{"id":5020,"date":"2013-09-12T06:14:43","date_gmt":"2013-09-11T23:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/?p=5020"},"modified":"2013-09-12T06:14:43","modified_gmt":"2013-09-11T23:14:43","slug":"you-wanna-see-a-waterfall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/?p=5020","title":{"rendered":"You wanna see a waterfall?!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

There are waterfalls like Mitchell Falls and there are waterfall experts like us<\/p><\/div>\n

Honeymoon Beach is the northern most point you can drive to in Western Australia.\u00a0 We woke from our quiet beach camping spot to a beautiful sunny morning, getting early shade from a huge boab tree that had grown to its monstrous size on the edge of the sandy beach.\u00a0 This was a symbolic turnaround point for our trip, the north-west corner of our journey, and from here it was all south with a bit of west for the next couple of weeks.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Just pull up to the bowser and say 'fill her up'<\/p><\/div>\n

We followed a hand painted sign to McGowan\u2019s Beach where the caretaker had diesel for sale cheaper than the Catholic Mission in the nearby Aboriginal community of Kalumburu.\u00a0 When I say cheaper, I mean it was \u2018only\u2019 $2.70 per litre, a bargain up here.\u00a0 I drove down to the beach and pulled up next to the huge oil tanker trailer that had been dropped off here by barge.\u00a0 He pumped the fuel directly from the tanker into the Cruiser and after a quick calculation and passing of substantial funds, we were on our way.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The unique Wandjina rock art showing a halo-like feature around the head with eyes and ears but no mouth<\/p><\/div>\n

Our next target was one of the expected highlights of our journey in the Kimberley \u2013 Mitchell Falls.\u00a0 First stop along the way near the King Edward River was a great site with Aboriginal rock art unique to this region. The special feature of the Wandjina style of rock art is the faces with what appears to be halos around their heads and more detail than other drawings.\u00a0 It was very cool to see this special form of local art, completely different to rock art in other regions.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The road from hell across the Mitchell Plateau - bad corrugations, rocks, dips and sand<\/p><\/div>\n

After lunch under the huge melaleucas on the banks of the King Edward River we drove the 88 kms across what is called the Mitchell Plateau on what has been referred to as the \u2018road from hell\u2019. This area is known for its rich collection of flora and fauna and at certain points we gained panoramic views of the valleys below us.\u00a0 We particularly enjoyed the huge thick groves of Livistona Palms that carpeted the landscape and were lucky to see a pair of antilipines, a large reddish wallaby that lives on the plateau.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

We enjoyed the change in scenery on the plateau - much better than the normal savannah woodland<\/p><\/div>\n

Our goal was Mitchell Falls National Park, or what is now referred to rather awkwardly called Punamii-Unpuu National Park.\u00a0 This mostly single width road is notorious for its poor condition but we were slightly lucky in that a grader had been working on it recently and some sections were okay.\u00a0 But in 38 degree heat we were buggered by the time we got to the campsite so spent a lazy afternoon in the shade and after dark enjoyed one of our favourite activities \u2013 the bucket bath.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Monjon, a cute little marsupial with a tail that curls up<\/p><\/div>\n

The next morning we started early on the 3.5 kilometre walk to the falls, known to be a tough trek in any weather, and were lucky to come across a little Monjon which is a small wallaby found uniquely on the Plateau and has a cute little tail that curls up.\u00a0 We passed both Little Merton Falls and the very impressive Big Merton Falls on the way.\u00a0 In any other setting these two falls would have warranted the long drive, especially Big Merton which cascaded off the escarpment and into a deep ravine far below us.\u00a0 But we were aiming for a bigger prize.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Standing at the top of Big Merton Falls and the deep gorge below<\/p><\/div>\n

Mitchell Falls is often featured in Western Australia promotional material.\u00a0 It is in a magnificent setting and has five large cascading falls, each bigger than the previous, until the final long falls pours into a huge pool far below.\u00a0 We stood at the top of the top fall, gazing over the edge at the amazing spectacle below us and had to pinch ourselves such was the scene.\u00a0 It made all those corrugations, dust and sweat worthwhile.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The top two tiers of Mitchell Falls<\/p><\/div>\n

We found a little pool above the top fall and had a well deserved swim, conscious of the need to stay cool in the high 30\u2019s temperature and the lack of any shade.\u00a0 Then it was a walk upstream, fording the river with our shoes in hand, then scrambling back along a faint track on the edge of the escarpment until we were exactly facing the five falls like a giant staircase, a full frontal view of the entire scene directly in front of us.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t need a helicopter, professional photographer or cinematography tricks to appreciate this amazing scene \u2013 it was right in front of us in all its full glory.\u00a0 Absolutely stunning.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Mitchell Falls in the dry season - imagine what it would look like in the wet<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

It was hard work to get here but worth every step<\/p><\/div>\n

After perching ourselves on a precarious rock to absorb this view we made our way back to the top of the fall, swimming again to keep cool in this oppressive heat, and with soaked T shirts and strong fortitude we made our way back to camp under very difficult midday circumstances.<\/p>\n

The long drive south off the Mitchell Plateau was a second chance for us to enjoy the unique countryside.\u00a0 We came across a huge grader on the side of the track and its rough dusty driver flagged us down.\u00a0 He had a broken hose and needed a lift to his camp which was about 12 kms away.\u00a0 Oh, and one other thing, he had a loaded pistol that he didn\u2019t want to leave in the grader.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t have any spare seats so we put the pistol in the back and he and Julie shared the passenger seat.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A double great view<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Crossing the King Edward River, barely a trickle this time of year<\/p><\/div>\n

Amazingly, this old guy has owned the massive Drysdale station, which we had stayed at earlier, for the last 30 years.\u00a0 We peppered him with questions about life on the land, managing one million acres, the cattle business and why he was grading this road.\u00a0 Basically his wife runs the station, which is mostly just a travellers\u2019 stop these days, while he does what he enjoys which is drive the grader for the council\u2019s fees.\u00a0 He was a likeable guy, full of fascinating information, in particular complaining about how the cattle business is unviable because it takes so long to muster his cattle and get them to market he can\u2019t compete with properties closer to transport and the major markets.\u00a0 We kept him talking for 20 minutes before getting back to his camp and saying goodbye.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Another perfect ten campsite on the Drysdale River<\/p><\/div>\n

That afternoon we drove down to where the huge Drysdale River crossed and then drove upstream along its sandy banks until we found a beautiful little private spot to camp for the night.\u00a0 This was a magic spot with majestic melaleucas spreading their branches above us, the sound of the barely running river trickling by, dozens of different birds squawking, singing, kawing and crying all around us.\u00a0 Julie cooked a beautiful damper in the camp oven under another star-studded sky, we loved the light of the fire reflecting off the trees above us and we unanimously rated this campsite a perfext\u00a0ten.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Damper cooking in the camp oven while we enjoy the beautiful setting on the river banks<\/p><\/div>\n

The next day we would be back on the Gibb and heading further west but this five day diversion north to see Kalumburu and the breathtaking Mitchell Falls had been a full journey in itself.\u00a0 What could possibly be ahead of us that would beat it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Honeymoon Beach is the northern most point you can drive to in Western Australia.\u00a0 We woke from our quiet beach camping spot to a beautiful sunny morning, getting early shade from a huge boab tree that had grown to its monstrous size on the edge of the sandy beach.\u00a0 This was a symbolic turnaround point for our trip, the north-west corner of our journey, and from here it was all …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5057,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia"],"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/DSC_0432.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5020"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5091,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5020\/revisions\/5091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourpangaea.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}