Kakadu - Gumlon Falls

Tues (13/8) to Wed (14/8) We left Katherine and headed to Edith Falls, about 60km north and another 20km off the road - all sealed road. The campground looked hot and dusty, so we drove out again and headed to Kakadu.

We stopped at Pine Creek on the way for a photo opportunity at the local school where Mike's sister Anne taught recently.

Then in to Kakadu. On the way, success at last - well at least in his dreams!

We decided to stay at Gumlon Falls which is 36km off the main road at the southern end of the park. That's 36km of dirt, dust, rocks, bone juddering corrugations with some lovely scenery thrown in. Not to mention the heat - high 30's during the day, 18 or so at night. Real energy sapping weather.

We found a shady spot after the usual site selection deliberations and got the van set up, by which time we were grease spots. Luckily, there is a beautiful big waterhole with a very high trickle of a waterfall feeding into it. It was so nice to throw ourselves into the cool water.

The next morning we tackled the walk to the "top pools" - about 1km straight up the escarpment, very steep. The sun hadn't reached the track so it was bearable. It was worth it though to reach 3 gorgeous  clear pools at the top of the waterfall. 

Mike did some scouting and found even more pools a bit further up and after a bit of coaxing for me, we found ourselves on a beautiful shaded sandy beach by a deep and clear pool. We thought we had it to ourselves, but a young couple followed us in and just as we lost them, a group of six bird watchers came from the opposite direction. They were finishing a 7 day guided hike. 

We spent a couple of hours up there and then back down the escarpment, by this time in the sun - for me frequently on my backside and/or hanging on for grim death. Once at the bottom we made some lunch and camped ourselves in deep shade in the grassy park area and rested our weary bodies.