Monday 25 December 2017

Kakadu, Gurrung

I love how the Indigenous people describe the seasons of the top end:

Gurrung (August - October)  Hot & dry
Gunumeleng (October - December)  Pre-monsoon storms
Gudjewg (December - March) Monsoon
Banggerreng (March - April)  Knock 'em down storms
Yegge (April - June) Cool, humid
Wurrgeng  (June - Aug) Cold

I went to Kakadu a few times this year, and these photos were from a trip in August (Gurrung) where I was trying out my new camera. We had an incredible time camping in Kakadu, the weather dry and not too hot.

We arrived at Gunlom in the late afternoon. The waterfall had basically dried up, just a streak of black reminding us of where it was. We sat by the main pool as the sun set, mesmerised by the colour change. We were incredibly lucky to basically have all of Gunlom to ourselves at dusk! I swam out to the waterfall end, fulfilling one of my major goals of 2017 to overcome my fear of swimming in deep water. It didn't help that I saw a flash of silver though - probably a barra, but I thought it was a croc!














Gunlom top pool

It was a short steep hike up here, for the best view in the world, literally.



How old is this incredible rock?  

Amazingly clear water

Bearacles visits Gunlom 




By the time we descended for lunch at the main pool, the water had separated into these incredible shades



The second night we camped at Burdulba, a small walk in site near Nourlangie rock. We were the only tent at the campground that night, the only other people being in a campervan.



Nourlangie Rock at sunset

Sunset over the escarpment 

 Grilled corn is the best 






The last stop on our trip was Mamukala wetlands, a place I'd visited a few times prior but always ran away from because of the mosquitoes. There were so many birds here, probably because it was approaching the end of the dry.



If you look really hard, the white dots hidden amongst the vegetation are all herons.  

Scrabble and wine at Mamukala. Sorry we dropped the F forever into crocodile infested water. 

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