Mitchell Plateau

25-28 June

We turned north off the Gibb River Road at the Kalumburu Road junction as our destination was Mitchell Falls.  It's a 92km drive to the campground, 2-3 hours though.  We were surprised to see so many palm trees and in such density.  Despite the deep orange dirt and dust it was almost tropical.

After a long, fairly bumpy drive we settled in to the national park camping area, where we ended up spending 4 nights as we loved the area so much.  The highlight of course was the 8.6km return walk to Mitchell Falls.  We set off around 7.30 am, a gorgeous time of the morning here as the sun rises around 6am so we're always up early.  The walk took us over a creek, across the top of a gorge, through some flat areas, along a shady gully, over rocks, through a river and finally over more rocks to a viewing area.

Oh wow, just to be here was amazing.  It only got better though.  There was a faint track leading down a little further, then onto some rocks where we went between two boulders and sat on a rocky ledge.  From here we could see the ‘classic’ Mitchell Falls view.  All four tiers, top to bottom, with the lowest fall dropping into a huge pool far below.  Speaking of tiers, I’ll admit to shedding a few tears – just the overwhelming sense of being here.  A long-held dream I didn’t in all honesty expect to realise.  This was awesome in every sense of the word and we sat up here for close to an hour, just taking it all in. 

Re-crossing the river, we made our way to where the river drops over the cliff to become the Mitchell Falls.  It was beautiful up here!  We could look down several tiers, we could see the flat first tier where the water laps under a cave and there’s a separate waterfall on the right wall.  Best of all, up there in the hot sun, we could feel the light spray of the water as the breeze caught it.  This was such fun!

Top of the Mitchell Falls

The walk back was good too.  We took our time and explored some caves with aboriginal art in them.  The track crosses the top of Mertens Falls which drop into a huge gorge.  When we got to Little Mertens Falls we walked down to the large pool into which the falls drop.  It’s quite lush in there, a beautiful swimming spot which we had almost to ourselves.  I sat on a rock where I was sprayed gently from above.  Oh wow, I enjoyed this so much.  It cooled me down better than a swim would have, and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do – sit beneath a waterfall getting wet.  Phil climbed around the cliff behind the falls for a different perspective.

Behind the falls

Back at the top of the falls there’s a series of rocky waterholes and a couple of these were like sitting in a spa.  The water came from two directions and where it met in the crevice of two rocks, it gushed into the waterhole with a lot of force and felt great on our backs.

The spa!

We returned to camp and at 6pm took our chairs to the campfire chat the ranger was doing.  This turned out to be fascinating as he’s been a ranger at Mitchell Falls for 12 years and showed slides and video clips he’s taken of the place during the wet season.  We’d been wondering many times just how much water flows through there in the wet and we saw the photographic evidence.  It floods big time!  No wonder everything’s closed for 5-6 months and much of the Kimberley is inaccessible.  He also talked about the aboriginal art found in the area and the archaeological digs that have been done and with which he was involved.  A very intelligent and passionate man.  We learned quite a lot.  In fact almost every camper attended this talk (about 80).

The next couple of days we spent enjoying the area, especially Little Mertens Falls for the swimming, the falls and the waterholes but also the nearby caves and rock ledges full of aboriginal art.  We both got a real feel for this place … its beauty but also its relative isolation and its history.  A real highlight.