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Published: July 14th 2008
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We were on the road again and ready for another adventure filled day. We stopped in at Galvan’s Gorge on our way. After about a 1.5km walk we were met with a waterfall with a circular pool about 20 metres across. On one side of the pool a rope was strung from a tree ready for some swinging. Matt and Tahlia gave it a go, followed by a brave Ki. You had to stand on a tree branch about 2 metres above the water and then swing out and jump. Kianna launched off and did a big jump into the pool. On her second attempt she launched off but would not let go of the rope until she had swung back and forth about 4 times and had no choice but to jump as she was clinging on suspended above the pool. Still she was unphased and got back into the pool and swam over to stand under the falls. Ella and Caz entered for a late swim across to the falls and a quick launch off of the rope for Carrie due to Tahlia’s insistence.
After our lovely cool down swim we continued on to Manning Gorge, set up
camp in the shade of a massive boab tree and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon swim in Manning Creek. The girls were fortunate to meet another family camped near to us with 3 girls, so the afternoon was spent playing lots of games together until the sun had set over the horizon.
The next morning we loaded up the backpack ready to hike into Upper Manning Gorge. The girls new friends Jessica, Laura and Hannah and their parents Steve and Anita joined us for the adventure. We ferried the kids and the bags across the Manning Creek in a blow up boat and then commenced to hike into the Upper Gorge. The trail took us through scenic country with a vista of ranges behind us and rocky outcrops in front. After walking for several kilometres we were rewarded with another beautiful water fall. We enjoyed swimming under the falls and sitting on the rock ledge underneath watching the water flow over and listening to its downpour.
The little girls enjoyed an afternoon playing and Tahlia and Jessica keeping busy knitting and baking. That evening we enjoyed a luxurious campfire meal of lemon myrtle damper and plain damper, chocolate cake
and apple crumble thanks to Tahlia and Jessica’s baking extravaganza. These baked goods were accompanied by freshly caught cherubim and ’80 Mile Beach’ salmon. Delicious!! The only down side being that an afternoon drizzle turned into showers, then into thunderstorms and more thunderstorms. A very unexpected dry season storm. All 10 of us huddled into the van for dinner to escape the downpour. We then got the kids to bed and enjoyed an evening drinking the last of our wines and chatting with Steve and Anita for the evening. We were real party animals up to 10:30pm - a very late night for us campers!
We went to bed in the drizzly rain thinking that it would clear by morning but awoke to an amazing 3am thunderstorm and the rain just kept coming. Our planned morning departure was postponed as the rain and overcast skies continued throughout the morning. Many campers packed up early and set off to drive the 7km out to the road house and back to the Gibb, but about 2 hours later they all returned, massive 4WD tour buses and all. The road was not passable. Thank goodness we hadn’t packed up. Matt and Steve
along with a couple of guys from a 4WD and mountain bike tour rode in to the roadhouse to check out the road and grab some essential supplies (Chico’s and Icecream!). All of the kids in the camp ground played for the day and we stayed at camp waiting for the drizzle to subside and the sky to clear to begin to dry out the road and our gear.
That night was a total contrast with a clear starry sky, we enjoyed the view whilst we sat around the camp fire eating icecream!
We rose in the morning to the sound of campers packing up and moving out. We followed suit and splashed and slid our way through the muddy track to get back to the Gibb. We set in for a muddy, boggy and bumpy day in the car as we headed east along the track.
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