Barb & John's Hols: Day 16 Edith Falls

Day 16 Edith Falls

Our last day with Jess before she has to head back to work in Darwin and we head on to Katherine.
To maximise Barb's time with Jess, John very kindly offered to pack up our campsite alone and meet up with Jess and Barb at Edith (Leilyn) Falls.

Jess at Edith Falls cafe

Edith falls lower pool

Just lovely

This allowed Jess and Barb to drive in her mini cooper and get away early. We wanted to call in to Gunlom falls which Jess had been told was easy to get to.....easy with a 4WD it turns out. The bitumen peters out after a short distance to be replaced by the dreaded dirt corrugations. Not to mention it was 40 km driving of this. Nah! We bailed out early and headed for Edith Falls instead. We heard from other tourists that neither Jim Jim nor Gunlom Falls were flowing because of the dry anyway. Another time maybe.

With no trailer in tow and Jess being a very confident and competent driver we flew down the Stuart Highway at 130kph. When we reached the carpark at Edith Falls, we parked fairly conspicuously close to the entrance so John could find the car and left a note for him to tell him which walking path we'd taken and what time we left. Luckily no car thieves read the note and John only arrived five minutes before we returned from our walk.

native flowers

Jess and Barb at upper plunge pool

The upper plunge pools

Jess drying off after a swim

The upper plunge pool loop walk around the falls takes around two hours. Luckily we had spoken to the lady at the Falls cafe beforehand and approached the walk from the right direction after taking her advice...ie steep but short part first, difficult long steep part last (and down-hill!)

The views from up top were amazing. I've run out of superlatives to describe the scenery. Quite a number of people were swimming in the plunge pools and Jess immediately stripped down to her bikini and jumped in. Barb hadn't worn her togs. They were in the backpack along with a LOT of water to drink. Never mind. It was hot, so with Jess' encouragement she took the plunge fully clothed. Delicious! The water was shockingly cool initially until you acclimatised. We swam right over to the waterfall. It was very slippery and slimy climbing out over the rocks but so worth it to experience this. Once out it was only a few minutes in the sun to dry off before we attacked the long walk back down.

On the way down

Slightly soggy Barb

We found John waiting for us so we partook of lunch at the café. It was very sad to farewell Jess. We had the best time together. So special.

Reunited with John for lunch

John and I drove down to Katherine where we booked in at the Shady Rest caravan park. It's lovely here. Some of the best and cleanest facilities we've seen so far in caravan parks with a great open-air laundry and camp kitchen very close to our campsite. We even managed to get some washing done. It's surprising just how dirty and sweaty everything gets.