Wed 6th August – Day 88: Gunlom - > Yellow Water Area

Nearby dingoes kept me awake on and off through the night with their almost constant howling. Such a soulful cry, I wonder what disturbed them? Another beautiful day predicted by the absence of clouds and the cool morning air. We spent the first few hours getting breakfast and school out of the way and then packed our cossies, towels and drinks to head the 2km straight up the ridge to the top of Gunlom Falls. Now the Gunlom waterhole last night was pretty specutacular but this was nothing compared to the sight which met us at the top of our steep climb. Southern Kakadu stretched away before us while the Mary River broke into a series of clear, cascading pools before plunging into the pool below. We joined the privileged 15 or so others up there and lazed in the waters for a good couple of hours. Met a girl from Mona Vale who used to teach at Newport School and was now on her way to the international school in Kenya (what a small world). Here with some Darwin girlfriends they had lugged beer and food in an esky up the cliff and were spending a relaxing day at the top of the falls – very civilised.
Heading down at lunchtime we quickly packed the trailer, and broke the front metal tie-down (will the breakages ever end?). We managed to swap it for a rear one and jury-rig the back, hopefully not much dust gets in – thank god it’s not raining!
Back along the dirt we are happy to hit the bitumen again 40mins later and head north towards Cooinda. We arrive in time to set up, down dinner and race our chairs over to the slide show on “wetlands wildlife” where the local ranger talks for an hour on all the animals we can expect to see up here. Toby amazing everyone with his knowledge of both mammal and bird species (he has been swotting up using Steve Parish’s wildlife books)
Gagudju Cooinda Lodge (Powered $40/night)