Day 38 – Elliot and Twin Falls

Everyone had a surprisingly good and long sleep on the side of the road. We got the van packed up and jumped in the car to check out Elliot and Twin falls. The road was very washed out in parts and I’m so happy we didn’t take the van down there…

We got to the falls and walked down for a look before picking our favourite swimming spot. Even at 8am it was already super hot, so everyone was looking forward to jumping in!

We explored Twin falls first and it was gorgeous, the crystal clear water, the sun and lush greenery and best of all – not a single other person in sight!

Elliot falls was beautiful in a whole different way and it’s really hard to pick a favourite… the girls loved being able to say that they had stood on top of a waterfall.

In the end we jumped in at Twin falls and the girls (and big kids) loved it! Such a lovely, refreshing way to start the day… sadly we had to leave eventually as we still had to pick up the van and drive to Jardine River for the ferry river crossing.

When we got to the ferry at 11am the line was looking a bit long and before we knew it we heard the dreaded news that it was non-operational AGAIN! There was talk of parts being flown up from Cairns in the afternoon and not being open again until tomorrow whilst others were saying some parts couldn’t even be sourced. So it was all a big mystery as to how long we would be stranded here on the side of the road!

Now this thing is plagued with issues – from mechanical, to maintenance to who knows what else. It had been down for a month for repairs since April and ever since it came back into operation it has been an almost daily drama with it. Given it goes about 100m and charges a small fortune it seems to rally up a lot of visitors going to the Tip. But it is what it is…

I tried to do some work, which was a challenge with not being plugged into power and having minimal reception. The girls did a bit of homework and I even surveyed some random people for Izzy’s data project because she was too embarrassed to do it. She was probably more embarrassed about me doing it, but she needed data for her survey. So a mama has to do what a mama has to do…

It was hot, it was sweaty and it was really dusty. Luckily we had easy ingredients on hand to make wraps and sandwiches. Then it was more waiting around and trying to pass the time. The kids actually did extremely well!

About 4pm news started travelling that the ferry would be operational again soon and that there might be a chance to get across today. Now there were still at least 12 vans in front of us in the line, multiple buses and trucks that had pulled into other queues and many a single car, so I was not so confident but oh so hopeful!

We were finally at the front of the queue some 6 hours after arriving at the ferry and then we were off again, racing against the clock to make it to camp before the sun set.

We made it! Loyalty Beach was a great spot and so relaxing! We quickly set up camp, cracked open a drink and cooked the kids dinner so that everyone could finally go to sleep (poor Scarly couldn’t have her usual daytime nap). It took a while to get them all settled, but eventually Chris and I got to sit on the beach with a drink in hand and enjoy peace on earth whilst celebrating that we finally made it across to the other side!