Day 67 – 25th July – Manning Gorge

You would think by now we would be ‘gorged out’… but today turned out to be one of those highlight days that we will remember for a long time…

We had a delayed start when we had to wash the kids bedding… do you know how hard it is to wash sheets and sleeping bags without any facilities?  We had to make do with emptying out the crate that holds all our shoes and using that as a washing tub.  Even Safety Bear got a wash… 

Chores done and lunch packed, we finally headed off on foot at 10am (noticing that everyone else had left an hour or two ago).  Walking through the camp I spotted these boabs. 

The campsite here at Manning Gorge has been the only one with a waterhole right at the campground… and it was a really pretty spot. The most surprising feature was the white sand… it was almost like being at the beach! 

To walk to Manning Gorge you have to cross the waterhole.  Thankfully they have conveniently left a ferry for everyone to use.  

There is a simple rope and pulley system to shuttle the ferry back and forward.  Here’s Megan working hard to get us across (this lasted all of a minute before she gave up and made Dave do it…) 

Once on the other side we had a very warm 45 minute trek up and over a range to reach Manning Gorge.  And this is what we were greeted with… the BEST waterfall of our trip (so far). 

Check out this plant.  It is a carnivorous flower according to some random bloke we met… No idea what it is called?  Right in the middle of the photo, in the middle of the red flowers, you can see a butterfly that has been caught and presumably being eaten. 

After our hot trek we were keen to hit the water as quickly as possible.  The water was cool, of course, but I managed to get in three times over the 3 hours we spent here.  Here we are checking out the waterfall… 

Once it was time to get out to thaw for a bit we put the shoes back on and climbed up the side of the waterfall to explore the top.  We climbed up on the left of the cascading water, crossed the stream at the top and followed the ledge as far as we could on the right.  This would be one of my favourite views of the trip… 

From where I am standing, all the way around to the black rock on the other side of the waterfall, is a torrent of water during the wet season.  What a sight that would be!

Spidey thought it was a good view too.  Here he is kickin’ back enjoying the scene… 

These are the pools at the top feeding the waterfall.  First photo is Aiden mid leap to cross the stream.  The second photo is the infinity pool as the water falls over the edge. 

Back down at the bottom of the falls we hit the water again… I reckon we spent about an hour and a half just jumping off the rocks next to the waterfall.  Some of this time was spent working up the courage to jump from the higher ledge.  Of course, Dave led the way and took the first plunge… closely followed by Aiden.  I am pleased to say I managed it once, and finally Megan did it a couple of times too. 

Here’s what a person looks like when they jump into the water… Aiden is hidden in all those bubbles somewhere 

 Just to give you some perspective about the height of the highest ledge we were jumping off.  Aiden must have done this jump at least twenty times… 

The boys were super excited when Aiden jumped from the high point for the first time… look at their grins… 

This was our awesome view for lunch... 

After 3 fun-filled, exhausting hours, we headed back to camp.  Remember that photo of the waterhole at the start of the day?  By mid afternoon the campground is full of campers.  There is not enough time to head over to the gorge so everyone heads for the waterhole instead…  We managed to spend another hour bumming around in the water here, chatting to everyone.