Australia 2014: Fitzroy Crossing to Windjana National Park

Day 23 – August 11, 2014 – Fitzroy Crossing to Windjana National Park - distance travelled: 194 kms - 32^oC high; 16^oC low. Lots of wallabies jumping around the campground in the morning, much to the kids’ delight. Our goal this morning was to get on one of the Geikie Gorge cruises, and although the departure point was further away from town than we had thought we just made it for the 9:30am cruise. There were about 40 people on the boat; one family with some obnoxious kids in the row in front of us and other than that by the looks of it “grey nomads”. Good thing we weren’t on a later cruise as the sun was hot enough already at this time. The cruise took about one hour, up the gorge a ways with a ranger explaining things about the gorge and wildlife and such, then turning around and going back down. We saw a number of freshwater crocodiles, some water monitors and a variety of birds; nice. After the cruise we stocked up on groceries and headed for Windjana National Park. Leopold Downs Road - the gravel road leading to Tunnel Creek and Windjana National Park - was badly corrugated which made for slow travelling (as slow as 10 kms per hour at times), and we made it to Windjana by about 4pm. Lots of people camping there; clearly a popular spot. Ian and Jordan asked to sleep in the rooftop tent and as we had a bit of time we pulled it out from under its cover. Very simple to “set up”, and Ian and Jordan had lots of fun up there. We watched a nice sunset over the gorge and later saw the full moon rise over the cliffs. And the stars in the outback; have we mentioned that they are amazing?