Day 13 – Sunday 1 August 2021 – 73km

An early breakfast then we end up talking to our neighbour for the night, Ramesh from Nepal & family. They are very friendly and ask us all sorts of questions about travelling and camping. We drive into Florence Falls and get a spot close to the path down. The sign says 135 steps, however I count 180 down to the creek that flows away from the falls. The lookout over the falls is spectacular, again a twin falls. There are lots of people going and coming up, all very friendly. The falls look even better from the base and we join the throngs in the water, I count over 50 people in the pool, the water is refreshing, not cold, everyone is enjoying themselves. Tereza swims under the falls & gets pushed away by the current, good thing she has the swim noodle to hold onto. After we get out we eat half our lunch & sit admiring the sight for a while. We decide to take the pathway out, not the stairs up, the path is very picturesque, a small creek is crossed back & forth on small bridges as we ascend back up to the top of the falls. We are in a tropical rainforest environment. The air gets warmer as we get closer to the top of the Florence Falls & we move into tropical savannah landscape. We cross Florence Creek then finish our lunch on a bench next to the creek, a very pretty spot.

It is about 1pm and as we drive out we notice the car park is overflowing. There are lots of cars on the short drive to the Buley Waterhole, our next stop. We drive around the carpark & it is overflowing as well, so we decide to continue on & come back in the morning. Our next stop is the Tabletop Swamp, a short distance off the road and there is no-one else there. This is a perched paperback swamp and we walk around it a bit enjoying the different scenery, the reflections of the paperbarks in the water is stunning. There is a fair bit of birdlife around as well.

Our next stop is Greenant Creek, again, next to the road & took a short walk to the bridge crossing the creek. The water is so clear and again, beautiful scenery. We start to get eaten by mosquitos & beat a hasty retreat back to our car.

Next we call into Wangi Falls & connect to the free Wi-Fi, this is the only place that we can call out from – we can call our son. Afterwards we treat ourselves to an ice cream at the kiosk, once again this is the only place that they sell food or drinks, I think it is because the tourist bus stops here. Back to our camp & on with the air-conditioner again, what a blessing this is, it is so hot & humid here and this is winter here. We have cheese, bikkies & wine before a game of cards. Since we left home today has been the first day that we had a nice relaxing day.  Another great day.