Day 78 Sunday 9th September Mitchell Falls

We had a big breakfast in preparation for our 7km return hike into the falls. The girls coped extremely well and we were surprised by the terrain which was not terribly difficult and flat. The hike took us through some interesting places like Merton's Creek Crossing - Little Merton's Falls - Art Sites - Big Merton's Falls and other interesting places.  We arrived at the top of the falls which was a spectacular site, with amazing views over the surrounding escarpment . After a swim in the upper pools we hiked on further past the chopper landing pad and  around to the base of the falls to take in the stunning views looking back up at the 4 tiered waterfall. We all agreed that after two days driving it was well worth the effort, something we had been looking forward to since we flew over here 8 years ago!! It was great to get up close this time. After this we hiked back to the rapids at the top of the falls and had lunch and more cooling off in the crystal clear water. We then hiked back in the 40 deg heat  to a small waterfall and lagoon for another cooling off. We chilled out here for a while as it was lovely and shady and our campsite was  dry and dusty  with no water and little shade. We arrived back at our camp feeling pretty exhausted so we sat and replenished our fluids for a good hour. By this time it was 4.30pm so we took our happy hour drinks and headed for a small brook (Merton's Creek) about 300 metres from our campsite to cool off again! Back at camp we lit our fire and managed to cook all our dinner in the billy, an accomplishment in itself. We ended our perfect day sitting around our campfire exchanging stories with our neighbours and toasting marshmallows. J 

 Mertons Creek right next to Big Mertons Falls

Big Merton's

Top Of Mitchell Falls

Top Of Mitchell Falls (Note on this picture the height of the polished rock to the to left side. This shows how power full this area must be in the wet season where this river is upto 5m deep approx in this area.

 Big Merton Falls

The swimming area

Just near the Hellipad

 Mitchell Falls

 Mitchell Falls

Little Merton's Falls

 Bottom of little Merton's Falls where we cooled off on the return.

Camp Fire and Billy Cooking