196k of Corrugation to Mitchell Plateau

The cooler evenings are agreeing with me as I slept right through the night in our cosy roof top tent.

Bacon butty for breakfast and with no toaster, it’s improvised fried bread which turns out a treat.

DRIVE: Drysdale River Station to Mitchel Falls (196km).

The road ahead is 196km to Mitchell Plateau and our campground at Mitchell Falls. If we break it up, that’s 120km to King Edward River Crossing on harsh corrugated dirt road and 76km of even rougher terrain all the way up to Mitchell Falls camp ground.

The first section Jen tackles in the 4WD. I would describe the road more annoying than challenging as sometimes we get smoother sections which makes for pleasurable driving, then we turn a corner and the corrugated darker rock surface becomes so bumpy that we are shaking our bones.

On reaching the King Edward River Crossing, it’s smaller and shallower than I had imagined but the ferns and vivid tree canopy provide for a very picturesque drive.

I take over the reins, sorry steering wheel for the 76km section from King Edward Campsite to Mitchell Falls. Straight away the corrugations are deeper and rattle our grog and other drink bottles like a heavy laiden milk float delivering pints of milk down a cobbled street.

It’s strange because we go through quite a varied road surface from smooth and sandy, dry dusty clay, flat bedrock and small pebbly rock obstacles sticking out of the ground, to all out shakin in my boots corrugated chunks of rough rock like driving through mounds of purple volcanic dust. We average about 50km/hr and often less than that around corners.

Our theory is, the darker the rock, like deep orange/purple, the more coarse it is as it will contain basalt. The good stuff is sandstone. We hit a smooth patch of sandstone then look up the road in the distance and can see the dirt change to darker rock and we cry... here we go again!!!

The landscape is more interesting though as we are on the climb to 350m above sea level. Jen spots a couple of wild Brumbies and the horses obviously know the land because they look in excellent condition.

The total drive from Drysdale Station Campground took about 3.5hrs and we arrive at Mitchell Falls in time for lunch.

CAMP: Mitchell Falls Camp Ground / 1 Night

Mitchell Falls campground is a bit dusty but we assess the direction of the afternoon sun, find a nice shady spot and set up.

The helicopters are nearby so we decide to book in a return Heli from the top of Michell Falls tomorrow. We will hike in the 4km and once there, we will enjoy a scenic Heli flight over the falls back to camp.

From camp, there’s an easy 800m hike to Little Merton Falls where we can swim. The falls are dry but the pool below is full and refreshing. Whilst Jen is paddling, she spots a snake pass by her feet in the water. The snake was most likely a Water Python.

There’s also Aboriginal art here inside a rock overhang dated back to 17,000 years ago. A fat devil creature is adorned on the rock which as the story goes was used to stop Aboriginal children from running away as the spirit will follow them and catch them.

We see evening clouds in the sky for the first time for ages making for a glorious fiery sunset.

Andrew and Anne invite us to their side of the island for dinner, a yummy vegetable curry with what few veggies we have left.

I question, was it the vegetarian or carnivore dinosaurs that died out first? We all agreed that the vegetarian dinosaurs ran out of plants and veggies first and then the meat eating carnivores ate all the vegetarian dinosaurs. Hence the crocodile survived supreme.

We then look at each other, drooling at the mouth like we are all t-bone steaks knowing that the last veggie had been eaten and now we are all meat eaters... who’s going in the pot first... and, can anyone find the bbq sauce!!!Read more