TUNNEL CREEK - Gibb River Road 2011

In 2011 we filmed the Gibb River Road (see elsewhere on this channel).
In this excerpt, we have a look at Tunnel Creek.
Dimalurru Tunnel Creek is located 180 kms from Derby on the Leopold Downs Road near Windjana Gorge.

Western Australias oldest cave system, in Tunnel Creek National Park, is famous as a hideout used late last century by an Aboriginal leader known as Jandamarra. He was killed outside its entrance in 1897.

Tunnel Creek flows through a water worn tunnel beneath the limestone of the Napier Range, part of the 375 to 350 million-year-old Devonian Reef system. You can walk 750 metres through the tunnel to the other side of Napier Range, wading through several permanent pools and watching for bats and the stalactites that descend from the roof in many places.

The tunnel is up to 12 metres high and 15 metres wide in parts. Near the centre of the cave the roof has collapsed and is an excellent place to observe the colony of fruit bats. Take a torch, wear sneakers and be prepared to get wet and possibly cold.