Moving up to Kakadu

Well, we’re in Kakadu.  And it’s hot.

We arrived about 7pm after meandering our way here, and it was nearly dark and still incredibly hot.  Oskar lost it completely over dinner and Grant took him off to the shower and he fell asleep soon after.

We are staying at the Gunlom campsite, about which I know little because it was so dark when we got here, but it has good washing up facilities and a plunge pool apparently.  The stars are lovely, and there are huge cane toads everywhere.  I assume they are cane toads.  I will ask a ranger tomorrow.  They look warty enough.  (not the rangers)  But there is a chance there is a special species of warty Kakadu endangered frog about which I know nothing.   So I’ll keep you posted.

To get to the Gunlom campsite we had to come along almost 40 km of corrugated red dirt road.  I drive a little slower than Grant, and was finding it hard to keep my foot on the accelerator the bumps were so huge.

We passed all these signs telling us to think about crocodiles before we swam – and that they can cause injury and death!  We also passed a dingo wandering into the grass looking for his dinner.

The sky is slowly building dark, menacing clouds.  We had about 10 raindrops on the car this afternoon.  However, apart from making the weather humid and heavy these clouds are not doing much else. A cool breeze sprung up about 9.30pm.  Hopefully if it does rain we won’t get stuck down this long, dirt road.

Storm clouds building in Kakadu

This morning everyone had one last swim in the fabulous pool and we reluctantly dragged ourselves away from Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge’s traditional aboriginal name) and headed back into Katherine.  Supply gathering (again) complete, including a magnetic chess set for Joseph and Dominic, we headed north a little then took a detour into Edith Falls.  It was hot, and dusty, and no one was particularly enthusiastic, but we hiked the 1 km up the hill, sweating and grumbling.  I passed some black Cockatoos calling to each other in the trees, and some emergency phones in case it got too hot and we collapsed!  The falls were such a beautiful sight and we all jumped in, fully clothed, and soaked up the cool water.  Joseph swam under the falls, and Katie found a hole in the rocks like a big bathtub.  We met a family of six from south of Perth, who have been travelling for over 18months and are planning on heading home at Christmas.  We might run into them again as they are heading over to Broome as well.

Joseph at Edith Falls

Nadine struggles to get started on some of these walks.  Everyone has to put on sneakers and grab their hat and a full drink bottle before we start.  It’s so hot they need to drink all the time and I don’t want to carry it.  Nadine is always the last with her shoes on and complains bitterly the whole time she is getting ready.

Usually, after walking a little, she is just overwhelmed by the thought of walking the full distance, and flops down in the hot, red dirt, her drink bottle falling beside her, and refuses to go any further.

I lose patience with her, but Grant gently cajoles her and carries her until, set in motion and over the initial resistance, inertia just seems to carry her along. After that she can walk quite a long way, but boy, it’s hard work up to that point!

On the walk up to the Katherine Gorge lookout yesterday, she made it a fair way before melting onto the path.  Today, she collapsed right at the very start of the walk.  When Oskar saw Nadine being carried, he started up with a howl of misery, saying how he couldn’t walk either.   Oskar can go on loud and long.  We came to a wooden bench seat beside the path and I suggested a sit down, but the seat was too hot to sit on!  I left them both to Grant, and concentrated on Cooper, who just kept climbing up and up, even though it was “very hot Mummy”.

The walk back down the hill wasn’t so bad as we were all cool in our wet clothes.  They were pretty dry by the time we got back to the car, and we continued on our way up to Kakadu.