western australia: windjana gorge to fitzroy crossing via tunnel creek

It's a short drive from Windjana Gorge to Lillimooloora Station, the site where Jandamarra shot his friend, the policeman Richardson in order to free his people and from where he fled in to the Gorge at the onset of the three year battle which claimed many of the Banuba people and finally Jandamarra himself. 

The police outpost is now in ruins. Just standing at the station gives you a sense of the distances Jandamarra travelled. 

We love the boab trees right across the Kimberley and the red red dirt. 

Tunnel Creek is a thirty minute drive on the dirt and is where Jandamarra hid from police during the resistance. Sadly this is the place where the black tracker, Mickey, tracked and finally shot Jandamarra. 

In places you wade through knee deep water in the tunnel in the dark. To add to the adventure a few freshies inhabit the waters, which I was not aware of until J pointed out the bronze eyes staring at us! 

They stared. I might have squealed. And then they disappeared under the very water I had to wade back through! Did I mention it was pitch black?

 

Ironically we happened upon the huge muster of Brahman on the Leopold Down Station which is situated between Tunnel Creek and the highway. It was an impressive sight to see the cattle thundering around the rocks and boabs followed by a man on a motorbike while a helicopter hovered about jerking in one direction and then the next. 

Can you spot J, all of six foot three in this huge boab? We lept from the car (leaving the kids to ponder our excitement) when we saw this great specimen. We could only wonder how long it's been there!