We arrived at Manning Gorge around Midday after stopping at Mt Barnett Roadhouse for some fruit, bread, flour etc and icy poles. It was like gold when we laid our eyes on bananas. As you can imagine everything from the store was $$$. We bought a small jar of coffee for $16!!! We paid our camping fees of roughly $20 per person and headed to the campground 7km along. A great thing about Manning Gorge campground is that you can swim right at the campground. It's a beautiful swimming hole and again a little on the chilly side. Paperbarks, Pandanus and Grevilleas lined the banks of this picturesque spot. So lucky!!
There is a little boat that is used to taxi people across the billabong to start the Manning Gorge walk.
Olive got her finger caught in the pulley and we were very lucky that it didn't slice off. An icy pole from another camper and lots of cuddles fixed it.
The walk into Manning Gorge was a bit arduous as the girls were over walking I think, but it was well worth all the pick ups and encouraging! There were a few rock scrambling but it wasn't a difficult walk. It took us an 1.5hours but most people were doing it in an hour. We left early to beat the heat but it was already pretty warm at 8:30am. We usually stay at each waterhole for a couple of hours and explore, thaw out after the swim then go in again before eating lunch there.
As you can see its a very "Gorge"ous waterhole and a few rocks to jump off into the water.
It's an easy way to spend a couple of days even just hanging around the campground swimming in the billabong.
Manning Gorge campground.
We stayed 2 nights at Manning Gorge and then made our way to Drysdale Station. En route to Drysdale we came across a rollover accident.
They had a back tyre blowout then skid, only to roll 3 or 4 times and land right next to this fallen tree. They were very lucky to walk away with only a few scratches. It was also on a part of the Gibb River road that was so smooth and uncorrugated. We arrived 15mins after the rollover and they were very shaken but okay. It was a very good reminder that the Gibb can inflict some damage to your car, and ruin your holiday pretty quickly.
One of the many water crossings on the Gibb.
We arrived at Drysdale Station late in the afternoon and booked in for their dinner. It was wonderful and the service was amazing. Michael had taken Olive to the toilet and one of the staff asked me if he would like his dinner heated up. Most of the wait staff were from overseas and extending their visas by working in remote/regional locations but they loved their stay at Drysdale and came back the next year.
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