The Kookaburra's Kackle: From East Alligator River area in Kakadu (Northern Territory)—Land of the Mosies (Tuesday, 3 June, 2008: 9:30am)

I am sitting in the camper, and as I am trying to catch up on my writing I am keeping a rolled up paper ready to strike at the swarms of mosquitoes that are trying to penetrate the vehicle. I think I got most of them, but there are still a few left inside…

Cooking tonight's dinner (most likely lentils)

On Sunday morning we went for a rather exhausting run to Katherine Gorge—we walked some very steep bits and ran the rest (the total hike being 2hr20min, with my actual running time of 1hour26min). The gorge itself was very nice, but I think the highlight was the southern rockhole, which was a ravine of rocks and boulders that lead down a narrow path through a forest to a waterfall and pool.

Katherine Gorge, Nitmiluk National Park

Southern Rockhole, Nitmiluk National Park

Water break, Nitmiluk National Park

Nitmiluk National Park

Gigantic flying foxes (fruit bats), Nitmiluk National Park

This run/hike wiped me out for the rest of the day, but when I was stretching at least I got to check out some very cool birds hanging around the camp. The birds here are really amazing, and almost all of them are new—with the exceptions of willies, ravens, and peewees, of course! One of the most striking, I think, is the blue-faced honeyeater, which looks like a giant white-naped honeyeater but with great blue markings across its face.

Antilopine walleroo

When Seth returned from his extended portion of the run, we pulled the camper into a powered site for an hour or so to charge up and warm up lunch, then we drove back through Katherine (to top up on petrol), up to Pine Creek, and into Kakadu. Along the way we passed dozens of controlled burnings, which seem really amazing because they are kept very low and just smolder away without building intensity. The fires and smoke frequently reach the sides of the road and are a bit freaky when driving past.

Inside Kakadu we stopped at a visitor centre and the woman suggested we camp at Gunlom, near the upper South Alligator River. The catch was that it was 37km down a dirt track and we are not supposed to take the camper off sealed roads, but she said ‘well, how are you supposed to see anything then?’ She was right, so we took the risk and traveled all 37km of the dirt road. It was newly reworked for the dry season (the entire road is flooded in “The Wet”), but for some reason the entire length was full of symmetric ripples created by whatever machine they used to even the track. It took over an hour, but we made it, with pots, cutlery, and suitcases jangling the entire time.

Visitor Centre, Kakadu National Park

The road to Gunlom, Kakadu National Park

The site was very quiet and spacious, and since it was unpowered there were no giant trailers and everyone seemed to go to sleep especially early. However, the showers and toilets were not lit so we were unable to wash off the sweat, sunblock, and red dust built up from the road. This didn’t matter too much once Seth got to make one of his camp fires, and we watched it as we sipped hot chocolate, then once again we slept away the night with the back door wide open, letting in the beautiful stars and the cool air.

Gunlom, Kakadu, National Park

I wanted to keep the run at Gunlom the next morning (Monday, yesterday) to a minimum to rest from the previous day, but we decided to go up a nearby lookout. Some lookouts are just steep paths, but this was like the track at Sealy Tarns (NZ), and just went straight up, with rocks and boulders acting as steps. It was pretty short, however, and reached an absolutely gorgeous waterfall atop a cliff, which emptied into sky-high pools overlooking southern Kakadu. It really looked like some fake spa that people pay heaps of money to go to. Right when we arrived two fellows showed up behind us and jumped right into the pools for an extremely tranquil early morning swim. I felt jealous of them, but decided we should take a swim ourselves later in the morning.

Top Rock Pools, Kakadu National Park

The rest of the run (after we walked down the cliff) included the South Alligator River swimming area and Murrill Billabong. The billabong was set back one or two kilometers from the camp and the trail passed through tall, dry grasses. I really felt like something would jump out and attack us, particularly when we reached the murky, overgrown waters!

Billabong

I went back to the van and waited for Seth to run a bit longer on his own, then we walked to the waterfall and ‘plunge pool’ just outside the camp. I was feeling really eager to take a swim, which rarely ever happens to me. Luckily, at this swimming area and other popular swimming spots, they removed any/all crocodiles at the start of the dry season, which began a few weeks ago. However, we stepped into the water and waded in about thigh-high, and it got a bit cold, so we didn’t venture any further. Our big swimming experience in Australia lasted less than 10 minutes.

Attempting to swim

We had showers and ate cold leftovers then drove an hour back up the dusty, bumpy road. By late afternoon we made it to the very well laid out Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre for a quick look before it closed, then rushed to Nourlangie rock art and lookout. The art was really amazing and very fascinating. It gets repainted every generation and also superimposed with new layers of art every-so-often, but much of the art still survives from thousands of years ago. When the sun was setting we buzzed over to the lookout at Nawurlandja, but before we got too far up the giant slabs of ‘moonscape’ rocks (we just had enough time to take in some of the spectacular views of the park), it started to get really dark and we could start to hear mosquitoes coming in, so we scrambled back down to the car and took off. Up until now, the ‘mosies’ had not been a problem.