mitchell plateau

Mitchell Falls in the Western Australia's Kimberley's, one of Australia's great destinations, is a magnificent example of "Cascade Falls". This beautiful sight carved out of the landscape over millions of years is not easily accessible by land - after several hundred kilometres of mainly 4WD roads and then a 4 kilometre walk that also reveals other majestic falls such as Little & Big Mehtens Falls, you finally arrive at this amazing place. You can take a flight over these majestic falls from other parts of easily accessible towns in the Kimberley's and once at the campgrounds can use the helicopter service to take you to/from/both to & from the falls. One of Australia's great attractions.

A stunning 4WD experience. Fabulous Aboriginal rock art in the King Edward River area so make sure you check that out. It's possible to tow a camper trailer in from King Edward River over some 80kms of corrugations to the Mitchell Falls campground, where there is the most friendly and knowledgeable ranger waiting for you :-). We took the 6 minute helicopter ride into the Falls themselves and the view was amazing. Spent an hour or so round the Falls on foot and then hiked back out. Take your swimsuit because you can have a refreshing swim at Little Merten Falls on the way back to camp. There's rock art to see on the way as well. Don't try to do the trip in and out from King Edward River in one day. There is too much to see!

We were travelling with an Outback Spirit tour, and had the option to by-pass the 4-hour walk in with a 6-minute helicopter access. I chose the latter, but those who did the walk spoke enthusiastically of their experience.The National Park is interesting, but the Falls are beautiful; four drops through Kimberley sand-stone over a drop reputed to be 80 metres.

if you have the time, and don't mind corrugated roads, get your selves up to Mitchell Plateau! Stunning area, some amazing Aboriginal art int the King Edward Falls area, the best i have seen by far! Mitchell Plateau has incredible scenery, wildlife and total ambience. do yours elves a favour and do the 6 minute chopper ride back down form the Falls so you can get a birds eye view of Mitchell and Big Merton Falls tougher, the gorges etc. An incredible spot, which i feel blessed to have experienced!

We did a 15 day escorted Kimberley tour with APT. Once we were headed for Mitchell Plateau I found my camera to be on overdrive. Some lovely creek crossings and amazing lookouts. We were told that the walk down to Mitchell Falls would take a leisurely 3 1/2 to 4 hours with 2 smaller falls to see on the way down. Most of our group ranging in age from 67 to 80 did the walk but we chose to chopper in. It's a 6 minute flight but the views are amazing and well worth the $130 price. By comparison we chose the 43 minute chopper flight out and were quite disappointed. It was smoky as control burning is done at the beginning of the dry season to avoid hot fires at the end of the dry. We flew over land to the sea. Didn't see any creatures in the water, despite it's silky appearance. The choppers have no back doors but you are harnessed in. It can also be very windy in the back. I was in the middle seat and at 5ft 7ins I had to duck my head the whole time as the ceiling height was too low. We flew back along the river. The length of the flight was fine, although uncomfortable, for the price but for the extra you get to see I'd advise to save your money and stick to the shorter flights and have a little money left over for a flight over the Bungles when you get there.

Mitchel Falls were definitely the highlight of our trip along the Gibb River Rd. After turning onto the Kalumburu Rd road surface deteriorates slightly but is a fairly easy drive up to Drysdale Station, where it is a good idea to stock up on food, petrol or whatever you might need over the next couple of days because there is absolutely nothing available from there on. After Drysdale the road once again is not too bad but from the turnoff for Mitchell Plateau it is really slow going - about 2 hours to drive the 87 kms in. However it is a really picturesque drive through some beautiful rainforest, with little creek crossings, and in some spots spectacular views. Camping is available right at the start of the walk & it is a good idea to camp here rather than at King Edward River camp ground so as to be on the spot the next morning, ready to start exploring nice & early. There are clean toilets but no showers. You need to stay at least one night to allow time to walk to the falls & get a helicopter flight back. For only $135 you can either be dropped off at the top of the falls or picked up. You are treated to a couple of “figure eights” over the falls with panoramic views across the plateau. It is not a difficult walk into the falls but needs to be done early in the day to beat the heat. There are pretty swimming holes along the way, with shady spots for your picnic. The last 20 minutes or so of the walk is a bit of a climb & there is no shelter from the scorching sun.

You have to be committed to take the side trip from the Gibb River Road up to the Mitchell Plateau. The road is pretty rough in spots but the trip is worth it. The Gibb River Road had been in pretty good condition but this disappeared once we turned on to the Kalumburu Road to head towards Mitchell Falls. Camp for the night was Miners Pool (part of Drysdale River Station) about 60km up the road.Drysdale is quite a thriving little community with a small store (no fruit and veg on the day we were there), bar and restaurant and quite a busy camping area. We chose the much quieter Miners Pool about 7 kms down the road on the banks of the Drysdale River.After setting up camp we went for a quick swim in the river – no showers here. It was very refreshing, cool and no crocs. At least that’s what the man at Drysdale told us. After the cold nights at Mount Elizabeth we had collected some firewood along the way so we had a nice fire tonight. In fact we had collected so much wood we had some to load back on the camper for another night.Before heading north the next morning we drove back the few kilometres to Drysdale River Station to find out where rock art is at King Edward River. Do this it makes things easier.The road initially crosses the Drysdale River and continues to be fairy rough (quite a few corrugations) for the further 160 km to the turn off to Mitchell Falls. From the turn off the road deteriorated further with plenty of warning – “This is an unmaintained road”. Actually it wasn’t much worse than what we had been on but much windier so I guess we were going at a slower pace.After crossing the rocky ford on the King Edward River we pulled into the Munurru Camping area and set up camp.After lunch we set off to explore the rock art. The first site was about 4km down the road towards Mitchell Falls. It wasn’t too hard to find and there was a surprising variety of both Gwion and Windjana figures – and some skulls and bones at what is obviously a burial site. The second site was back along the road just where we had crossed the river. Again quite a variety of figures with some quite classic Windjana faces. We are indeed honoured to be able to see this variety of indigenous art work.Back to camp for a swim in the river and then a walk down stream to where there is a pretty waterfall. The rock here is again quite different to anything we have seen. Very red volcanic rock. You could just imagine the larva bubbling up over this area. The area covered is quite immense.Up early the next morning to get away about 7:45, the plan being to get in nice and early at Mitchell Falls to get a good camping spot. There are quite a lot of campers here at King Edward River and we want to be off with the early crew.The 80km drive in to the camping ground at Mitchell Falls was straight forward. We had heard that it was a pretty awful road and that the advice was to leave camper trailers at King Edward. While corrugated in places and some fairly steep ups and downs we didn’t find it too bad and it was certainly no problem for the Aussie Swag. The most interesting feature on the way in were the fan palms, initially as understory in eucalypt forest then as pretty well a forest in their own right. Apparently this area gets an annual rainfall of 1400mm per annum – hence the palms.We set up camp, had lunch and then searched out the shade for a rest. It’s very hot today. Later in the afternoon we walked down to Mertens Creek and found a waterhole big enough to cool off in. Some beautiful birds in this area that we don't usually see including red winged parrots, northern rosellas and red backed fairy wrens.The next morning we set off on the 3km walk to the falls about 7:30am. This way we should be back before the day gets too hot.First stop was the top of the Little Mertens Falls where there are great views down the valley. A little further on there is a track off to the left which takes you past some indigenous rock art, some of it older than the Gwion and Wandjina Paintings we have been seeing. This art depicts human figures, hand prints, kangaroos and other animals and is known to be 30 – 40,000 years old - some of the oldest art in the Kimberley. There are also Gwion figures through this area. This side track continues around underneath little Mertens Falls before one retraces their steps to the main track.It’s a pretty track, lots of variety in vegetation (open woodland, Spinifex etc), lots of birds and much of it along beside the creek. Just before arriving at Big Mertens Falls there is another art site off to the left.You can see why it’s safe to swim at the base of little Mertens Falls. There is no way salt water crocodiles could get up Big Mertens Falls.From Big Mertens Falls it’s not too far from Mitchell Falls. There are points on the eastern bank where you can take photos but to get in most of the falls it is necessary to follow the track further up stream, take off the boots, walk through the river and continue along the western bank. To get better photos you need to take a helicopter flight either to or from the camping area to the falls. Our friends had booked a flight back but for us walking was the chosen form of transport.Near where you cross the river there is quite a nice swimming spot although a little too whooshie for some. At a lunch spot on the way back we were joined by a couple from Armidale that we had chatted to along the way. They pointed out some white quilled rock pigeons across the creek – endemic to this area and quite uncommon. Soon after we spotted a couple quite close so felt quite honoured to be able to take their photograph. On the way back we also saw a yellow oriole (uncommon) and a rainbow bee eater (more common but very pretty).We enjoyed a swim at little Mertens Falls and were back for a rest about 3 pm. This is a lovely part of Australia and well worth the hassle of getting there.

I have recently visited the Mitchell Plateau and was helicoptered in to the top of the Mitchell Falls. It was fantastic seeing the falls from the air. I recommend to anyone paying for the helicopter ride. The falls run not only in the wet but in the dry as well. The group i was with then walked back out from the top of the falls instead of being helicoptered back. It's about a 4km walk but I didn't consider it too dificult. Can be extremely hot in this region at the time of year I went (September onwards) so take plenty of water for the walk, but there are spots where you can swim which was so refreshing during the walk out. I highly recommend if you can to walk one of the ways to the top of the falls so that you can appreciate the scale of them from the ground also. And some unique birdlife can be seen here to.

This is one of the "must do if you can" places. We drove in and the road is corrugated but nothing that cannot be dealt with by driving sensibly. We camped one night at the King Edward River campsite on the way in and spent time viewing the rock art in that area. The campsite there is large, flat and close to good swimming hole. The campsite at the falls is smaller and dustier. We walked into the falls past more rock art then helicoptered out .... A great way to do it. As we had time we also spent an afternoon swimming at Little Merton and watched the sunset from the ridge. Before leaving we explored the area towards the coast. Having taken the effort to get there do yourself a favour and spend more than half a day looking around.

Firstly the Mitchell plateau is not in Tasmania but in the Kimberley region of WA. It is home to the Mitchell Falls and Merton Falls. Unlike other waterfalls in the Kimberley region these continue to run during the dry session due to the unique geology of the plateau.We opted to be helicoptered in (like many other visitors) and walk out. However, walking both ways wouldn't be difficult for anyone who is a "walker". More details can be found on any of specific sites dealing with Kimberley's.