Saturday, 23 May 2026
Aargh! So much for no fluids after 6.00pm and the late evening toilet trip with Bernie. I had a mosquito coil induced coughing attack at about 11.30pm that left my bladder feeling uncomfortable for the rest of the night! When we came back from the toilet block there was a big, fat cane toad lurking not far from our camp and I didn’t fancy stepping on that if I went back to the amenities in the dark. I woke a few time and had to convince myself that I really didn’t need to go. When I woke up at 5.40am, and it was light outside, there was no more putting it off.
With the early morning sun streaming into our swag, we were up pretty early to fix breakfast and then set off on the hike into Manning Gorge. This hike presented yet another challenge. A sixty metre walk/swim across the river, to the start of the hike on the other side. They supply half plastic drums that you can put your gear into to push across the river and keep your hiking shoes, etc. dry. Needless to say Bernie was in charge of our drum with all our gear, so that I could concentrate on getting myself to the other side.
We were lucky enough to secure the last drum currently on the campground side of the river. One of the two girls who came after us had to swim the river twice. Once to retrieve a half drum and then again with their gear in it. She was very community spirited and swam two half drums back to the campground side. This was yet another hike that recommends sensible, hiking footwear so, of course, we spent time on the other side drying our feet and lacing up our hiking boots, before we started the walk. The two girls reached the beach while we were still getting ourselves organised, and promptly set off in Birkenstocks and Crocs! As so as many people do. But for wearing hiking boots, I reckon I would have sprained an ankle weeks ago.
After the wet start, this hike was so much easier than Amalia Gorge and Emma Gorge. Thank goodness. I really was in two minds about ANOTHER gorge hike but, when I was in the amenities yesterday afternoon, I heard one lady telling another that her next door neighbour in the campground is waiting for a hip replacement, but she completed the hike on Thursday with her walking stick. That made me feel a bit more motivated.
Much of the walk is flat, along a wildflower lined track and even the rockier sections are very manageable. The hardest part was at the very end, where the final rock shelf to access the Manning Falls area, involves quite a stretch to get down. The falls themselves, STUNNING! In terms of return on the effort to get there, these falls are easily the biggest bang for your buck. My recommendation would be – if you only have time to do one gorge on the GRR, make it Manning Gorge.
We spent half an hour or so swimming at the falls, cooling off after our hike. Even though it was still early, the sun already had some heat in it. People there ahead of us said they saw a freshwater crocodile, but we couldn’t find it. We may not have been looking in the right area? We did, however, see a small monitor lizard so that was our fauna for the day. We changed from our water shoes back into our hiking boots for the return journey. I kept my wet rash vest on figuring that it would be cooler than changing back into my long-sleeved shirt. As we hiked out there were still people hiking in. We were pleased that we were going to be back at camp in time for lunch and before the temperature climbed any further.
And Bernie only almost went wrong once. For some reason he couldn’t see the white spot, the size of a dinner plate, but I could and set him straight. Even though we were setting a reasonable pace on the return hike, a young couple passed us. Not sure if we looked old or tired or old AND tired, but the lovely young man said if there was no tub for us on the riverbank, he would swim one over for us. True to his word, as we arrived at the bank, he was on his way back across with a tub for us.
Arriving back at the beach on the campground side, there was a guy with a sign CASH for ALCOHOL. They have been drinking their supplies a bit more quickly than they anticipated and he has run out of beer. He and his partner were also telling us that they had planned to go to Mitchell Falls, but it is going to be another month before the Mitchell Plateau will be open for travellers. I think it was almost due to open BUT the rain last weekend hammered that area causing the delay.
The rest of our day was very lazy. We made ourselves some lunch from supplies in the fridge and pantry box. We read our books for a while and then mid-afternoon we headed off to the amenities for showers before the rush. Yesterday afternoon we noted that the amenities were in high demand from 4.30-5.00pm onwards. At about 3.00pm we had the showers to ourselves and didn’t have to queue to get clean.
We didn’t go down to the beach last night for sunset and it ended up being a ripper red sunset that we only glimpsed from our campsite. Tonight we headed down to the beach and sunset was very disappointing. Oh well, we’ve had some great sunsets already and we’re sure there’ll be some fabulous ones on the west coast.
Soon after we arrived back at the camp site, a young woman walked past with her Golden Retriever. She brought Lacey over to meet us and, as we chatted, we learnt that her and her partner are heading for Ellenbrae. They have a contract to work there for the season from soon (Monday?) until the end of August. I’m sure that will be a very interesting experience.
One more night in the swag and that will be the camping component of the holiday concluded. Then I just have to get myself psyched for 12 nights of camping when we do the Simpson Desert Tagalong in August. We have learnt a few things that worked (and didn’t work very well) and will be much better prepared for August.
Steps: 13,730 (8.28kms)
