Drove from Mary Pool through to Derby. We skipped through Geikie Gorge and Fitzroy Crossing – will do those another time.
Saw a sign for Kimberley Entrance Caravan Park on the way into town (after checking out the prison boab tree), drove past the tiny caravan park first, and then went to Kimberley Entrance. Much nicer. The guy was super helpful and showed up maps of the area, tours we could do, gave us a discount and told us best times to head to the tidal mud flats for photos.
Left Hayley for half a day while I drove into Tunnel Creek on the gibb river road. 2 hours each way and maybe an hour to explore the creek (longer if you want to take photos or do the walk up the top). The road out is 80k’s paved, the rest rough dirt. Watch out for the sneaky dips! Interesting to hit at 80km/h! Towards the end of the drive you can start to see the old reef appear above ground, it goes forever! you can easily picture it all under water back in the day – coral and fish swimming around doing their thing.
The cave was great, well worth the drive. Up to your waist in water, pitch black cave – one of the most exciting adventures I’ve done! Keep an eye out for fish, turtles and the odd fresh water croc 🙂 It’s about 700meters of HUGE cave through an ancient reef (when that part of the country was under water) and a small creek flows through. Need a torch (or two!), swimmers and sandles to make clambering over the rocks and through the water easier.
On the way back there’s a gorge famous for heaps of fresh water crocs everywhere. Didn’t get to do that as I was running out of time but I’ll pay the $11 entry next time to go see it.
