CAMPSITE # 131 - Windjana National Park, Gibb River Rd

Windjana National Park marked our first nights’ stay on the Gibb River Road. Along with the Oodnadatta, Birdsville & Strezlecki tracks in South Australia, the Gibb River Road is a very well known track which has quite the reputation amongst four wheel drivers as having the potential to be very rough. Road corrugation is the biggest killer. At times, driving along the Gibb River Road is like driving over hundreds of metres of corrugated iron laid out before you. Y-y-y-y-y-o-u can’t hear  yourself think sometimes. E-e-e-e-everything in the car rattles around as you g-g-g-g-g-o over these g-g-g-g-god damn bumps. And then, pure bliss as you cross a creek bed and get a little insight into what it was once like to have the luxury of driving on bitumen ahhhh sweet, sweet, soft.. A-a-a-a-a-and then b-b-b-b-back to the c-c-c-c-corrugate as soon as you’ve passed the creek. Get the picture? W-w-w-w-wish I would stop all of this c-c-c-c-corrugate? Yeah, well I bloody well d-d-d-d-do too.

As soon as we pulled the Troopie up at the camping ground, we hopped out, locked the doors behind us and made route straight to the gorge. You walk beneath shear clifflines along the bottom of the gorge, deeper into the depths of the jaws of the gorge. Until we approached this sign...

I was instantly walking on the balls of my feet, anxiously looking behind me at every and any noise I could hear. The rustle of the long grass “Oh my god it’s a crocodile” ... the splash in the water “Oh my god it’s a crocodile”. After walking along and jumping at every little thing for half an hour, I finally began to relax and to remind myself to quit over reacting. If there were crocodiles in the area, surely I would have seen one by now. But I just couldn’t understand, why would they put a sign like that there and there not actually be any crocodiles? I had never seen a croc in the wild so while I was super excited to see one for the very first time, I was also super petrified of what it could actually do to me. I know, I know ‘Freshies’ aren’t typically the crocs to be fearful of it’s the ‘Salties’ you’ve really got to watch out for... I don’t care, they have big teeth and I’m sure given the opportunity they wouldn’t pass up the chance to feast on some Amy fillets.

I gave in to the beauty surrounding me and let my guard down, I actually allowed myself to enjoy the scenery. I was carelessly sifting my hands through the long grass, childishly standing on the creekbed in search of a Barramundi in the water. 

As I sat down on the sand to appreciate the gorge, I noticed just a few feet away from me right amongst the stillness of the water, lying calmly on a sandbank semi-submerged in the water was a freshwater crocodile.
It was like one of those 3D pictures you stare at as a kid, desperately trying to find the hidden picture lying beneath but then once you catch site of your very first image, everything else all seems to roll into place and you see all of the other images. As Tom has much better eyes than me, he counted 13 crocs from one point of view. They knew we were they but they certainly didn’t seem to care. We watched them and they watched us. We left them alone and thank god.. they left us alone.

Site : Windjana National Park
Rating : 9 / 20
Facilities : Flush toilets, solar heated showers but make sure you get in early cause it doesn't last long. Walking distance to Windjana gorge. Very rough road to get to it.