Mitchell Falls

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Saturday 30^thJune 2012

We parked our camper trailers and caravan in the long term parking area of Drysdale River Station. A lot of travellers leave their towed accommodation here whilst they travel to the Mitchell River National Park. We then continued north along Kalumburu Road for 100km and then took a west road about 87km in to the Mitchell Falls campground. The Kalumburu Road continued in poor condition, and the minor road to the campground was much worse, so whilst we left the station at 8:30am we didn’t arrive at the campground until 1:30pm. Mike did a good job negotiating the rocky roads and creek crossings. We were glad we had decided not to bring the camper trailer. The fan palms (Livingstonia, I think) were dense in places along the drive, particularly near Doongan station. They are an ancient palm, from the time of dinosaurs and Australian rainforest. The campsite was $36 for two nights for us, and facilities include water (boil before drinking) and hybrid composting toilets.

We have two tents, a large one (bulky and heavy when packed down) and a 3-person small one (very light and small when packed). As we will only be using the tents a few nights on this trip we brought the small tent. Dad and Mum brought a double mattress out of the camper for us in their truck, and we put it sideways in the tent for the four of us to sleep in that direction, with some clothes at the foot end to make up the length for Mike and I. I have seen advertisements for “intimate Kimberley camping adventures” – and I think four people in a three person tent certainly qualifies as intimate!

After we set up camp we went down to a spot on the river for a swim. The weather is almost hot up here so it was a lovely dip. Another perfect evening around the campfire under a large moon. We heard dingoes howling in the night. I slept well, however Alex was rolled off the mattress (“and they all rolled over and one fell out...”)



Sunday 1^st July 2012

At around 8:30am we set off to walk to Mitchell Falls in fine mild conditions. We stopped to see some aboriginal rock art on the way. It’s a class 5 walk, so moderately difficult in places, with some rock clambering. It was about a 2 hour walk up, past Little Mertens and Big Mertens waterfalls. At the top there is a helipad for the regular helicopter tour flights. We had a swim in the river near the helipad area, which was nice and refreshing after the walk.

We walked past this point and around the cliffs to get to an excellent vantage point for the falls. The falls are in four tiers, into lovely deep green pools, with striking orange and black cliffs around them. We had lunch at the vantage point – and I don’t think there is much to beat lunch overlooking Mitchell Falls on a warm sunny winter’s day.

Dad, Richard and Marion had elected to return to camp by helicopter at 3:30pm. Mum, Mike, Alex, Kyle and I set off to walk back just after 1pm. We stopped at the pool near Big Mertens fall, ringed by waterlilies and pandanus, for a swim. We also climbed over the river at another point to see some rock art that we had not seen on the way up. The boys were a bit tired by the end, but we got back to camp at about 3:15pm, just before the others.

Mike cooked steak and sausages in the camp oven over the fire for dinner, a great end to a great day.

We rearranged the sleeping order and put Kyle on the end this time. This resulted in Kyle taking about a third of the bed, and Alex rolling onto and flinging his arm over Mike. Kyle and I slept pretty well.



Monday 2^nd July 2012

We packed up and left camp at around 8am and returned over the bumpy roads to Drysdale River Station. We saw two dingoes along the way. We also stopped to see the Bradshaw rock art, which is just a bit off the minor road to the national park. It’s a very good site with some very clear artworks. We picked up the campers and camped again at the station, getting to site at about 1:30pm. We had a quiet afternoon doing some washing and sorting our camping gear out. Alex and Kyle played battleship and kicked the football around.

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Comments

[Val Sheppard]

Well done to Kyle for finishing such a long walk from the park to the camp site. The scenery looks absolutely beautiful ... and good prices for the camp sites is a real bonus!