Kakadu, you certainly didn't disappoint. I'm pretty sure I said waaay to many times "Wow, this is beautiful, this is amazing!!" It really was a dream. We camped the first night in Gunlom, which is an amazing waterfall where you can hike to the top and swim in the rock pools. We decided to have an early dinner and hike up to watch the sunset. It was stunning! We stayed up there long enough to have the whole place to ourselves (rare this time of year!). One of the rock pools has an appearance of an infinity pool. It really was breathtaking. After the sun had set, we sat in the increasing darkness for a while and watched Ghost Bats buzzing around the pools. It was so silent and peaceful. An absolutely amazing way to start our Kakadu experience.
Day two included some hikes to various lookouts and moving to a new campsite at Maguk. After enjoying our sunset the previous night, we thought, let's do that again! We prepared ourselves for something not quite as stunning as Gunlom. However, we were pleasantly surprised after hiking through stunning vegetation and past potentially croc infested waters, we found Maguk to be breathtaking in it's own right! We all had a swim at the top, and yet again, stayed around until we had magical Maguk to ourselves. By this point, I was thinking, surely this is the best of Kakadu? How can it get any better? But wait, there's more....
Day 3 was our cultural day. We visited Aboriginal Art sites and learnt about the culture and history of the local Aboriginals, the Binninj and the Mungguy. Aboriginals have been living in this region for many thousands of years. The Warradjan Aboriginal Cultural Centre was fascinating. Another highlight on this particular day (well, for me anyway) was seeing our first Dingo. She was beautiful with her Kohl eyeliner. She almost looked like a Dingo cross Lioness or some sort of Egyptian Godess. Unfortunately, she seems to have learnt that some people leave scraps after making their lunch in the park in the township of Jabiru. She obviously hangs around for this reason. We ended the day with another climb up to the top of Maguk as we decided to camp two nights there as we loved it so much.
Our final full day in Kakadu was like a spectacular Grand Finale! We decided to do the 4x4 drive out to Jim Jim Falls. The hike out to the falls was almost fully shaded and it was fun boulder hopping most of the way. The falls aren't "falling" at the moment, but the grandness of the sheer cliffs is amazing. In the wet season, access to these falls is prohibited, however you can view them via a helicopter! One to add to the bucket list. After driving up to spend our final night in Jabiru, we headed out to spot some saltwater crocs at Cahill's Crossing. This is a river crossing which takes you into Arnhem Land and is cut-off at high tide. We were lucky enough to watch a Saltwater Crocodile attempting the crossing!
We finished our last day in Kakadu by watching the sun set over the Nadab Floodplain from the Ubirr lookout. It was extremely popular with tourists, and wow, did the sun put on a show! Yet again, I could not believe how stunning this place was.
Kakadu, you were amazing!!
***scroll down to the bottom to view Mark's video timelapse of Ubirr's Sunset**
Uberr Sunset, Kakadu
Rebecca are you will ride through Perth? If yes we are welcome you and your family. Bozena & Wacek
.