Mt Elizabeth station

11th May 2013

After a good sleep and breakfast we set of about 8.15am for the hike into Manning Gorge, about an hour & a half away. We started off having to cross the waterhole again, with the girls once again ferrying us across in the small boat.

Once on the other side the hike started and it was certainly one of the hottest hikes we have done, but once we had reached the end we were once again rewarded with a spectacular waterfall and swimming hole.

Manning Gorge was similar to Bell Gorge with the advantage of being able to climb the rocks next to the waterfall, which was fantastic. There was also a couple of rock ledges that you could walk out to and jump into the deep pool below.

We had met up with another couple we had met at the last campsite, John & Ruth with their kids Callan & Nikki, which Chloe & Maggie enjoyed playing with.

All the kids had a go at jumping of the first ledge, which was about 4m above the water, very brave!

The kids then looked at the higher ledge, which was about 6m above the water and asked if they cold jump off of it as well. Of course before they did, they wanted to see an adult jump off first, so off I went. With that done, the kids all took turns in jumping off the higher ledge, we had a great time in another amazing setting.

At about 12.30pm, we had to start the hot hike back to the campground and hot it was. The waterhole that had to be negotiated just near the campsite, was a welcome treat as we put the backpack in the boat and pulled that over and then swam across to the other side - beautiful

After lunch, we packed down and headed off for our next stop at Mt Elizabeth Station, about 80kms away. The drive took us about 2hrs, due to some of the road conditions we encountered along the way. A highlight of the drive into the station, was seeing our first dingo of the trip, awesome.

At the homestead we were greeted by about 10 wallabies grazing in the paddock and the place instantly had a good feel to it. We checked in and set up camp for the evening under the shade of gum trees and pandanis palms, very nice. Not long after set up, we had a bull and a hefer walk through the campsite, if we had any doubts we know we're definitely in station country now!

We've decided to join a tag along tour on the station tomorrow, which will take in about 90kms of the property which should be great!