Week 42/52-Part 2 -Tunnel Creek, it's dark, bring your flashligh

Hi everyone and welcome to Part 2 of week 42 of our 52 week Tour Downunder Western Australia. I decided week 42 needed 2 parts. We continue on from our last destination Windjana Gorge and travel 35kms to Tunnel Creek.

I hope you have brought your wading boots, and a flashlight or headlight, as the tunnel is dark, the creek flows through it so you have to wade, there are bats, and they say (although thank goodness we didn't see any) that there are sometimes freshwater crocodiles in there!

Tunnel Creek, which is inhabited by five species of bats, flows through the Napier Range in a tunnel 750 metres long. As the tunnel is completely dark except at its entrances and halfway point, and involves wading through water, it is essential to be equipped with a torch or headlight and to wear boots or shoes for wading. Tunnel Creek was a hideout for an Aboriginal man, Jandammara, during his fight against white settlement in the late 1800s.

So here we are inside the tunnel, looking back to the entrance.

From Western Australia

Further in, getting darker.... Once we were right in we turned off our flashlights. It was pitch black! Could not see a thing!

From Western Australia

This is the halfway point where the roof has caved in. A relief to see some sunlight.

From Western Australia

And this is the far end of the tunnel.

From Western Australia

I think I did pretty well in there considering I wasn't using a tripod! I still managed to get a few good shots. Of course they all weren't as clear as these.....

Here is a picture looking at where you come in from the other end.....you can see here the shape of the entrance I showed you in the silhouette and reflections in the previous pics.

From Western Australia

And this is what you find at the other end, a tree lined creek....time for a sit before going back into the Tunnel to return to where you started!.....unfortunately it is the only way to get back to your car!

From Western Australia

This shot really amused me - the sign tells you about the warnings for entering the tunnel, and that you should wear shoes. I wouldn't want to walk in there bare foot.... I hope all these shoes belong to people who swapped their shoes for wading boots.....or are they left overs from the croc's dinner?....

From Western Australia

This is the road to Tunnel Creek. Another of my "drive by shots" where my husband leaves me on the side of the road, and drives by so I can get the shot....thankfully he knows he will have to do this a few times while we are away and hasn't left me standing there...... that's a boab tree on the RHS - amazing aren't they?

From Western Australia

On the way back to our campsite at Windjana, we will stop at the ruins of Lillimulura Station. Constructed in 1884 as a cattle station, it became a police outpost in 1893. The information panels relate the history of the Station and the tragic story of Jandammara and the Bunuba Aboriginal people and their tragic fight against white settlement.

From Western Australia