Our Walkabout

Planet View: S16°39.458′ E125°55.744′ 

Street View: S16°39.458′ E125°55.744′ 

Definitely one of the best swimming holes we’ve seen throughout the Northern Territory and Western Australia, we stayed at Manning Falls for two nights to enjoy the beautiful gorge and falls.  The falls are located on private property and the campsite is run by the friendly family that owns Mount Barnett Roadhouse, seven kilometers back up the track on the side of the Gibb River Road.  The campsite is located on the edge of Manning Gorge with a fantastic swimming hole meters from the main camping area, cold showers and flushing toilets were a bit of a treat after bush camping for the previous four days.  Manning Falls were a solid 45 minute hike up the gorge but well worth the hot trek, an amazing plunge pool surrounds the base of the falls, we stayed to swim for a few hours before walking back to camp for lunch.  The plunge pool was quite deep and made for some fun jumping off the rocks above, the sandy cave behind the falls themselves was also a fun way to escape the sun.  Crossing the river at the beginning of the hike was quite a laugh, there were small Styrofoam boxes provided to place one’s belongings which must then be guided across the chest-deep water to the other side.  We can imagine that quite a few cameras and shoes have found their way into the water across the slippery rocks!