Wednesday 27 June 2012 Edith Falls to Mary River Roadhouse (Gunlom, Kakadu)

Trip Meter Reading Start – 4646            Trip Meter Reading Finish – 4869
Total Km Travelled – 223 km

Comments -  Luke Baker

Today I went and had a look at Gunlom.
We walked up to the top of the cliff face which was really steep.  At the top there were several plunge pools looking over the waterfall with views over Kakadu.  I met  some boys and we slid down a rock about 6 metres into the pools.  On the way home, I saw a buffalo.  He was very peaved off (cranky) and started walking towards us.

Comments – Dad

Today we left Edith Falls and headed into Pine Creek which is a small historic railway and gold town where we grabbed a couple more supplies. Along this stretch we noticed that the termite mounds had increased in size dramatically approx 2 x 4 metres. We drove to Mary River Roadhouse where we purchased permits to enter the Kakadu National Park ($25 per adult only). There we received some great info from a the aboriginal Officer. He advised us to leave the caravan in the park rear of the roadhouse and drive the 37km corrugated road to Gunlom Falls as the road, in his words, was “shit!”  
So we set up camp, grabbed our swimming gear and headed off. The road was very corrugated though we passed some small cars and motorhomes that made it; maybe bottoming out alot. Upon arrival we checked out the swimming area at the base of the falls which was perfect for families with large shaded and shallow areas. We grabbed some beers and swimming gear and headed up the very steep track up the mountain. It takes about 20 mins to get up but is steep. When you get up the top it is just picture perfect as there is an amazing view over the National Park off the edge of the falls. Also perfect swimming holes with a waterfall to swim under with differing striped colours in the rock. I was surprised to see so many families had made the trek up there with littlies (great patience and effort). The water was quite warm, so we stayed for a couple of hours, enoyed the view and sunk a coldie. 

Reluctantly we headed back and headed back to camp; along the way we spotted a large buffalo on the side of the road and got some photos. We weren’t sure if it was going to ram us or not so we left it alone.  Back at camp we sat around the pool while Luke braved the icy water reflecting on the top spot we had been to today.