18 – 20 June King Edward River/ Mitchell Falls

We headed off to King Edward River, our planned camp on the way to Mitchell Falls. The drive was the usual mix of graded and corrugated road that we have grown to expect on the Gibb. There was an added bonus however of a river crossing that we had heard along the way has been a bit tricky for some. A tour van had overturned on the crossing only a few weeks early, with several of the elderly passengers (are there any other kind up here?) badly injured. So yes we approached it with a mix of interest and nerves. Ended up being no trouble at all, as long as you kept left to avoid the larger rocks. Tim actually did it twice for the photos! Must admit we have so often heard on our trip of tough roads and river crossings in the Kimberley but nothing has been too bad yet (famous last words??).
Past the river crossing we decided to stay at the second bush camp by the river. What a fantastic spot! Our best free camp of the whole trip. Not too crowded and right next to the river and best of all, it is free!! So nice we decided to stay and enjoy it for a few days.
Mitchell Falls itself was well worth the teeth shaking journey to get there (I’ll tell you about that later). We caught a helicopter to the top (these kids are so lucky!) and then spent the day swimming, looking at Aboriginal rock art and walking back down to the start of the trail. A lovely and exhausting day.
Now… about that road to Mitchell Falls… it was probably the worst rode we’ve been on so far. The corrugations for 78kms shook the bejezus out of us and the cars. Not one from our group of friends came away unscathed. The Webbs blew a tyre and cracked their fuel tank, the Serisiers battery holder snapped, headphone jack broke (and they haven’t finished checking their car), Simon and Lynn watched their aerial vibrate right off the car never to be seen again and Kate’s brothers’ car now makes a rather unpleasant and concerning screeching metal sound. Wally has held up well so far (touch wood… fingers crossed…)Saturday we had a rest day by the river. Wendy got the kids making pikelets on a tin which involved cooking pikelets on the top of empty tin cans heated underneath by a candle. Kids had a great time – it was like a school class experiment. In the evening Wendy helped the kids make oranges filled with chocolate cake mix that were then wrapped in foil and cooked on the fire. Tasted like a yummy jaffa chocolate cake.