(written by Dave) (30 June, posted 1 July)

Having decided to spend the day here at Edith Falls, we were in no hurry to get up this morning. Still, with all the birds, we didn’t sleep much past 7:30. Technically it is a rest day, but we did not have a big pile of fresh food (there is none here) so it was oatmeal and coffee for brekkie. Eventually we got motivated to go on a bushwalk to the lower Edith Falls pool, then on to upper Edith Falls. They are quite spectacular. The lower falls is not much in way of falls but a pretty good sized lake. Very surprising to walk the 200 meters from camp and see it. We’ve seen a lot of desert out here and to find such an oasis was not expected – guess we should have come down yesterday.

Lower Edith Falls

Edith River

From here, we hiked up the escarpment to upper Edith Falls. There were some great views out over the distant mountains and another chance or two for Nancy to work on her rock piling skills. There are several pools and lots of levels of falls. If someone had told you that it was a Disney set, you would have believed them. Lots of people about (some trying to prove how stupid people can be climbing over cliffs in speedos and string bikinis). But it didn’t feel crowded as it was easy to move to the next pool or a quite area in the bigger pools. We had a wade about and headed back to camp via the shorter path. There were lots of cars in the day use area – either today was a lot busier or we just missed them yesterday after riding in.

Dave - upper Edith falls loop

Nancy and the rock pile

Upper Edith Falls

Upper pool Edith Falls

We stopped at the kiosk for lunch – and had a couple very good hamburgers. Here again there were lots of folks but mostly folks day tripping and after a bit, they got back on their bus. Glad we decided to ride out here – what a nice place to spend a day and to do so overnight gave us more quiet time.

When we got back to camp, we borrowed Sue and Ken’s two day old paper. We’ve not seen a paper for a while so that was a real treat. We both read every section cover to cover. Just as we finished, Sue and Ken returned from their walk and insisting on making coffee again. What a treat, two days in a row. We sat with them for some time trading stories much like yesterday. Nancy really wanted a swim so after a bit more lounging, we headed back to Edith Lake. It was too cold for me but she had a good swim (note: shoulder doing just great).

Nancy in lower Edith Falls plunge pool (lake really)

Back at camp, we prepared dinner and started eating. Just in time for another beer to show up from Sue and Ken. Wow, we are sure glad we made the trip in here to Edith Falls. We got to see some pretty specular country, met some really nice folks and best of all, did it all without getting bitten by a croc!  And no, we did not see any either.

XXXX Stubby holder

Tomorrow we are off to PC – Pine Creek. We will not be stopping at every km markers for photos however…