Mary River Region (Kakadu) || Day 35

Описание: Today’s adventure begins in the Gunlom Campground. It was eerily quiet this morning, a stark contrast to the noise level of the campground when I went to bed last night. This was probably the first place I’d ever been to campground wise where the campground wasn’t a bustling hub at 6:30am. While I quietly attempted to get things packed and ready to go – there’s only so quiet you can be when you’ve got to use an air compressor – I discovered that I’d forgotten to put half of my car’s tyre caps back on!! They were now somewhere between Cooinda and here, oops.

I decided to save breakfast for our first location the Gimbat picnic area. It was a pleasant drive out and we ended up having the whole place to ourselves. It’s a shame camping wasn’t allowed here, because I reckon it was a better location than Gunlom, then again, there wasn’t a single person around, so that probably helped…

After a lovely quaint breakfast, it was time to carry onwards to get some hiking done. This was not an area that I’d done much research in, so I was unsure of the length of them. I was in for a real treat with the walk I wanted to go on being a near 7km walk! The walk out was pleasant and relatively shaded. Despite it being such a hike out there I was surprised to see how busy Motor Car Falls was, yet no one was in the water when we got there. This did not deter me and I went in and had a really pleasant swim. It was so picturesque.

On the way back to the car we decided to complete the walk with a loop. Unfortunately, this loop walk was hideously undefined, had no markers and ended with a dead end. It was a real shame, but it did mean we could get back to the car and onto the road quicker, especially considering we did not have a place to stay tonight.

Just as we were leaving Jacob spotted a sign that pointed to a waterhole. We stopped to give it a squiz. There wasn’t much here, but it did make for some peaceful photographs. Now it was time to leave Kakadu and head towards a place to stay. My original plan was to stay at a travellers rest attached to a servo, but to my surprise (and many others at the time), the servo was shut, which meant there was no way to gain entry. It was a bit of a blow considering I hadn’t thought it wasn’t going to work out. Alas, we made the most of the scenario and ended up going for a little wander along the main strip of Pine Creek.

After a wander, we headed back towards Kakadu and into a caravan park we’d spied driving past. The name was epic and thankfully as late walk-ins we were granted access to stay! After choosing the perfect spot and setting up it was time for a shower. The bathrooms were really pleasant and the shower was just what I needed.