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Published: July 30th 2012
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Day 27 – Thursday 26
th July – Manning Gorge to Mornington Wilderness Sanctuary
This morning we had a bit of a lie-in and didn’t set foot outside the tent until 7.30am. We had been dozing since one of the tour buses woke up their punters at 5am and got them to pack up their tents before setting off on the gorge walk at 6am. They made quite a commotion, but nothing that putting your fingers in your ears and head under the pillow can’t handle.
Our gorge walk started at 8.30. Firstly crossing the creek in the boat, then walking over rocky ground, up and down over numerous mini gorges, until we arrived at the very beautiful Manning Gorge. A handful of other people were there (the big tour group had already left and were walking back), enjoying the sunshine on the rocks and cooling off in the refreshing water. The waterfall is low but wide and you can swim underneath it and perch on a rock looking at the world through a curtain of water. You can also climb up the waterfall and if you are a real daredevil, jump from a ledge about 4m over
the water (we didn’t do that but enjoyed watching two others take their life into their hands). Manning Gorge is a great place to relax, so we did, until just before lunchtime, when we decided we had better get going again.
We packed up the tent and then had a nice shower to temporarily clean ourselves of the layer of red dust that seems permanently attached to our skin, and made the decision to go to the Mornington Wilderness Sanctuary, 90kms off the Gibb River Road. The guide book we have highly recommends it, the Nicholls family loved it when they visited so we thought we should not miss out. After a long day’s driving and lots of hundreds of kms driven on quite rough roads, we arrived at Mornington at about 4pm, to a very warm welcome (you have to radio ahead from a radio booth just off the Gibb River Road to tell them you are coming/ check for space) and glasses (made of real glass!) of chilled water. Very civilised!
Mornington Wilderness Sanctuary is a not for profit conservation organisation run by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. They manage large blocks of land throughout Australia and
aim to rejuvenate the native plant and animal species that have traditionally flourished but that have dwindled over the past century or so. In the case of Mornington the strategy is to restablish early dry season burns to prevent out of control peak dry season massive fires which have a dramatic effect on native wildlife. We also learned that “feral cats” (that’s cute little domestic pussies gone wild) are responsible for killing literally 2 million native Australian mammals a day due to their hunting behavior. Another reason not to like cats! Also in Mornington roughly 50% of the land has been de-stocked of cattle, making it possible for grasses and bushes to regrow and flourish, providing food and shelter for a wide range of birds and mammals. We learnt all this from an excellent presentation given by one of the scientists working at Mornington. It is really interesting stuff and truly worthwhile work. We collected a bunch of Australian Wildlife Conservancy newsletters and Anna is avidly reading them. Maybe this is a place she will come back to and to some volunteering one day…
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Chris Bartlett
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Re Gibb River Road trip
We have recently been on the Gibb and to Mitchell Plateau and out to the coast and the Kimberley Coastal Camp , back to Kununurra and Darwin and home to Tasmania. We went primarily to see rock art , the Bradshaw rock art and Wandjina art. You prabably know the B art is possibly 50000 yrs old and the W art 5000 years old. A good web sit is the http://www.kimberleyfoundation.org.au/gwion-gwion-bradshaw/ Your journey will be more educational than any class room.Your photos are excellent. We ernjoyed the Ellenbrae scones too!!! Perhaps by now you will have ended up in Broome, maybe via Mt Hart and Windjana Gorge etc all worth a look. Hope all goes as planned.