7 kilometres return according to the guide in our atlas) today it was only a 1.9 kilometres return walk. After the rock scrambling we have been doing, today’s sandy walk was very easy, despite being rated Class 4 – Difficult, on the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions board. The trail ratings are cracking us up. There is no real consistency to them at all, so it is very difficult to know what the walk will actually be like from the ratings assigned.
We were done at Windjana in under an hour, so decided to continue to Tunnel Creek before thinking about lunch. Only a couple of kilometres along the road we made a brief stop at the ruins of the Lillimilura Police Station. Originally built in 1894 as the homestead for the King Sound Pastoral Company, it was here that Jandamurra (or ‘Pigeon’ as he was known) murdered his fellow policeman in 1894 and began his ill-fated attempt to drive the white invaders from his homeland. At the Battle of Windjana Gorge many Bunuba people were killed. Pigeon was injured but escaped to Tunnel Creek Cave, where he was nursed back to health. After more conflict during the following three years, Pigeon ultimately met his end in April 1897.
Arriving at Tunnel Creek National Park, Bernie asked another visitor about the depth of the water in the creek. The guy told us that it ranged between hip deep and chest deep so we changed into our bathers expecting to get very wet. With our head torches on our heads and our water shoes on our feet we walked to the opening of the underground passage that has been eroded through the limestone range by Tunnel Creek.
It was certainly a different experience paddling through a limestone cave by torchlight. Easier than climbing over rocks to view waterfalls but way creepier, walking through water in the dark! It was only about 750 metres in length but it seemed much, much further. In the dark, I kept expecting to end up in deeper water, up to chest height, but we didn’t encounter water anywhere near that deep. We’re not sure what route the guy in the car park took or if he was just prone to exaggeration? When we reached the end, we had walked from one side of the Napier Range to the other. Walking underneath the range was much easier than it would have been going over the top I’m sure.
Back at the truck we selected some items from the pantry box and fridge and made ourselves a late lunch. Back on the road, we started heading for our accommodation for tonight in Fitzroy Crossing. While we were still on the GRR this morning Bernie said again how good the road surface has been and it must be because it remains closed to road trains at the moment. He shouldn’t have tempted fate as we encountered several road trains today on the Fairfield Leopold Road. Fortunately, we managed to negotiate our way past or around them without it being scary.
We rolled into Fitzroy Crossing at about 4.30pm and made a quick stop at the IGA before continuing over the Fitzroy River Bridge to the Fitzroy River Lodge. We checked in and we were given the keys to Room 11 … with a river view. The rooms are all built on stilts with parking underneath and we were relieved when the truck with the swag on top fitted underneath. We unpacked our gear while the sun was setting over the river. We even managed to take a few photos in between carting our bags up the stairs.
It was pub food tonight in the bar at the lodge. They also have a restaurant, so we might go fancier tomorrow night and eat in the restaurant? There were no Splices (Streets) at the IGA, but we did manage to secure a box of raspberry Splits (Bulla) which we have enjoyed for dessert tonight. It’s good to have some ice-cream back in our iced treats after being on Frosty Fruits for a couple of days, ha, ha.
Steps: 9,009 (5.75kms)
