Tereza & I were up before sunrise yet again & saw another great sunrise with the birdlife becoming active.  We had a leisurely breakfast of bacon & eggs before packing & on our way again.  There were a few creek crossings on the way out, which John filmed, then we were regaled by the splendour of the Leopold Ranges as we continued our journey westward across the Gibb River Road.  We stopped at a couple of lookouts on the top of some ranges & appreciated the stunning scenery.  John had to stop & do some running repairs to his car, the front bumper on the Toyota Prado is very close to falling off as most of the plastic brackets have broken, so, it was out with the duct tape & Sue did an impressive strapping job to the front bumper, now with silver stripes.  Just before the turnoff to Windjana Gorge we stopped at a tiny snack stop, (this is in the middle of nowhere) a lonely caravan a couple of hundred metres in, run by an elderly man on the banks of the Leopold River, he was obviously a keen bird watcher as he had a couple of spotting scopes set up.  We bought some ice creams & drinks & turned onto the Leopold Downs Road for the 20km trip to Windjana Gorge.  People think that John & I are brothers, they reckon we look so alike (Tereza says brothers from another mother).

Windjana Gorge campsite looks directly at the Napier Ranges, an impressive Devonian Limestone range that would not look out of place in a science fiction movie, it looks that old & worn.  We rested after setting up as it is stinking hot, it must have reached 40C again today, we read & watched the birdlife in the shade of some trees we camped under.  We watched the antics of an Elegant Bowerbird as it was courting its mate, with a stick in its beak & making strange looking strides with its tail up & wings outstretched.

As the sun was setting we went for an exploratory walk into Windjana Gorge, the entrance is impressive, walking through a narrow crack in the limestone for around 20m before getting onto the sand walking track.  The cliff walls are extremely stunning with the setting sun glowing off them & the reflections in the still water making postcard type scenery, you really have to see it.  These gorges are just so different from anything we have seen before. We saw a couple of dozen freshwater crocodiles basking in the shallow water & a lot of archer fish in the shallows.  The walk back was impressive, looking at the setting sun glowing off the walls of the cliffs.  Thankfully the night started to cool down with the sunset.

John & Sue cooked a great lamb casserole tonight with vegies & washed it down with a really nice Shiraz. We ate outside under a full moon & it was a balmy night – can this get any better? We talked about our next destination.  Time for a cool shower to cool down & write up our blog.            The last couple of nights we slept without covers.