Mitchell Plateau

Sunday was a long day. 450 km of gradually deteriorating dirt roads from El Questro to our camp on the Mitchell Plateau. Over 9 hours including stops.

The Gibb River Road has quite a good surface (though rough crossing even the small dry watercourses) and not so much traffic despite reports to the contrary. A couple of serious rivers early. The Pentecost seems to be the one to keep an eye on to know if the Gibb is open after the Wet.

And the distinctive escarpment encircling the Cockburn Range kept us company early on. The sandstone though here is King Leopold Sandstone which includes a lot of siltstone and quartz and breaks down to a very stony surface. Hard-looking country.

After 3 hours we turned onto the Kalumburu Road and it got rougher. Another 2:30 to the turnoff to the NW on the Point Warrender Rd – which isn’t much more than a glorified bulldozed track.  2 hours of that. Not far in there and a stop to check out an area of rock art. Wandjina paintings. The Wandjina are the mythical beings that bring the monsoon rains.  they have no mouth – that might let the rain out prematurely – ah but now I don’t seem to have a photo of one. You’ll have to make do with this one!

This drive became quite pretty with a forest of Livistonia palms interspersed with the eucalypts. Growing on lateritic basalt which apparently holds water that these palms need to thrive.

So eventually our destination for the next 2 nights. And what accommodation! The most luxurious of the trip. It’s owned and operated by Outback Spirit. Large tented cabins with covered verandas  well spaced. The central building has a large dining room and a covered outdoor lounge area. And a large and deep swimming hole in the creek.

Next morning we drove 20km on rough road to the Mitchell Falls trailhead, with 4 staff from the camp. Half the group chose to take the helicopter down while the rest of us walked the 4 km down to the river and falls. Our guide from the camp was very knowledgeable about the plants and aboriginal lore. Some more rock art and a burial ground. The track was fairly rough and only partly shaded. The last section quite hot. By the time we reached the rest of our group sitting in meagre shade near the heliport, I was ready to sit and have lunch. Until someone suggested that we should go and look at the falls. Oh yes! That’s why we came!

There were so many other people on the track and at the falls. And only a limited viewing area. I was a bit disappointed. Somehow not the great experience I’d envisaged. But two of us and one of the staff did go for a quick swim in the river and that was fun. And then the highlight was the helicopter ride back with several swoops over the falls for photos.