It was the following day before I reached Windjana and it certainly delivers as soon as you arrive, with the massive cliffs rising from the plain dating from the Devonian Period, when only sea creatures inhabited the earth. No crocs to worry about way back then!
The entrance to the gorge is exciting. Looking at the cliffs you’d imagine you’d have to walk up the stream to get into it but no, there’s a small cave-like entrance about 20 metres long that you slip through and, hey presto, you’re there.
It’s a broad expanse that awaits you and you’re quickly onto river sand after signs reminding you of the crocs and also taunting your curiousity to find a fossilised nautiloid in the rock (I found one).
If you’ve ever wondered what seeing a crocodile in the wild would be like then pencil in Windjana. On one bank in the space of 100 metres there would have been twenty, and then there were more on the “tourist” side. I wondered whether or not it was the knowledge I had about the Johnson River
croc or just their posture; whatever it was, you’re just not intimidated by them as you are by the estuarine crocs.
For starters, they’re not gliding towards you with both eyes focused! No, by the time I finished the gorge walk, I felt quite at home with them. In fact, I can boast I even went swimming in croc-infested waters! Okay, so it was about a kilometre upstream from where the crocs actually were (well, the ones you can see anyway) but I was the only one who did venture in. Bunch of wimps.
The walk is listed as two hours return. If you’re snap happy and want to push the boundaries a little, you can easily turn it into four hours. It’s a pleasant place and the further you venture along the
Bushwalk
