Kakadu

Gunlom Falls

Our first stop in Kakadu was Gunlom falls. We had been there before on several day trips, but this time we were heading to the campground to stay a few nights. The road in was rough – 37kms of corrugations- but we went carefully and arrived with everything in tact. (Not so on the way out. We lost our two way aerial off the bull bar before our very eyes and a fuse blew, which was my fault for trying to charge too many things on the go.)

Gunlom campground was very spread out, with a generator area and non-generator area. We had met a chap at Pussy Cat Flats the previous day and he also headed to Gunlom Falls. He had broken his back window just like us and was waiting for a replacement in Darwin. His name was Mark and he was from Coff's Harbour. We did the rock pools and shared stories and drinks with him over the next few days.

We swam in the rock pools a couple of times. It was hard work getting up to them! It was quite a steep rocky track, so by the time you got there you were well and truly ready for a swim!

The Ranger arrived each evening to collect the camp fees, and he was most impressed with our generator set up. (Close to the car, so it wasn't annoying anyone too much).

The amenities were ok, but we found out that as the showers were solar, they weren’t hot first thing in the morning – a rude shock for some!

Our next stop in Kakadu was Cooinda. We booked an early morning cruise for the next morning then headed to our campsite to set up. The resort is now run by Accor, and has supposedly won awards, but the amenities block, although new, was always dirty and the washing machines were filthy!

The early morning cruise was amazing!  The birdlife was wonderful, the crocodiles were there in force, and the sunrise over the water was beautiful.

 The cruise included breakfast, so we headed back to the resort and waited in a long queue to serve ourselves – Randall was not impressed!

There are two swimming pools at the resort, and we always headed to the quieter one each day. A bloke sitting next to Randall commented on his swimming – he thought he must have been an Olympic swimmer!! That’s because he always goes hell for leather whether it’s swimming or walking!

We did a day trip to a place called Ubirr. Ubirr has aboriginal rock art and an amazing lookout onto the wetlands below. It was a very hot day, but the rocky area was very cool and shady.

 Watch out croc!!

The bloke who was impressed with Randall’s swimming told us about a place called Cahill’s Crossing, near Ubirr, which is the border between Arnhem Land and Kakadu. It is a river crossing, and you always see crocs there at high tide. Randall took this great video of a croc going over the road.

                                          

We ended up sitting on the rocks watching the tide come up and the water flow change direction, and see at least ten crocodiles. People were fishing there and taking great risks to get their lures when they got stuck.

We sat there for about three hours in the cool shade and it kept us very entertained.

We packed up the next day and headed out of Kakadu towards Darwin. On the way out I kept on seeing signs on the fence all along the highway saying Danger and wondered what was dangerous there. We pulled over to read the signs more closely and discovered that it was owned by the military and that  there could be live firing and land mines!