Darwin to Kakadu

Darwin – Katherine (30^th July – 10^th August)

Updated map - includes return to Douglas Hot Springs and Katherine

As we were driving out of the caravan park we received a call from Garry and Jill, who thought they might give us a quick visit as they were leaving Darwin – it was a quick visit…in the BP service station at the front of where we were staying!

We were heading east and they were heading to a friend’s block out west. They had mentioned Corroboree Billabong as a place to stay, so we decided to give it a go. A short trip off the Highway brought us to a quiet little spot that had houseboats and tinnies for rent and also billabong cruises. We decided we would spend a couple of nights here (they had flush toilets!) and managed to get ourselves booked onto a lunchtime cruise the following day.

Sunrise at Corroboree Billabong

Our site at Corroboree Billabong

Breakfast time!

The ‘camp’ area is a large paddock beside the billabong where vans can place themselves anywhere (which we did, with some shade and also allowing enough access to the sunlight for us to charge the batteries on the van and the car using the solar panels – made good use of the new leads we’d had made in Darwin).

David tried his hand at fishing – no good – just watching a couple of estuarine crocodiles making their way along the billabong! There was a lot of birdlife in the area. We watched a pair of Jabirus just by our campsite as well as Whistling Kites, Egrets, Crows and David watched a White-bellied Eagle catch a fish.

After a pleasant (cool) night we caught the cruise along the billabong. The guide was very informative and we discovered a few facts about crocodiles we hadn’t known, as well as watching a cormorant eat his catch, lots of egrets, Jacanas, eagles, Jabirus and LOTS of crocodiles – mostly estuarine (salties) and a couple of Johnson (freshwater). Even lunch was good!

Estuarine Crocodile that lived on the opposite side of the billabong to us.

Lots of water lilies on the billabong

Kakadu

Our first stop in Kakadu was to get our National Parks Pass ($25 each) and then on to Merl Campground for the night before heading up to Cahills Crossing (the border crossing into Arnhem Land) and Ubirr to look at the art sites and watch the sunset along with a large number of others.

Artwork at Ubirr

Sunset progress at Ubirr

On our way out of the Merl campground we were stopped by a couple of German backpackers who had managed to reverse their hired van up onto a post where it had locked itself into the spare wheel that was housed underneath at the back. Sonja flagged down some other campers who were just heading out of the camp and together we managed to remove them from the post – David had managed to dig most of the post out and used his jack and jacks from the other vehicles to lift it as high as they could and then the muscle power of several men managed to have them on their way. David’s hydraulic jack decided it had done too much work and duly gave up the ghost (or at least, most of the fluid in it) – replaced in Katherine.

We spent two nights at Muirella Park from which we visited Nourlangie for more aboriginal artwork sites and did a day trip into Jim Jim Falls. It was another 4x4 experience getting into Jim Jim with lots of sand and a few water features to drive through. The walking track into the falls was difficult towards the end as there was a lot of scrambling over large, uneven rocks. Once in there was time for a swim in the cool water – just what was needed in the heat of the day. We had lunch and then watched a water monitor as it devoured a fish it had caught before diving back into the water where it swam underneath the water for quite some distance looking for more fish (plenty there). By the time we made it back to the car our swimming gear was well and truly dry and we were ready for another swim (with nowhere safe to do it)! 

Walking track into Jim Jim Falls

Sonja taking a plunge in the pool at Jim Jim

Water Monitor (with fish it was devouring still in its throat)

When we were here in 1986 my Dad had also driven us into Twin Falls (about another 10km of 4x4 driving) where Sonja and I floated in on airbeds with Claire (4 at the time). Now you would end up as a crocodile meal. To get to the falls now you have to travel over by boat and walk along a paved path. We didn’t go in this time as one of the river crossings was deep enough to require a snorkel on the vehicle.

Douglas Hot Springs (again)!

Deciding to move on from Kakadu, we couldn’t resist a trip back to Douglas Hot Springs where we spent another four nights…wallowing in the warmth of the hot water. Whilst here we also took a drive along the 4x4 track into Butterfly Falls. It was closed the last time we were here due to flooding back at Easter. This was well worth the trip in. The walking track leads to a lookout that then has a steep climb down to a large plunge pool with a waterfall entering on the far side. Sonja decided she had done enough climbing and so stayed at the top whilst David went down for a look and a swim. This involved swimming across to where the water was coming in and climbing up to a number of smaller pools above.

Buterfly Gorge

We also took a drive down to area called The Arches at Douglas Daly ‘Resort’. This is an area that is obviously volcanic in origin with water flowing through and around large rock formations. As the woman at the resort told us that they were about to remove the danger, crocodiles, no swimming signs, we ventured in (but not very far) for a very pleasant dip in the water. Parts of this river are also heated by thermal action.

The Arches at Douglas-Daly

Sunrise reflections at Douglas Hot Springs

Kangaroo at water crossing on our way out of Douglas Hot Springs

After four days we decided we had better move on. So, after a couple of wallowing sessions (before and after packing up) we headed down to Edith Falls. This is another large pool that is used by locals from Katherine (as well as all the tourists passing by) as a pleasant, ‘refreshing’ (ie, cold, compared to Douglas Hot Springs) place for a swim. We had our lunch and swim before heading back to Katherine.

Edith Falls

This time we stayed three nights near the Katherine Hot Springs and made some use of them – in between laundry washing (with our washing machine), battery charging and general tidy-up before we start the trek south and then east.