Day 60: Edith Falls / Kakadu
Sleeping in the fly-less tent was absolutely perfect – the heat finally broke in the middle of the night and it got just cool enough to sleep under sleeping bags. We broke camp around 7AM to take advantage of the morning weather, and started climbing the Leliyn Trail to Edith Falls. The sun was still below the hills as we made our ascent to the top of the falls, and we found we had the entire waterfall completely to ourselves! We spent about an hour swimming in our own little oasis before heading back down and off to Kakadu National Park.
Edith Falls in the distance
A pristine waterhole – just for us!
Saltie-free swimming
An early morning dip – a refreshing start to the day
Loving the privacy
Our first stop in Kakadu was more swimming at Gunlom Falls – only accessible by driving 30+KM down a dirt road. That’s why we rented an SUV! We decided to skip swimming at the bottom pool and power through the 400M vertical climb to the top of the falls to swim in the plunge pools. It was around noon at this point, so there were plenty of people at the top, but for some reason no one was swimming in the pool at the back (I guess everyone wanted to swim near the “infinity pool” for the lookout) – so once again we had a little privacy.
So there’re *probably* not any crocs in this pool – but let’s go up just to be sure
Igor takes the first plunge – Lindsay taking pictures
Another private swimming pool
A friendly little crawfish!
Checking out the natural infinity pool
After our swim, we headed up to the Nourlangie Region to pick out a campsite at Muirella Park before driving over to the nearby Nourlangie Rock to watch the sunset. While the bushflies had mostly left us alone during the day, they were out full force during sunset. We had our protective headgear, so we were able to linger a bit. When we got back to our campsite, however, we were not prepared for the sheer multitude of mosquitos that arrived after dark. Thousands. MILLIONS. You know that annoying buzz you get in your ear when one flies by? Multiple that by a hundred – there was a steady hum in the air from all the mosquitoes. We quickly abandoned any idea of eating dinner outside on the picnic table and threw everything inside our fly-less tent. A handful of mosquitoes followed us inside, but we made quick business of them, and tried to enjoy our dinner and wine. Unfortunately, we were very aware of the fact that the more we drank, the more we would need to pee, and that would require getting out of the tent. So we opened the cheap $7 Shiraz, and slowly sipped half of it before going to sleep.
Nourlangie Rock
Busting out the protective gear for the bushflies
Sunset at Nourlangie Rock
A sad dinner – prisoners to the Kakadu mosquito population
If only the story ended there. Around midnight, we awoke to a steady rain shower. As we had pitched the tent without the fly, we and all our electronics (phone, computers, chargers) were completely unprotected. Lindsay frantically grabbed everything sensitive and tried to quickly jump out of the tent, zip the door, put the electronics safely in the car, then jump back in. The tent door was open for mere seconds. Literally, 30 mosquitoes entered the tent. And of course the rain stopped about minutes later. We spent the next half an hour hunting each mosquito down and squishing it before we could go back to sleep in peace, after which time the tent was covered in about a dozen blood stains (can’t return this tent to K-Mart).
If you are ever thinking about camping in Kakadu…Kaka-DON’T.