As we packed up to depart our
beautiful free camp, we noticed a few massive hoof prints and manure piles
right behind the BT. We couldn’t work out if it was from a cow, bull, horse or
camel, but Sippy was glad he didn’t come face to face with whatever it was
during his nightly outdoor pee :) Hee hee.
After checking the tyre pressure
and lowering both the car and van some more, we were back on the Gibb and back
to the corrugations. To our distress they seemed just as bad as the road up to
Drysdale. We were hoping for better. After about 30kms the road did improve,
but we were both still on the lookout as there were many dips, trenches, wash
out sections and quite a few creek crossings – some deeper than others.
Unfortunately I missed filming the Hahn River crossing, which was the one that
actually went over the bonnet - much to Sippy’s disbelief. I was filming down
the river rather than in front at the time. Often the river crossings were so
muddy that you had no idea as to the depth of the water or the rocks that lay
underneath. We breathed a sigh of relief when we got safely through to the
other side.
We cheered when we reached Mt
Barnett Roadhouse at around 11:30am. The roadhouse sold Gibb River Road T-shirts
(rather expensive at $60), but we purchased one for Sippy, along with some
frozen bread, juice, a punnet of tomatoes and one zucchini. The grocery
shopping we had done back in Kununurra was 9 days ago, but our supplies were
lasting quite well, so we didn’t need much. Luckily, as it wasn’t cheap!
We then drove the 7km into Manning
Gorge campground and managed to nab a great camp spot right up the end onto the
bush, away from the busyness. We had a quick sandwich with the newly purchased
frozen bread and packed up our backpacks to head out to Manning Gorge. This was
a 5km return hike that commenced with a swim across the river. They had a
bucket system going where you loaded your back packs and shoes in and then swam
it across the river in order to keep your gear dry. It worked well.
After the trek in, up and down once
again over many rocks, with a few scrambles and drops, we were greeted with the
beautiful Manning Gorge and amazing waterfall. We have been so very blessed to
have seen these places at the beginning of the dry after such a big wet season.
The waterfall was pumping, with about 6 main falls and several side falls still
flowing. Spectacular.
We spent the afternoon swimming and
enjoying the serenity – with only two other young couples in the whole gorge.
We enjoyed being the only one’s swimming out and under the waterfalls and
enjoying the peace and quiet (as the waterfall thundered). We gripped the Go-Pro tightly as we swam out to
capture some footage under the waterfall.
The next morning we trekked back
out to the gorge around 10:30am. Although quite warm, our tactic paid off as
most people had headed out early and were on their way back. We spent 3 hours
swimming and relaxing with the most stunning view of the waterfall. Again, as
we swam out to the waterfall, we were the only one’s in the waterhole. Such a
beautiful spot.
We spent a quiet afternoon
relaxing, Cathy reading while Sippy worked on reels to capture all of our
memory’s :)
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