It was nice this morning not to have to leap out of bed and
have a quick breakfast and start packing up so had a leisurely coffee in
bed. Larry made a couple of extra
Nespresso coffees and took them over to Tom and Ash to reciprocate for last
night's hospitality. Ben and Larry then
spent some time doing some minor repairs and maintenance to the caravan and car
including blowing the dust out of the blower that keeps dust out of the van and
tightening screws etc. Jenny meanwhile
did the womanly thing and made curried egg sandwiches for our picnic
lunch. About 10 o'çlock we got ready for
our hike, filled up our camelbacks and hit the road. A pretty cool trick to have to cross the
Manning River in a little tinny with an endless rope although it was already
warm enough that I really wouldn't have minded swimming across. Then we hiked and hiked across the hot rocks
and scrub and up and down rocky ravines to get to the waterfall. Passed lots of people coming back who gave
lots of encouraging "Nearly there!"s and "It's definitely worth
it!"s but it was bloody hot and tiring and couldn't be over fast enough as
far as Jenny was concerned! Eventually
we could see the river through the trees and one last clamber down a rock face
and we were on the edge of a deep pool with a lovely waterfall vista. Found a couple of small trees to hide our
packs under and then dived in. Ah,
that's better! Swam across to the
waterfalls and underneath them to where nature had obligingly placed a little
ledge and just chilled for a while. Ben
and Larry got adventurous and did some jumping off the rocks and into the deep
pool but Jenny just swam slow laps and enjoyed the scenery. Back to our little trees and our picnic and
then sat on the water's edge and threw little bits of bread to the big school
of fish hanging around the edge. Not
sure what species - some kind of bream?
Anyway, whatever they were, they sure liked the bread!
Our little trees threw out enough shade for us to spread out
under them and have a little doze. A
couple of little lizards skuttled by and it was all very blissful. After half an hour or so had another swim and
then psyched Jenny up for the long hike back.
Apart from the first few rock climbs in and out of little valleys, most
of the trip back was downhill. That,
combined with doing it in still wet bathers, there being a bit of a breeze and
having the sun behind us, made it a much more enjoyable trip than the one
there. Still took us about an hour and
then there was still the hike through the campground to our distant
caravan. Suffice to say that once Jenny
got back to the van and sat down with a cold drink it took quite a long time to
budge her! Eventually wife/mother responsibilities
beckoned so got up and organised dinner of jacket potatoes and lamb chops and
frozen peas and corn. Just really
delicious or perhaps the combination of fresh air and exercise just makes us
really enjoy our food! Quiet evening of
writing up blogs and trying to work out what our next move should be now we are
not going to Mitchell Falls.
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