Day 20 08/06/2013 Mitchell Falls.
Once again we were up early, having heard the dingoes howling just before dawn! We also heard a dingo (we assumed) in the night, scrabbling about very close to our camper.....and that would be because, a certain person, (me,), had left the scrunched-up wrapping from a block of chocolate in our sink, instead of putting it into our secure garbage bag! We found the wrapper under the vehicle! After a great bacon and egg breakfast, we set off for our walk to Mitchell Falls via the helicopter office. We had to be weighed in; given a safety briefing; and of course pay for the flight! Our time to come back from the falls was 1pm.
The walk was beautiful. Even though it was early morning, (we set off around 7.30am), it was already quite hot. The first part of the walk was the same track that we took yesterday to Little Mertens Falls. We saw many birds.....mainly small ones which were so fast we only caught a glimpse of them, but we did see some lovely double-barred finches, which we had not seen before. The walk took us past Big Mertens Falls which fell down into a deep gorge. We had to walk across the top of these falls. There was also a lovely lagoon covered with lilies close by. The track took us around one and a half hours and when we arrived at the Mitchell River, we had to cross it to get to the Falls lookout. This meant that we had to enter the water, which was knee-deep in places, and step onto (often slippery) rocks. There were posts in the water to indicate the route to be taken but nothing to hold onto!! Most people had picked up sticks and were using them as a guide. It helped to have cameras, towels etc. inside plastic bags, or in our case, in a Wickelfisch! (Some of you reading this will know what that is.....and for those of you who don't know......well suffice to say, it is a very elaborate plastic bag, bought in Switzerland almost five years ago, and never been used until today! ( I will upload a photo of it!) We were told that it is often too dangerous to make this crossing....in fact until two days earlier it had not been open! We crossed without incident.... a few didn't, and then walked to the Falls lookout. The Mitchell Falls are tiered falls and they look very dramatic. Even though the last wet season was not particularly 'wet', there had been some good early dry season rain, so the falls were running well. It is not possible to swim below the falls since the pools are sacred Aboriginal sites, and also possibly populated by salties. However swimming in the Mitchell River above the falls is allowed and we had a really lovely hour or so in the water there. We had packed a picnic lunch and enjoyed that after our swim.
We then found a shady spot to sit and met up with our friends. Evan and Kerry were booked on the same heli-taxi as us. Although the trip back to the campground only took 6 minutes, we were treated to an aerial view of the Mitchell Falls and also Big Mertens falls and the gorge. It was very exciting to be sitting in the helicopter with no doors on.....especially as the chopper tilted when turning!! Jill and Tony took a video of us as the chopper took off.....and gave us a copy!
We spent an hour or so relaxing back at camp and then went for another swim in the plunge pool at Little Mertens. This time we also walked behind the falls and discovered some more rock art.
We had a really special evening tonight. It was Kerry's birthday. We lit a fire, (we supplied the wood), and Jill made a delicious Damper in lieu of a birthday cake! We sang Happy Birthday. The Ranger was making his rounds. He came for a chat and had a beer with us.
All in all it was a great day. We are exhausted!!