Day 27 Thursday (2nd
July) - Up for an early start as we are
off to Berry Springs, on the way we called into Macca’s for a coffee and then
continued on arriving about 10.00. It certainly didn’t take long to get into
the water as it was a perfect temperature. We started off at the waterfall
before hopping into our noodles and floating down to the main pool. Here we
just lazed away for a while before I got the urge to go back and have a look
where the Croc lurked last time we were here. Luckily for me I swam down and
had a look around but he was nowhere to be seen. Joining the group again we floated down to the
last pool for a laze before lunch. After
we swam back up to the main pool we soaked away for a bit longer before hopping
out for lunch. After lunch we headed back to Darwin to stock up on supplies for
our next journey as we head off for Jabiru tomorrow.
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| Ange Enjoying Berry Springs |
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| Berry Springs |
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| Swinging into Berry Springs |
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| Enjoying the falls at Berry Springs |
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| Berry Springs Falls |
Day 28 Friday (3rd
July) – Today we have a tour booked at 1.00 o’clock to see the jumping
Crocodiles on the Adelaide river so there is no rush to get going early, we
rose from our beds about 9.00 o’clock and got dressed and Thomas and I went and
emptied the Loo and fuelled up the car while Mitch and Ange packed the van.
When we got back I hooked up the van to the car only to find I had an issue
with my ESC! Bugger .... a few phone calls to Ballarat Caravans still
didn’t solve the issue so we headed off anyway deciding I would solve the
problem later when I had more time. Arriving at the Adelaide River Croc jumping
tours we were greeted by “Bridget” who was a very Aussie in her manner and
didn’t mind dropping the “F” Bomb as well as calling ya “Darl” etc. I didn’t
mind as she charged Mitch as a child and gave me the tour for a family price,
saving me $40 bucks. J
J J
This time we were greeted by “Captain Morgan” (nice name for
a Rum if you ask me) Captain Harry was on a day off I think. So, into the boat
we get eagerly watched by “The Dominator” a 5.1 Metre Croc with a head only a mother could love. Captain Morgan moved the boat to the other
side of the river and The Dominator followed at a leisurely pace before
becoming the star of the show by launching his massive head out of the water
for a piece of meat. Once the Dominator was fed we cruised up the river and
were treated to more jumping action by some of the smaller female crocs who
were able to launch themselves almost completely out of the water, It makes one
think when you go fishing along the river that you don’t stand too close...
Next up was “Brutus” who became famous in 2011 when we were
here last time, he is the 3 legged 5.5 metre Croc that had his picture splashed
all over the world and was declared a fake by those in the USA. Once again I
can confirm that the Ugly Boof headed bastard IS real and would quite easily
make a meal out of anyone.
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| Dominator |
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| Dominator |
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| Dominator |
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| Big Croc |
Once the tour was over we headed off towards Jabiru stopping
at The Bush Inn” for a break and a look around before continuing on. Arriving
at Jabiru we booked into the caravan park and quickly got set up so we could
hit the pool for a swim as it was about 32 degrees. After the swim we sat
around for our usual 5’s which was eagerly consumed by all after the swim. Then
Thomas set up the Weber and I cooked a feed of lamb burgers, sausages and bacon
with a side salad. Bedtime was near after a few more drinks and a chat, so the
boys set up the swags and Ange and I hit the bed.
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| Bush Inn Bella |
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| Jabiru Pool |
Day 29 Saturday (4th
July) – Thanks to a 5.30 wake up call from the tour bus driver parked next door
as he fossicked around under his bus moving boxes and generally making lots of
noise Ange, the boys and I got up around 7.30 and set off for Jim Jim Falls,
the first 50 km’s of bitumen was easy but the next 50 of corrugated dirt was a bit more
challenging and the Jeep was put through its paces, which it handled it quite
well. The last 7 km’s were even rougher and more sand / 4wd territory. No
issues for the Jeep and I didn’t even have to change a setting. After finding a
park we grabbed our swimming stuff and proceded the 1km walk over rocks and
through bushland, nearing the falls we were a bit disappointed that the falls
weren’t flowing much at all but it was still a magnificent sight to see.
Arriving at the “Beach Pool” the boys took off for the main falls while Ange
and I took our time and enjoyed the scenery and the freshness of the Beach
Pool. After a while we found our way around to the falls where Mitch and Thomas
had swum out to the base of falls and enjoying the trickle it was providing.
Last time we were here Mitch swam out there but it was way too cold for me and
I chickened out. This time I decided that I was going to do it and I plunged
into the icy water and started to swim, after a few strokes I decided that it
wasn’t as cold as last time and I would make it easily. Reaching the bottom of
the falls Mitch and I sat and enjoyed the amazing view of the surrounding rock
walls and the illusion it gave you, unfortunately my Action Camera was broken and
I was unable to get a picture from the base to show everyone. Swimming back we
decided that we had better get going back to camp so we could catch High Tide
at Cahill’s Crossing. Knowing that it’s about 1.5 hours drive just back to camp
we had to get moving or we would miss it.
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| Road to Jim Jim Falls |
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| Jim Jim Falls |
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| Jim Jim Falls |
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| On the way to Jim Jim Falls |
Once back at Camp Tina, John and Josie were ready to go
straight away so we quickly changed and hit the road. Arriving at Cahill’s
crossing about 2.30 we found out that High Tide was at 1.00 o’clock not 3.00,
Ange had misread the tide chart!!! Oh well not to worry we will readjust our
schedule and stay another night at Jabiru and come back to it tomorrow. After
we had looked around for a while we headed to Ubirr Rock to look at the
Aboriginal Artwork and catch the sunset.
After checking out the Art Tina, John,
Josie and the boys headed back to camp while Ange and I wanted to catch
the sunset so we stayed behind. We had to wait for about 2 hours so we just sat
on top of the rock and took in the view along with about 200 + other people, it
was a fair wait in hot conditions but in the end the view as the sun set was
worth it, we took heaps of photos but like everything else up here no pictures
really do it justice. As darkness approached we set off back to camp for steak
and salad wraps for tea, a few drinks and bed.
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| Cahills Crossing |
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| Ubirr Rock at Sunset |
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| Ubirr Rock at Sunset |
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| View from Ubirr Rock at Sunset |
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| Enjoying Ubirr Rock at Sunset |
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| Ubirr Rock at Sunset |
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| Ubirr Rock at Sunset |
Day 30 Sunday (5th
of July) - Once again our friendly Tour driver was up early making noise but we
battled through and didn’t get up until around 9.00. I decided to play around
and get the ESC working again and managed to reset it using Johns car so I was
happy about that. All the boys had
planned to fish Cahill’s Crossing today so we headed off early and the girls
would bring out lunch for high tide. We got there about 11.00 and cast a line
without any luck, the girls arrived and we sat down for a nibbles (5’s) lunch
as the tide came in quite quickly. Back on the rods we went, casting for that
elusive “Barra”. Mitch managed to land a
very small one but at least he got one with his new rod. After the usual photo
opportunity he kissed it and let it go while the rest of us kept casting in
hope. One of the attractions here is
when it gets to high tide the incoming Barra and the crocs meet and it becomes
a bit of a feeding frenzy but unfortunately there were very few crocs (about 4 or 5) and no Barra L. Another fisherman
managed to land a 58cm Barra which was just legal size but no one else had any
success. It turns out (Thanks to Thomas introducing himself and having a chat)
that he is local bloke that works in the
nearby Jabiru mine and fishes here quite often, he then goes on to inform us
that 4 days ago the Barra went crazy and blokes were landing 1 metre Barra
here. L L Typical!.... The girls
headed back and the boys fished a bit longer in the hope that our luck would
change, but in saying that I would rather be fishing here with no bites than
working!!!!. Heading back to the car the
guy that caught the Barra was cleaning it so we had another chat to him to get
some tips for later on when he said “Do ya want a fillet?” I said “Nah you eat
it mate you caught it”, to which he said “I have a freezer full, I am sure I
can spare a fillet if ya want” So we graciously took him up on his offer. Back
at camp we had a swim and then had a few drinks and nibbles (5’S) before
deciding that we would have Taco’s for tea. Tea, showers and bed was the order
for the rest of the night.
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| Fishing at Cahills Crossing |
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| Lunch at Cahills Crossing |
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| Mitch Kissing his first Barra |
Day 31 Monday (6th July) – Packing up and moving
on we headed for Gungurul Camp ground where we set up and drove in to Gunlom
falls, once again the 35km road in was corrugated to buggery and dusty as all
hell but upon arrival the area was again magnificent, we had not been here
before so this new territory and views for us. We all headed for the bottom
falls pool where we enjoyed a cold but refreshing swim before lunch. Ange had made sandwiches for lunch so we
scoffed them down before saying goodbye to Tina, John and Josie as we were
going to climb to the top pools and they would struggle to get up there due to
the rocky terrain and difficult track. The track was only 500 metres but it was
500 metres of steep climb, very rocky and vegetated track, probably the worst
of our trip so far. At the top there is an array of various pools that flow
into the waterfall one is called the Infinity pool as when you are in it the
water falls over an edge that looks like there is no end to it. These falls are
the highlight of our trip so far, the rest we have done before but this was
really special, we claimed that it’s the worst climb to get here but the best pools
we have swam in. Now considering the places we have done so far it’s probably a
big statement when you look back at Mataranka, Bitter Springs, Katherine Gorge,
Edith Falls, Wangi Falls, Buley Rockhole, Florence Falls, Jim Jim Falls. These
are all magnificent falls, swimming spots, etc and you would be happy to be at
any one of them, but for some reason this is the best. (Maybe because it is new
for us this time? Dunno). At the top
pool there is a narrow gorge that you can swim along and when you get to the
end there is a big rock blocking your way, we were told to climb over it and
keep going and we are so glad we did. It takes you to this small private
waterfall where you can just swim under and it’s like a warm shower due to the
water running over the warm rocks above.
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| John enjoying Gunlom Falls Bottom Pool |
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| Josie enjoying Gunlom Falls Bottom Pool |
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| Gunlom Falls Bottom Pool |
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| Top Edge of Gunlom Falls |
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| Gunlom Top Pools |
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| Gunlom Top Pools |
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| Gunlom Infinity Pool |
After a couple of hours playing around up the top we made our way down
to the car park and headed back to camp.
When we arrived it was nearing 5’s time so I got out the portable cooker
and cooked up the Barra from yesterday and had that, and Ange made up a Prawn cocktail to go with it. Beer, wine, scotch
and food like that Hmmmmm once again that Nickleback song comes to mind,
“Somethin’s gotta go wrong Coz i’m feelin way too damn
good”.
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| 5's with fresh Barra and Prawns |
Tea was then cooked with us having pasta with a selection of
Bolognese or Putanesca sauce washed down with a few more beers then off to bed.
Day 32 Tuesday (July
7th) – Today we are saying goodbye to Kakadu and heading south to
Katherine before turning and moving west. Initially we decide to go back to Edith
Falls for the day / night before heading west. Stopping at Pine Creek for fuel
I pulled into the servo with Josie behind me, Johns Filler is on the other side
to mine so as he was pulling into the bowser a bloke and his wife in a big 4wd
Landcruiser race in from the other direction and block John off, he quickly
jumps out and says “Dont worry mate I wont be long” (F-ing rude bastard). He
knew John was ahead of him and he sped in to beat him to the bowser. I was
filling up and the guy was in paying for his fuel when the service station
attendant came out and placed a “Sorry No Diesel Left” sign on the bowsers! John was mega pissed off as you would imagine
so he walked over and gave me his discount docket and said quite loudly so the
blokes wife would hear him “here you might as well have this because this rude
bloke cut in front of me and now there is no diesel left”. The blokes’ wife quickly got in the car and
drove out with her husband trying to catch up to her!!!! To make things worse as John was driving out
to park and wait for me she again cut across in front of him and stopped where
he was going to park so her husband could get in the driver’s seat and drive.
(Steam was last seen coming out the windows of a white Pajero!). Arriving at
Edith Falls we park in the car park and head down for a swim before lunch. The
water is again cool but refreshing in the warm temperatures of the day,
swimming out to the falls we meet Mitch and Thomas who were swimming under the
waterfall, we decide to wait for Tina and Josie to reach us where we lazed for
a while and then swim back for lunch. After lunch the consensus was that we had
all had enough swimming for the day so we might as well head into Katherine and
get our supplies. Once in Katherine we
fuelled up and grabbed some groceries then Mitch, Thomas, John and I headed to
Tackle World where we grabbed some extra lures for that elusive Barra further
down the track. As it was nearing 4.30 we knew that we would be running out of
light soon so we hit the road in search of a free camp before dark. About
70klms down the track we stopped at the Vince Connelly Limestone Creek campsite
where we looked at what spaces were available when a guy waltzed over and said “There
is plenty of room over here in front of me! “ And when we mentioned that we
didn’t want to block in one of the vans he said “Don’t worry about him, he’s
with me! He will do what I tell him” so
we parked all 3 vans in front of him! He later came over and jokingly told us
it would only cost $1 for the campsite for the night. After a chat with our new neighbours I fired
up the Weber and cooked up a feed of Eye fillet and salad for everyone.
Day 33 Wednesday – (July 8th) The next morning John made a point of putting
$3 (our camp fees) on the guys front seat.
After packing up we hit the road and headed to Victoria River Roadhouse
where we booked in for a night and set up camp. Once we had some lunch the
boys, John and I went for a drive down to the boat ramp where we fished for a
couple of hours with no luck. (Once again that old saying “a bad days fishing
beats a good days working” comes to mind) Back at camp I had a Nanna nap while
the others had 5’s and then Hotdogs and salad for tea. After tea Mitch Thomas,
Josie and John went over to the bar and watched Sniff Arse (Rugby league State
of Origin) where the Maroons smashed the Blues. Ange fell asleep while I caught up on writing
the blog.
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| Coming in to Victoria River Roadhouse |
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| Fishing Victoria River |
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| Victoria River |
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