Our first muggy night in the trailer led to not a great sleep by all and a frightening wake up at 4:30am with a sound like two little girls screaming in terror and slowly turning to a horrible screeching as whatever large bird responsible flew overhead- and then again half an hour later once we’d all calmed down and gotten back to sleep. Great start to the day!
Biggest falls so far, biggest walk too plus a bit of an epic drive in and out for Matty, big day all round. Took 1.5 hrs to drive the 70 odd km and on arrival we were able to book one of the last spots on the choppers (for a group of 6!) heading out of the falls. Some had choppered in to walk out but it was a pretty hot day and we decided our littlest legs be better while it was still cooler. We began the 5km track and got behind a tour group who had turned off to look at little Merten falls about a km in. Was interesting to eavesdrop on their guide talking about the aboriginal artwork which was pretty well preserved and stunning in detail. We could walk behind the falls too which was pretty cool (literally). Downside was we were then stuck behind said tour group for the next few km before they had another stop. After we were back to our own pace we came upon Big Merten Falls which we later found out are huge you just can’t see or really hear them when you cross the river at the top as they are set in underneath. Stu tried his best to look over the side of course.
Finally made it to the main event and headed over last deep river crossing to have lunch on a cliff opposite the falls. Mitchell falls are mighty in comparison to what we’ve seen so far and in hindsight we are glad we got an aerial view to really understand their enormity. The chopper was the highlight for everyone except Mummy (and maybe Cam although he won’t admit it!) extra highlight was not having any doors so as not to impede the view -which was awesome for Cam and myself as the chopper banked around a few times for more of a view of the falls with nothing but the harness holding us inside the chopper!
A bumpy long drive back taking us 2 hours this time and another nice sunset dip in the water hole once we made it to the campground. Caught up with some people we met at the Bungles and their kids that ours got on well with and had been waiting to cross paths with ever since. Topped day off with a large fire and prospect of a slightly cooler night.