Day 43 – Wednesday 13/6/2012 – Drysdale
Station to King Edward River
We woke up and I had breaky. We packed up
the tent and hit the, once again, bumpy road! Dad’s fuel economy was a lot
better as well. I read a bit but found it too bumpy to continue. It had a lot
of corrugations. We arrived. We set up quickly and had lunch. I read Harry and
we went down for a swim in the King Edward River. It had a beautiful scenery of
rocks and trees and a river of greenish-blue. We dived in. It was a refreshing
temperature and a lovely place to swim. Mum took a long time to get in and wouldn’t
have gotten in if she hadn’t slipped! We got out and came back to read.
FACT – Remote places get electricity from
big generators. They turn off the generator around 9.00 at night normally which
turns the lights off and forces you to go to the bathroom with a torch.
Day 44 – Thursday 14/6/2012 – King Edward
River Day 1
We woke up early and drove to Mitchell
Falls. It took 2.5 hours. We had breaky in the car. When we arrived which was
at 10.00, we booked a helicopter flight back and had a safety briefing. We set
off through a sandy track winding its way through the trees. 400-500 metres
later it became rocky ground. We went up the top of Little Mertons Falls. It
wasn’t a big gush of water, just a trickle. We decided to swim down the bottom.
It was a very good idea, even though it was 200 metres off the track. I swam
over to a mossy rock and managed to get up the back of it. It was really fun
sliding down the rock into the refreshing blue water. We swam through the water
to the waterfall. I put my head under the waterfall. It felt lovely. It was
very cool and refreshing. It felt like nothing I’ve felt before. We moved on
over very rocky ground, to a lookout over Big Merton Falls. We couldn’t swim
cos the top one was a sacred Aboriginal site and there were saltwater crocs in
the bottom. We moved on over grade 6 rock to the top of Mitchell Falls. It had
an outstanding view over a fall falling into a fall, falling into a fall,
falling into a, yep you guessed it, another fall falling finally into a pool.
We moved onwards over class 8 ground because we couldn’t find the track but
could see the river crossing in the distance. There were boulders everywhere.
It was like wipeout, if you moved wrongly you would go clattering into the
water! We eventually made it and made our way across the river. We went to the
helipad and got called on board. I sat in the front next to the pilot. I could
see everything around me. I popped my headphones on to talk and receive over
the rotor sound. It was really cool. We figure – eighted for a bit over
Mitchell Falls and then flew home. We said bye and started the drive home over
very bumpy road and arrived back after dark. We had dinner and went to bed.
FACT – Mitchell Falls is the second highest
falls in WA. It is 80 metres tall are the size of a 35 story building. King
George Falls, an hour flight to the right of Mitchell Falls is the largest.
Day 45 – Friday 15/6/2012 – King Edward
River Day 2
We woke up and had breaky. After pancakes
for breaky and a morning around the tent we went to the other camp site. We
waked for a kilometer or 2 and stopped abruptly at the falls. Me and Dad stuck
our feet in the refreshing water. We started walking back and unloaded our
stuff. I got in the fast flowing water and held on to a sticking out rock. It
was nice seeing all the water gushing past you. It was cool but by the time Mum
got in it was positively warm. Mum’s always slow! I floated downstream quite
fast while Dad caught me. I got out and lay down on my towel. We started
driving back but stopped when we saw a dead tree. Dad chopped it down into
firewood sized logs while I hunted for twigs. We got back to our camp ground
and got in the river. I swam across with Dad and then with Mum. We got out and
read for a bit. Dad started the fire up while Lachie and I searched for
suitable poker sticks to roast marshmallows on. Dad still hadn’t had a
successful attempt by the time we got back so we watched enthusiastically. We
had dinner around the fire and Mum got the packet of marshmallows. I overdid my
first one which tasted quite burnt but the ones after that were done perfectly.
It was an enthusiastic environment toasting them, however, silent when eating.
They tasted gooey and crunchy, but tasted of bubblegum rather than strawberry
and vanilla. We went to bed.
FACT – Never swim close to the top of a
waterfall as it is fast flowing water.
Day 46 – Saturday 16/6/2012 – King Edward
River to Hann River
We woke up and did the longest packup yet.
I swam across the river again and we set off. Some 3 hours later we arrived at
Drysdale for lunch. We had a Kimberly burger each. It consisted of cheese,
pineapple, beef patty, cucumber, tomato, lettuce, beetroot and sauce. We also
shared a bowl of chips. It was nice but I’ve had a lot better. We drove on and
arrived at Hann River. We went up to ask some campers where to camp and they
turned out to be Ruby and Kayle from Uluru. (see my diary day 14) I set up the
tent with Dad while Mum and Lachie saw Ruby and Kayle. I waded through the
river to reach them. We went back, had dinner and went to bed. There were also
no facilities so we had to wash hands in a bucket and go to the toilet in
natures biggest bathroom.
FACT – Don’t walk in rivers with thongs on
as they will float away.
Day 47 – Sunday 17/6/2012 – Hann River to
Charnley Station
We woke up and had a quick pack up. We
drove to Manning Gorge and got our shoes on. We began the sandy walking trail
and passed the foam eski river crossing. We walked on to a suitable,
broken-down stretch of river to rock hop over and took our shoes off. We got
over the first bit but the second had fast flowing water. We made it and
proceeded to the 3rd. It was quite muddy, and we got our feet soaked
stepping on submerged rocks. Dad got us to put our shoes back on, as there
‘apparently’ was no more water. However the unlikely event happened, I slipped
on the teeniest it of water! I got up, soaked to the skin and kept going. It
was meant to be a 2 hour walk, but turned out to be a 2 hour walk + a 2 hour
rock hop! We trecked onwards, coming to the rocky path marked by white dots and
arrows a kilometer or 2 later. It must have been quite natural as the rocks
were continually sticking up from the smooth path. I went a bit off the track
and found a small cave. We sat down and had a mandarin. We kept going and came
to a rocky hill and proceeded with extreme caution. It took a lot of careful footwork in places
and was not easy ground to cover. I made it to the top of the 4th
hill and got a first glimpse of the gorge.
I trecked down an extremely steep part and got onto a sandy bank of the
gorge. It had beautiful greeny-blue water looking too inviting to resist, a
chamber of water filtered by the pool below Manning Falls, a pool, sparkling
blue water below Manning Falls and Manning Falls itself, a giant gush of water
coming down a jagged rock face hiding an accessible cave behind it. This mix at
the one spot was extrodinary and, as I said, quite had to resist! I managed to
restrain myself till we got our rashies on and stuff down, but then I dived in.
I butterflied over to the rocky ledge sticking out of the water. I clambered up
the slope after Mum. I then dived through the water and breastroked over to the
crystal clear waterfall plummeting down. It certainly did plummet on our heads
as we went down under it! It didn’t hurt though, it actually felt lovely. We
all got through it and found a little ledge next to a tiny trickle of water. We
each put our head and shoulders under in turn. It felt like a mix of rough
shoulder massages and a tap on the back. I dived through the pitter patter of
waterfall and swam through the lovely refreshing water, back on to the rocky
shore and clambered up to my towel to have lunch. We dived back in without
Lachie as he wanted to stay out in the bright sunshine. I swam straight over
and under this time and perched myself under the trickle of water. I also swam
up to a heavier part of the falls. It was against a fairly strong current so it
was a difficult swim. We dived out into the open. Me and Mum watched Dad pretend
to shower. It looked quite ugly actually. We swam back over to the bank, packed
up our stuff and set off again. It was a much quicker journey back, stopping
only at the cave for a lollie. We also did a 2 hour walk + 15 minute eski river
crossing as opposed to 2 hours of walking and 2 hours of rock hopping! There
were hard foam lidless crates to stick all your cargo in and transport it
across dry. I crossed pulling Lachie who was hanging onto the back of an eski
carrying his water bottle only. At last we made it to the sandy banks of the
river. We trecked across to the car and got in. We drove to Galvin Gorge and
did the 1km walk in to them. We didn’t swim, just looked. It was not very
pretty, just a small fall into a big pool. I didn’t think much of it. We walked
back and drove to the turn-off from the Gibb River Road. Mum opened the gate
around which 50 cows stood. I opened the
next gate and Mum the third. Before we to got to the 4th and final
gate Lachie had a coughing fit and vomited aver the stable table. We cleaned it
up, set up the tent, showered, had dinner and went to bed. We celebrated 10,000 kms on this trip. A cow
ran in front of us for the last km. Not Mooooooooo… Moooovvvvveee.
FACT: According to Mum, kids who suffer
dust allergies don’t do well in 5cm thick dust. I thoroughly agree.
Day 48 – Monday 18/6/2012 – Charnley
Station Day 1
We woke up and had breaky. A lazy morning
round the tent brought us to a drive to Grevillea Gorge. We walked for 200m
over extremely rocky ground to the 15 rung ladder. Mum descended 1st
with the stuff and then took photos of us coming down the ladder. A tricky
climb down the rocks and a lot of jumping needed, gave us sight of the gorge.
It was very much like Galvins, not too interesting. It did have a small waterfall
though it wasn’t very interesting. We did walk over it to the rocky ledge on
the cliff face. We got in the greenish water and swam around a bit. As
expected, Mum took a long time to get in. We had lunch and I wrapped Lachie up
in a towel totally before moving back. We made it up the waterfall and the
ladder to walk back. We drove to Donkey Kong Springs and had a swim. We drove
home and had dinner around the fire. We went to bed.
FACT: Male peacocks have tail feathers
which are blue to attract ladies.
Day 49 – Tuesday 19/6/2012 – Charnley
Station to Bell Gorge
We woke up and waited till Dad got back
from the bathroom to sing “Happy Birthday” the moment he zipped up the tent. We
got up on his bed and had cuddles. We gave him a packet of roadies biscuits, a
foot balm, a hand balm, a pumice stone to rub all the dead skin off his feet
and heels, and a foot file for his presents. We gave him his card and had
breaky. Mum cooked pancakes and then we packed up. We hit the road and opened
gates. The cows mooed their goodbyes as we headed off. The crazy calf from the
way in ran 500 m with us on the way out! After 2 hours of driving we arrived at
Bell Gorge. We quickly set up and had lunch. We all played dog wrestles and
then me and Dad read while Mum made cakes. It was different to home and the
butter got melted over the fire. Mum
stuck M&Ms on them and then we had dinner. We went and had the yummy cakes
and went to bed.
FACT: It’s manners when you’re on someone
else’s property to leave gates the way you find them. If they’re open leave
them open, if they’re closed, shut them behind you.
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