Save a horse, ride a Cowboy

We set off for Manning gorge this very cold morning but it was far too cold to swim across to the other side to begin the hike so we piled 6 of us into the very small boat and used the rope to pull ourselves to the other side – I’ll admit it definitely didn’t feel like the safest journey I’ve ever been on but we did make it across safely!
It was about an hour and a half hike up to the gorge itself but we were rewarded with beautiful views and beautifully cool water to refresh ourselves with. Christina and I found a perfect spot where we were able to sun bathe but keep our feet dipped in to keep us cool. We chatted for so long about what we both wanted to do with our lives over the next couple of years that we didn’t even realise most of the group had already started heading back and we were almost left behind!

Luckily the long hike had managed to tire me out enough to nap on the ridiculously uncomfortable bus! Boy the things we would do to get Storm’s luxury bus back!! It was a long drive to El Questro Cattle Station but luckily we had a few majestic lookout point along the way! 

    
   
We are camping at El Questro for the next two nights, luckily with it being two nights it means we get the luxury of pitching up a tent to keep us warm! Ariane gave out the instructions (I think it’s already clear that camping isn’t my forte) and our tent was up in no time!! I definitely chose the right roomie there!

Once camp was set up we headed over to the luxury shower huts where we were spoilt with our own individual bathrooms! Unfortunately it had to be too good to be true in some sense and although we did have hot water for once it wasn’t very consistent!

Ariane and I headed over to check out the music at the local bar and grab a quick drink before dinner. We were tempted in my the smell of fish and chips though so treated ourselves to a pre-dinner bar snack whilst listening to the locals attempt to sing some songs – “save a horse, ride a cowboy” was my particular favourite!!  

 
 

Everyday should be an adventure

This morning we set off for some abseiling down a 25m gorge, thankfully I’m still feeling pretty fearless after my 134m bungy jump so I wasn’t feeling the nerves today!
We met up with Col who would be our instructor and guide us through the abseiling twice. The boys went first, despite a few nerves from them! Col would ask any old questions to try and get your mind off the height but it always seemed to end up back on cricket – which none of us seemed to know anything about! Col’s method didn’t really work on Aditier who would just stop what he was doing to return the conversation instead of walking and talking! 

By the time it got to my turn I had just about finished tucking my cardigan into the harness which somehow then got nicknamed the grandma cardigan! Once I’d successfully taught Col how to say Megan and not Magen like every other Australian it was my turn to back off the cliff edge and begin my descent down, there was a little ledge to walk off and then you can start to jump/bounce off the cliff a little faster for a little more fun! I was asked if it was the first time I had a pole between my legs as apparently I was a natural – I think in those situations it’s just best to say ‘no comment!’ Haha! 

Christina was at the bottom of the abseil as our safety point which definitely worried me slightly as she is probably less than 5ft and most definitely the smallest person on the trip, I’m not sure she’d be able to stop my fall but luckily that wasn’t needed and she did a fantastic job at undressing all the girls from their harnesses! Which of course was her favourite part haha 

   
Col continued to struggle with names and changed Ariane to Oreo which has already stuck as the best nickname so far!

After abseiling we headed down to a beautiful stream to dip our toes – much too cold for anything else! However somehow Ron managed to jump straight on in!  

Next up we drove over to a lookout over the Z-bend in Murchison gorge. We learnt how gorges are created from water moving the rocks and canyons are more from the rock moving (without the help of water). After Murchison Gorge we headed over to Natures Window for a few pictures once we’d made it to the end of the walk. We managed to get almost the whole group together for a photo but unfortunately the lady who took the photo managed to black out half the group! 

    
 For sunset today we got to spend some time relaxing and capturing photos on shell beach. Then headed over to Denham for the night – only to get in the showers in the tour guides room (ours had a 10 people queue) and the power to go! Wow that was a panic!!  

    
 

Ice, ice baby

Our HeliHike was an amazing experience!! Once we were kitted up with the right clothing and footwear we made our way to the helipad where we were put into our groups for each helicopter.

Both rides were very smooth and I was able to sit up front on the way back to the base!!

Now we’re heading towards Queenstown (adventure city) for the next three nights

Theres something about a good tune

I don’t know what it is about a good song that just makes you feel good and appreciate all the little things in life.

Today we had a cruise around Katherine Gorge (as the tide had risen too much to kayak unfortunately – got to be careful of those crocodiles!!)

This afternoon we did a small hike (which was ridiculously hard in this humid heat) to some beeeeeautiful waterfalls where we had an afternoon swim to cool off…. And where I nearly drifted off down the lake because I was trying to hard to keep my bikini bottoms on! First stop in cairns is going to be a bikini shop!!

But besides all of this… I am very thankful for the following today:
• Having an air conditioned bus and pool at the hotel to go back to
• Having great company to share this experience with
• Having clean drinking water – even if it was extremely hot water
• And finally having a camera and this blog to document my journey to re-read again in the future

The sound of the trickling water

My advice to anyone going to the Waterfalls – pay for transport to the top. It is more than worth it!!!

I’m told its an hours walk but there is no way on this earth that it was only an hour, it felt like a year. The views are beautiful and there is finally some clean, fresh air but oh my god the heat was intense!

I’m not a big fan of sweat as I’m sure most people aren’t but we all had to just embrace it and continue.

We were shown a shortcut through a bunch of trees by an old Colombian man however it felt more like a shortcut to death! Unsteady rocks, branches that could knock you out and large drops that you just had to jump – I was scared for my life on several occasions but it definitely made the journey funnier.

We got to a little shack selling water and beer (no fruit juice though!!) and I was told we were half way – I thought I might die having to do it again just to get there!! Luckily it was a joke and we were only a couple of minutes away, we paid the fee and continued through a field full of cows, bills, dogs, cats and more chickens than you could count.

Ahhh what’s that? The sound of water!!! I can’t see it but I can hear it – temptation at its finest!

It was a beautiful waterfall and the reward of cool water surrounding your hot, sticky body was definitely worth it!!!

You can climb further and further up (7 pools apparently) but I only made it to the 3rd before my hunger got the better of me.

The walk back was far worse than I could have imagined. Now I’m no Geologist but surely if you walk up hill to get somewhere you must walk down hill to get back?? But no somehow the walk home was still all up hill!!!!! Running low in energy, water and most of all motivation I struggled to make it all the way.

A good 10 hour sleep sorted me out though and I made it back into the office the next day.

It’s good to know they have a stretcher if needed.