Today headed off to do the walk to Manning Gorge with Laurie who was trying to convince me to make the 600km return trip to Mitchell Falls. He was prepared to travel with me and let the others go ahead but I would have to do the return trip alone as they were continuing on.
At the start of the walk there is a pretty waterhole with a boat on a pulley system so you can pull yourself across to the other side to start the walk to Manning Gorge and waterfall. The walk was 2km of climbing over rocks, in and out of valleys and I found the going tough so Laurie made me a walking stick which helped. Now I have 2 sticks to carry in the car.
The gorge and waterfall were lovely (and popular) and I swam to the waterfall and back in my shorts as I had forgotten to take my bathers. There was a ledge behind the waterfall to stop for a rest. The weather is beautiful here at this time of the year with no rain, warm sunny days but not too hot, and cool nights, good for sleeping. The birds rise at about 5.30am and the sun at 6am and most people in the camp are up by 6.30. There is a flurry of activity around camp between 430 and 6 with people trying to get everything done before dark as the sun sets again at 530 with most people in bed by 8pm.
The walk took 3 and a half hours round trip including time spent at the gorge and I was tired by the time we got back to camp. Tried to get a shower but they were only operational at certain times when the generators were running and this wasn't one of them.
We had passed Laurie's mates along the way who said they would meet him in Mitchell Falls as they assumed I was going with him, but I decided to save that trip for another time. 600 extra kms on the dirt seemed a bit much and travelling back alone did not thrill me.
The others had left the camp ground when we returned so I decided to have a look at Barnett River Gorge as I heard of a free camp close by there at a picturesque waterhole but when I got there a couple were already occupying it and they made it clear that they were hoping for some solitude. I continued onto Barnett River Gorge where I ran into Freda and Yvonne again so I took them back to the waterhole for a swim and we decided to spend the night at Mount Elizabeth Station where I'd heard about a good Aboriginal Art tour. The road was very corrugated and when we arrived we learned that the tour leader had been called away for a family emergency! Still it was a nice camp ground with great shower facilities and we were glad to take a rest from the corrugations.
