Kakadu Day 4: Gungurul, Bukbukluk, and Gunlom

After waking up at our campsite, we had a leisurely breakfast. Then we packed up our stuff and drove back to Sandy Billabong. You can't see it directly from the campsite, but since we were staying there, we wanted to check out the water. And the 10-minute detour was totally worth it because it was really beautiful there! Everything was peaceful, you could hear the birds chirping and the water flowing when animals moved in it. Very idyllic.

Afterward, we continued our journey towards Gunlom (I uploaded a map of the national park in the 1st Kakadu blog entry). We wanted to spend the next night there, and the drive was long. Along the way, there were a few lookouts that we wanted to visit and stop at. One of them was Gungurul, where we initially just wanted to use the restroom but ended up walking along the walking track. From the hill, we could see our car in the parking lot below and on the other side, the valley of the South Alligator Rivers, a billabong, lots of forest, and rocks. Very beautiful. At the foot of the hill, we climbed, there was another path that led to the river. However, there was a sign with "Extreme Danger" for crocodiles. So far, we had only seen the normal "Danger" signs. Somehow, we didn't dare to walk along that path...

The next lookout on the drive was Bukbukluk. You could almost drive directly to it and only had to walk 100 meters. However, the view from there was not that impressive. Maybe it was because we had already seen so many beautiful views before :D

Then we continued to Gunlom. The road there was unsealed again but theoretically suitable for 2WD vehicles. So we thought it would be fine with our car. Unfortunately, we were mistaken. It was so bumpy!! It was super exhausting to drive about 37 km. It took us well over an hour just for this stretch! But eventually, we arrived. We parked at the campsite, packed our bathing suits and drinks, and headed straight to the waterfall. But there wasn't much left of the waterfall. It was just a trickle. There is a large pool at the bottom where you can swim, but there can also be crocodiles. However, this is a recent development, and many people still swim there. But we didn't feel quite comfortable doing that because we got a good tip at the visitor center: hike up and swim in the pools at the top of the waterfall. Crocodiles can't climb very well, so the water up there is crocodile-free.

So we started making our way up. It was extremely strenuous because the path was very steep. It was a challenging climb. And the waterfall is 85 meters high. But when we reached the top, we were rewarded with a truly spectacular view. It was already late afternoon, and the sun was low. It bathed everything in a special light. Beautiful up there. We had to descend a bit to reach the swimming pools, and once we arrived, we realized that the effort was definitely worth it. It was like an infinity pool! The view was stunning!! The water was so refreshing! Absolutely breathtaking. Words cannot properly describe this place; you really have to let the pictures speak for themselves...

After spending some time up there, we started making our way back because we wanted to be back down before sunset. When we returned to the campsite, the ranger collected the fees from us, we set up our sleeping arrangements, and made dinner. We had noodles with tomato sauce :D We could have them for lunch the next day as well. Lunch on that day wasn't as glorious because of the annoying crows...

We also made a small fire, but this time we didn't have much wood, so the fire didn't burn for long. But it was still nice. While doing the dishes, we had a nice conversation with a couple from France who are currently working at Deloitte in Sydney and are on vacation in the Northern Territory. It's funny whom you meet in different places.

What was great about this campsite: There were hardly any mosquitoes! That was different in Darwin and the days before, and despite constantly spraying myself with mosquito repellent, my legs were completely bitten. Now my legs could finally recover without getting bitten again.

After this amazing day, we fell asleep in our comfortable car bed :)