Day 69 – 27th July – Mt Elizabeth Station – Wunnumurra Gorge

Another day, another gorge… reading back over my blog posts it seems there is a certain amount of repetitiveness.  At least every second day, and sometimes every day, we are trekking through hot, dusty grasslands to pop out at a pandanus lined gorge in the middle of nowhere.  No, we haven’t grown tired of it at all.  Every day, every trek and every gorge has its own uniqueness that makes it different from the previous ones.  For example, yesterday, at Barnett River Gorge we managed to spot another bird we could cross off our birdwatching list (yes, that excites us…).  Today, we headed out to the Wunnumurra Gorge.  For the first time on this trip Dave was actually required to do some proper four-wheel driving on lumpy, bumpy, sump-scraping rocks.  The drive was only 9km but it took us 40 minutes to get there…

Check out this tree near where we parked.  I am assuming it is a Strangler Fig wrapped around the trunk?

Another stinking hot trek for 45minutes to pop out at the Wunnumurra Gorge. I certainly hope all this walking and rock hopping results in some weight loss… Finally, we reached a nice little waterfall (although it didn’t compare to Manning Gorge which is still our undisputed favourite so far).

More ladders to get us to the bottom.  The waterfall is just off to the right of this photo. 

Like most falls around here it just needs a little more water flowing to make it really special. 

One of our very few family photos.  There was a couple here as we arrived.  I think they hastily donned their clothes when they saw the kids coming down the ladder… They offered to take the photo then they left, so we had the waterfall to ourselves. 

Before we jumped in for a swim we went in search of some Aboriginal art painted on the walls of the gorge.  We have been wanting to find some art depicting the Wanjinas, the Aboriginal Gods, so we were pleased with this find. 

Looking at the art… 

Back to the waterfall and time for swimming and playing… 

What would you do if you were in a beautiful gorge in the Kimberley and you had the place to yourself?  Let me tell you what my boys would do… a nudie swim!   

After a long day we were back at camp having a drink and a relax (incidentally, Dave is panicking because he has just realised his beer will run out long before the Gibb River Road runs out…).  Off to our left an older couple were setting up their tent.  Yes, it’s hot up here, probably around 30 degrees…  but that doesn’t make it OK to set up your camp site wearing nothing but your y-fronts… NOT a pretty sight for the rest of us…  but very amusing!