What’s in a name? Bandilngan is the new name for Wandjana NP. Now, Wandjana itself is a bit of a problem. A European explorer (not sure who) named it Wandjana, after those mysterious indigenous rock paintings. But he misspelt it with an ‘a’ after the ‘j’ instead of an ‘i’. So, when the WA government went about all the renaming/recalling they didn’t correct the spelling but instead gave it the indigenous name, Bandilngan. But Wandjana is still up around the place. Now isn’t that fascinating?

We got away from Inimtji in good time to tackle the steep climb over the King Leopold Ranges, I mean the Wunaamin Miluwindi Ranges. Both names have a good ring to it I think. This is I think the most picturesque part of the Gibb River Road. The road here is now sealed it would have been a challenge as a gravel track.

Twisted beds of sandstone beside the road show the pressures that are applied to rock strata in the mountain building process.

As we got down on the flat plain below the ranges the road returns to good gravel as we travel towards the Napier Range. This is where the Bandilgnan Gorge is found. Unlike the gorges we have experienced to date it is a limestone gorge. It used to be part of a huge coral barrier type reef that almost circled around the Kimberley plateau back in the dim past 350 millions of years before humans were around. It is one of a type in the world. We are looking forward to getting there!

Along the way though we passed by a large rock overlooking the road, Allthego saw a resemblance to one Rev. Ted Hayes (a relative of some readers) peering down at his congregation below! Not in the tourist guide.

And along a bit further is a big rock that is in the guide, a resemblance of Queen Victoria. So there you are, what luck! Two big heads on one day.

Passing through the gap in the Napier Range we were then on fairly flat terrain, road pretty good with grazing property on both sides.

Encountered some significant roadworks, graders and dump trucks everywhere laying the base for more bitumen. Just making the Gibb River Rd easier!

Eventually, made it over a real bridge across the Leonard River. First bridge in over three weeks! The Leonard River is the formative river for the gorge. Shortly thereafter we took the turnoff to the gorge, about 30km to the campground.

We had a booking in the non generator campground. But it was fairly full, there are no marked spots and you just pull up where you want to stop. There were some good spots vacant on the walkway to the loos and showers, but these are not desirable locations from the point of view of Allthego (even though he does want to go from time to time).

So we shifted over to the generator area, not many people there and we got a great spot looking straight at the gorge wall. As it turned out not many generators either. From here we had some wanders through the gorge, the sun rising and setting on the walls throws a great orange/red hue.

Next day we went a further 30km down the road to Tunnel Creek. This is the well known spot where a stream has eroded under the limestone range and there is a 750m walk along the resultant tunnel from one side to the other. It is about 20m wide with varying heights, mostly well above 4m and 40-50m in some.

After a bit of rock hopping and boulder clambering Allthego had to wade through a small section of chest deep water, criss cross sand banks and waddle through shin high pools to get to the other end.

Very dark, people generally had hand torches and head lights. Interesting experience! Absorbed about two and half hours in going through twice, the second time with the phone for pics. We returned to camp for a very late lunch and an afternoon looking at the trees.

Allthego had a couple of early morning walks in the gorge before the tourists set out making lots of noise along the track. This is when the birds and other critters are out and about. Here are a few of them.

Wandering around this park makes one feel quite small. There is quite a presence in the silence of the gorge in the early morning. Ones impact on the ground walked is almost ant like.

And so it was ‘ant like’, these little guys going about there business to and from the gorge!

We now head off for our last stop along the Gibb at Birdwood Downs, not far from Derby.