Awake to another sparkling day , after yesterday , we slept in till 8 am - luxury !!
Today's we are headed about 1 Klm down the road to Fortescue Falls , Fern Pool , Dales Gorge and Circular Pool . The agenda was full !!
We got to the parking area and wandered down to the lookout , Fortescue Falls did look great , with enough water flowing to show just how magnificent it would be with more water coming over .
Descending the steps and new metal stairs & walkways, we arrived at the top off the falls , next was a 150 m trip up to Fern Pool . The area opened up only to be filled with trees paperbarks , rock figs , grasses and some springs . The huge rocks weren't the same as the stratified ones , these ones were huge lumps of rock that look like they were expelled from a volcano!! Arriving at the pool , we found a large pool of greeny blue water about 30 m round . There were a couple swimming and 8 others sitting & relaxing, we took some photos of the waterfall and headed back to the main falls .
Back at Fortescue, we made our way down the natural steps to the plunge pool , stopping for more photos and to enjoy the surroundings, red cliffs , green trees and grasses , blue sky , you get the picture .
The next thing was to walk down Dales Gorge to the Circular Pool and then climb out of the gorge and maybe do the rim track back to the ute . The walk was a challenge in places , but easy in others , we were walking down over the stone floor , with steps as each layer gave way to another . There were lots of pools , twists and turns , walking over stepping stones etc . Also some other fossils.
I forgot to mention the asbestos warning at the start of the hike - there is blue asbestos here in its natural state- quite safe until it is disturbed or mined - Wittenoom isn't far from here - it's an old asbestos mining town , I think it has one resident now , she refuses to move out !! When you know what to look for , you can find it in a lot of places in these gorges !!!
There are a set of cascades that the water is tumbling off , each one going from one layer of stone to the next , there are plenty of fish swimming around here , even though the water is fairly slimey!!
We found ourselves at the end of the gorge , and then had to go up to the Circular Pool, another 300 m away . It was a rock scramble from one side to the other , traversing large rock shelves , water , boulders , sunshine and people.
Up at the pool finally , we sat in the shade and had lunch , 2 hours after starting - we have had a lot of stops on the way for photos , drinks and visual overloading - of which there is plenty .
Lunch complete, we head back down to the start of the uphill climb . There is a signpost telling you how steep & and dangerous it is , but up we went - Lyn does uphill better than downhill, so it was an easy hike back up to the top!!
Recuperated , we wandered back down the road to where the ute was parked , the easiest walk of the day !! Then drove back and sat for a while - we were a little tired after today's expedition!!
After kicking back for a while we did some jobs - clean windscreens and check reversing cameras etc , before having a beer , cheese and bickies .
We then got chatting to a couple and their 3 kids , in a fifth wheeler travelling for a couple of years . We have seen them at Kakadu , Katherine and the Bungles , now here . We probably won't see them again , as they will be in Perth in 2 weeks! They were impressed by our fifth wheeler !!
Today has been outstanding , we walked about 4 kms and have seen many more wild flowers on our walk , some that we haven't seen elsewhere! The temperature only got to 28 degrees today , so was pleasant for walking , it is a bit cooler here than where we've been for the last few months!!
Beer , cheese and bickies went down well !!!
Today's map link :-https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z1G8gwwxwyYo.kGHpdZ9tj894&usp=sharing
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