Drysdale Station and Mitchell Falls Plateau

From Ellenbrae Station we travelled 70km before turning right for the trip up to Drysdale Station along the Kalumburu Road. We pulled into the rest stop to stretch our legs and got chatting to a truckie who was transporting grocery supplies up to the station from Broome. He reinforced that the next stretch of road was pretty awful and told Sippy to let the tyres down to 25psi. Sippy put them to 30 – but was not too keen to go further due to worries that the side walls would get punctures.

True to word – the road was quite brutal. There was plenty of red dust and the corrugations were both deep and wide, meaning that travelling at 60km/hour did nothing to get on top of the bumps. We just had to grin and bear it for 60km, which took us an hour and 15mins. As we turned into the station driveway, we passed a van whose water tank had fallen loose and was hanging down onto the road. We had also heard of a family whose axle had broken on their camper trailer on their travels up and they had to camp for three days beside the road while waiting for a tow truck from Kununurra to arrive.

We breathed a sigh of relief after making it and precariously opened the door to the BT to inspect for any damage. Looking up we noticed that the air conditioner was hanging about 10cms down from the roof, luckily being held by one remaining bolt. The other three bolts had worked themselves loose. About an hour in the heat followed while Sippy searched you-tube to find out how it was attached to the roof and Cath’s smaller hands managed to fit through the gap to get the bolt back into position (standing on the table with our necks cranked!) – but we managed to fix it. A thorough inspection was then conducted to unveil that the top of one the reading lights had come unscrewed, and the cutlery tray had been cracked at the back due to the cutlery hitting it. A search then prevailed to locate the 4 knives and 3 spoons that had bounced out and behind other drawers. The BT had come through with only minor mishaps, for which we were extremely grateful.

After a cool drink we went in search of the pilots from Shoal Air to confirm our booking to Mitchell Falls for the following day. It was then off to the outdoor restaurant and bar for a famous Drysdale Kimberley Beef Burger – it did not disappoint! After dinner we sat around the fire with a beer and had a chat to the two young pilots, Mitch and Hunter, who were taking us on our journey in the morning, happily noting they only had one beer each before retiring early for the night.

The next morning we were up at 5:45am for an early coffee and breakfast before jumping on our bikes as the sun rose, to ride the 10mins to the airstrip. Here we met the pilots, along with another group of 8 travelling together from Melbourne. The group was split into two, based on weight, and after a safety briefing, we were loaded into the tiny planes – heaviest at the front and lightest at the back. Sippy was in the middle and myself and another lady at the back. At this stage we were wondering how the tiny thing was going to get off the ground!

We taxied out to the start of the dirt runway and away we went – sailing into the air, over the station and headed north to Mitchell Plateau. The sky was blue and the journey was very smooth and within 40mins we had touched down at Kandiwal. It was then into 4WD’s for the extremely rough 30min journey up to the Mitchell Falls camping area to commence our 4.5km hike.

Our first stop on the hike was Little Mertens Falls. Our guides (the pilots) highlighted stories of the local Aboriginal people and we viewed several beautiful Aboriginal art works on the majestic rock faces and caves, which dated back 4,000 -10,000 years. We then sat underneath the falls before making our way down to the water for an amazing swim in the stunning waterhole below the falls. After a M/T break we were back on the hike, heading for Big Mertens Falls.

The view from the top of Big Mertens Falls was amazing, but we were very wary of the story from when mum and dad were here over 20 years ago – so we stayed well back from the edge and admired from afar. Mitch gratefully took a fabulous photo for us, which we happily air dropped to the group – so no one ventured too close to the edge.

It was then onto Mitchell Falls. We came out at the top of the falls where we were told the stories of the dreamtime serpent creating the falls and the sacredness of not swimming in the top two pools, as the Aboriginals believed this caused infertility. We then swapped our hiking boots for reef shoes and waded across the water and rather slippery rocks to make the final journey down to see the falls.

AMAZING!!!! The water was thundering over the three drops and we marvelled at the incredible vista from the perfect viewing area. It was just magical! The most beautiful series of waterfalls embedded within the red Kimberley layers of towering cliffs. A sight we will never forget. It had been well worth the journey!

After lunch and a swim in the river at the top it was time for our helicopter journey back to the campground. This was also amazing, with our pilot doing several passes of the falls and surrounding area. Sippy and I gripped our phones tightly as we managed to capture the incredible experience so that we could relive it.

We were all buzzing as we piled back into the 4WD’s and bumped and bounced back to the Kandiwal airstrip. We then sat around on camp chairs beside the two tiny planes with cold beers and relived our experience with each other, before the 40min flight back to Drysdale Station. Then sun was just setting as we touched down and we all headed to dinner together at the open-air restaurant.

Yes, it was expensive – but it was a day we will never forget and was worth every penny.