After a quick brekkie, we were on the road, bound for the Mitchell Plateau. We were jogging/jigging along at about 60kph on the heavily corrugated road/track, and were passed by someone doing 90kph+. So, I decided to do the same, over what is possibly the roughest prepared track in Australia (possibly a slight exaggeration). We thundered along the track, doing the occasional 4-wheel drift, and just managing to steer a straight line as the corrugations battered us at every turn. But, it was relatively smooth once you got above 70-75kph. The track got worse towards the end – lots of ruts and sudden dips, but after an hour and 20 minutes we arrived. [The quoted time for the 76km is 2-2.5 hours so our time was pretty good.]
We loaded our packs with water, food, swimming trunks, cameras, etc., and headed to the Falls. It was a brilliant walk in the hot sun across rolling a rocky landscape, scattered with gums and palms, finally emerging at the lip of a gorge, with a lily pond behind us. We made our way to the top of the three falls, and had a cooling dip in a large pool. Then, we walked over to the viewpoint, and after a false start, found the best vantage point for photography. The views were absolutely amazing, even given the lack of rainfall and water flowing.
I had decided not to take the $170, 6 minute helicopter flight back to the carpark. Instead, we had another dip, then trudged back the 4kms in the hot afternoon sun. We drove back to Munurra Campground, taking a little longer on the return journey, as the going was very rough to start, and it takes a while to get one’s courage back. At Munurra, we went directly to the river for a swim and well-deserved beer. After dinner, we sat around a campfire. What an incredible day!







