Kakadu National Park: Day 2

Our second day in Kakadu (I blogged about the first day here) started early so we could head to Nourlangie to see some more rock art.

To my untrained eye, Nourlangie and Ubirr weren't too different. We did see both a real wallaby and this ancient painting of one:

Disaster then struck when the air-con on our tour bus died. Ashley, our guide, tried in vain to fix the air-con and we had to call for a replacement bus. At this point it was about 10am in the morning, and one of the downsides of being the middle of a National Park, means that there isn't a garage on every corner.

We didn't rendez-vous with our new bus until 3pm. It was absolute hell spending a day driving round in 32 degree heat when you can't open a window. We all consumed litres of water, but the feeling of nausea was inevitable.


On the way to our rendez-vous with the new bus we stopped at the Gunlom waterfalls for a swim and lunch. Gunlom was probably the highlight of the trip for me. A stiff twenty minute hike to the top of the waterfalls unveiled four swimming holes which provided for a much needed refreshing dip with a fantastic backdrop. No safety fences here, it was possible to get dangerously close to the edge of the waterfall. Rock pools at the top:

A few of the waterfall from the bottom:

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We met up with our new bus at the old mining town of Pine Creek. At this point our tour group split. Everyone except Ruth and I were carrying on for a longer tour of Kakadu. Ruth and I joined a group heading to Litchfield National Park.

We spent the night at Mount Bundy Station. Less luxurious than our first campsite, it could only be described as agricultural. The shower block felt like being in a stable block. We did however, have an absolute feast for dinner cooked in the open air and eaten around a fire. A damper (unleaven bread), bbq pumpkin, kangaroo, buffalo, crocodile, steak, sweetcorn and noodles. The kangaroo was excellent and the crocodile - I hate the cliche - tasted like chicken and was a bit bland.

My post of Litchfield National Park will be published tomorrow.

You can see my Darwin photos here.