Sighting a freshwater croc - Australia

One item I would take if I was to go driving Western Australia again would be a 4WD. Many travellers when they leave Broome, especially in the dry season, head to Derby then take the Gibb River Road to Kununurra. Campbell and I felt it would not be very comfortable to take the Mothership on the 600 plus kilometres of dirt corrugations and so we decided to stick to the sealed road.
We did though bounce our way along the first 40 kilometres or so of dirt to get to a place called Windjana Gorge. I had been told it was worth the trip and I would have to agree. Getting there late in the evening we set up camp and walked down to the sandy beach entrance to the gorge. It is well known for being home to fresh water crocodiles. On our first walk though we did not spot any and thought we would not be in luck.
After dinner Campbell and I started chatting to a crew sat around a campfire and they decided they were going in the dark with torches to look for crocs. It did not take long to spot some eyes in the water and while keeping an eye on them we also walked into a croc resting in the middle of the path. The croc was quick to get back in the water though when it felt we got to close.
The following morning I woke early and headed down thinking I might get to see some crocs before all the people arrived. In about half an hour of walking along the banks I would have seen over 50. All just chilling in the sun, not looking to threatening although I still did not venture to close. By the afternoon I was comfortable around the crocs although a large brown snake in the campground caught me off guard. I made sure after I saw the snake that I went and zipped up the tent. I did not wnat to be finding that when trying to sleep.
We stayed two nights at Windjana Gorge before deciding to back track and follow the same road out that we had made in as we headed back to Derby then on to Fitzroy Crossing. Fitzroy Crossing was not looking very inviting as we checked out a couple of caravan parks before reaching the third and by far the best just past the river.
We only stopped in Fitzroy Crossing for the night and took the boat cruise down the Geike Gorge to see some more fresh water crocodiles before continuing onto Mary Pool a free side of the road stop which is quite popular now amongst caravaners. It was at Mary Pool where we again met Eitan and Hannah, a couple in a Kombi van we had seen quickly a few weeks before in Shark Bay. A long chat lead to spending a while together over the next couple of weeks. At Mary Pool we also planned to get a ride into Wolfe Creek with a couple who we had met on the whalesharks tour.