I don’t have words to describe today adequately. I have completed the hardest hike I’ve done at least since I’ve had kids. The ‘no knees Mitcho’s’ brigade have excelled themselves!

We left camp at 630 as the day was forecast to reach 36 deg (which it did!). First stop was at the water crossing to the gorge which we had been warned was 1m deep and was very long. We parked up the vehicles and did our best to walk around the water crossing and add an extra 3km to the hike along the road.

We reached the actual carpark and began our hike into the gorge. This gorge has the same palms as those that we saw in Palm Valley near the West Macdonnell Ranges a few months ago. One of only about 3 places in Australia that they exist.

The walk in was beautiful, even if it got more and more difficult. I could take photos for the first half, but the camera had to go away for the second half as I concentrated on staying upright!

We made it to the halfway pool, which is where many people appreciate the scenery and turn around and there is a VERY large rock impeding progress further upstream. Karen and Kieran got up no problems, and Bob made it up after a couple of false starts with his bung leg.

I tried getting up via a couple of other locations, but in the end it took Kieran to give me some support to climb the waterfall to be able to get up.

The walk just got harder and harder but I was determined to get to the top. The trickiest part was climbing around another set of falls and walking a very thin ledge, but the reward was worth it. FYI for Michelle, you needed to go to point number 17 to get to the end…

Once we got to the top, the view was amazing. We swam and soaked it all up, with Bob and I feeling just a bit chuffed with ourselves for making it. I should have paid attention to the fact that the energy tank was more than 50% depleted…..resulting in a very slow and difficult descent through the gorge.

Bob and I are both ready to trade in our knees tonight. We have decided not to double up tomorrow and we will head to the springs at Zebedee to recuperate. Karen and Kieran will head out for a hike without the ‘no knees’ in the morning and we’ll meet back up in the afternoon.