Out of the Outback

Luke saved the best of Kakadu for our final day. We hit the road by 6:30am this morning toward the Mary River region in the south entrance of the park. We started at Gunlom (Goon-lom) which is a 2km return hike, rated as a difficult climb. Climbing this in the morning was definitely the best way to go. I was certainly winded and a bit sweaty, but had it been the heat of the day, it would have been another story entirely. The top of the climb had gorgeous views of various different plunge pools and waterfalls. Even though it was still early, many other tourists had already found their way to this spot.

top pool of Gunlom

Gunlom upper pools

lookout over Gunlom Falls

We probably only stayed at the top for half an hour before heading back to the base of the largest waterfall for a better view.

Gunlom Falls

I was a little curious as to why there was still a baited crocodile trap here. Hopefully just a precaution? Usually they’re only located where they know to be salties and are waiting to catch them.

crocodile trap

Forging onward, we drove to the Yurmikmik walk sites. This was Luke’s favorite spot, so he definitely built up the hype in the days preceding this. We had a 7.5km return hike to Motor Car Falls. It was a wonderfully curious spot with a nice flat boulder in the shade of the pool’s entrance.

Motor Car Falls

our entry to the plunge pool

The water itself was emerald green! Definitely unique from all the other waterfalls we had been to. Upon further examination, we realized the green hue was due to a ridiculous amount of algae growing all along the rocks at the bottom of the plunge pool.

Motor Car

drifting algae

Rather than deterring us from wandering into the shallow side, we saw this as a source of great amusement. Wigs were made and sludge balls were thrown everywhere. All the while I was thinking how nice a spot this would be to bring some floats and a cooler of beer! This definitely ranked as the groups favorite place in Kakadu!

Michel's inspecting his medium for the next slime ball

Unfortunately this was our last stop on the Kakadu tour. We had a good 4 hour drive back to Darwin, where we were able to clean up and have a nice farewell dinner at Monsoons.