Day 8 Manning Gorge and Windjana Gorge

A family of aboriginals at the roadhouse.

Bell Gorge waterfalls.

A Merton monitor.

A freshwater crocodile.

 Flying fox bats.

Windjana Gorge.

The exodus...

Saturday, September 17^th.

Happy Birthday Mom!

We had a bit of a relaxed morning. Most of us packed up our tents and bags, then had breakfast before going down to the river for a swim. The water felt wonderful. I photographed a blue winged kookaburro and a rainbow honey eater.

Then we returned to the truck, finished packing and we left. We drove for a while and before stopping at the Mt Barnett Roadhouse for fuel and a few supplies. We continued on the Bell Gorge where we went for another great overland hike across a rocky path to a couple of water holes and a waterfall. We swam there for a couple of hours before we hiked back out. On the way we say a Merton monitor lizard. Then we drove for a half hour until we reached Imintji Community Store, where we had another sandwich picnic lunch and an ice cream.

After lunch we continued driving for three hours until we reached Windjana Gorge National Park where we set up camp before going on a short hike into the park. The area consists of a long range of rugged vertical hills that are the remnants of a large coral reef from millions of years ago. Along the river we saw lots of freshwater crocodiles. They are not as big as the estuary, or saltwater crocs and are not as aggressive. They are only dangerous if they feel threatened. They have a narrow pointed snout and eat mostly fish. But here they also eat bats that come down to the water to drink and will apparently leap out of the water to snag one. I saw a number of seven spotted archer fish too.

We could smell the bats before we saw them. The stench was pretty strong. We walked along the river until we saw the trees across the narrow river. Then were laden with flying fox bats, thousands of them! We could hear them too as they were stirring and get ready to leave their roost for the night. We sat on the river bank in this beautiful gorge and waited. We watched the crocs paddling around in the river and saw a couple of rock wallabies further up the river. Once it got dark enough the bats started to fly. There were thousands of them flying over our heads and out the gorge. You could hear them calling and you could feel the wind all their wings created. It was an awesome experience!

When we got back to the camp Damien cooked dinner and we had sausages for an appetizer and then bbq'd steak, mash potatoes and coleslaw. We spent the rest of the last evening sitting and chatting. Most of the group is leaving at Broome and we will pick up new passengers. Only myself and the four Germans, Anja, Albert, Gudrun and Kat are continuing on.