Litchfield & Kakadu National Park

After landing in Darwin at 5 am, we took a rest day. Fortunately, we were able to check in to our room early, so we took a nap before taking a stroll around the city in the afternoon. We watched the sunset at Mindil Beach - unfortunately, the food market we expected didn't take place on Monday.

On the second day, we picked up our Machina from Wicked Campers. Let us introduce it to you briefly: Bright blue, with a cool chassis, a snorkel exhaust, 4WD with enormous wheels, two seats, storage space, a fridge, extendable wings (which provide shade), and a rooftop studio apartment (without a bathroom).

With Machina under our butt, we set off from Darwin towards Litchfield National Park and first went shopping. We chose the smaller of the two famous natural parks up here to try everything out. If there were any major issues, we would still be relatively close to civilization. So, for our first camping night, we went to the beautiful Wangi Falls, which provided a refreshing swim before we cooked and slept on the rooftop for the first time. Everything went smoothly - so we can continue the next day. We explore different corners of the national park, drive a longer 4WD route, and thoroughly test the vehicle. It's a lot of fun - even if everything rattles in the back. We spend the second night at Florence Falls, and because it's Mathias' birthday, we have a cigar and a bottle of red wine from duty-free. The first two campsites only have toilets and showers, nothing else. The fee is paid by putting an envelope in a small mailbox - a lot here is based on trust. Including taking your own garbage, which we do exemplary, of course.

After exploring Litchfield National Park, we drive northeast into Kakadu National Park. We buy some things we forgot the first time and take a detour to Mary River National Park. A short 4WD loop proves to be a hit after a short time. In addition to the previously seen individual wallabies, we now see whole herds of the animals grazing in the shade near the water. A cool sight! And right at the end of the loop, when we are already turning back, we spot several crocodiles in the river trying to cool down. No wonder - it's between 35 and 38 degrees hot from sunrise to sunset. Yes - Machina has air conditioning.

We spend the first night in Kakadu right after the park entrance. The camping site has a pool, where we cool down for a moment before cooking, eating, and of course washing up. Soon it's bedtime - after all, we always get up with the first screaming birds at around 6:30 am. On the following day, we drive all the way to the north of the national park to Ubirr Rock, where you can see Aboriginal rock paintings from past times and have a great view of the surrounding wetlands from the rock. In general, you can feel more of Australia's history here in this national park, while in Litchfield it was exclusively about nature itself. We also visit the Bowali Visitor Center and various smaller viewpoints before driving along the 4WD track towards Jim Jim Falls and setting up our next campsite near Garnamarr shortly before the waterfalls. It's another very quiet spot we have chosen here.

On the second day in Kakadu National Park, we drive to Jim Jim Falls and climb over the rocks for the final kilometer, only to find ourselves standing in front of a waterfall without water. It was actually to be expected, as the dry season is coming to an end here and the first rainfall is still pending. The scenery with the huge rock wall and the pool at the bottom is still impressive. Our second stop is at Gunlom, located in the southern part of the national park, where we hike about 250 meters up the hill to a natural infinity pool for cooling off. The short, steep walk in the blazing sun makes the cooling off truly necessary. We actually wanted to stay here overnight, but since it's still relatively early in the afternoon, we continue driving out of the national park until we almost reach Pine Creek. Here we find a funny campsite: it's called Pussy Cat Flats and is located on an old racecourse. Besides frogs and snakes that we encounter in the evening, around a dozen wild horses greet us in the morning as they graze on the racecourse. When Mathias sets off for a morning jog, they slowly disappear. For us, it's time to move on - today we'll drive about 600 kilometers west to Kununurra, crossing not only the quarantine station between the Northern Territory and Western Australia but also a time zone boundary. Tomorrow we'll start the Gibb River Road adventure - see you soon.