KAKADU –GUNLOM, PINE CREEK, UMBRAWARRA GORGE
What a day!
Gunlom is a beautiful spot.
We walked to the seasonal waterfalls for a look. Apparently the amount of water flowing has already dropped off dramatically. We heard that at Motor Car Falls it was down to a trickle.
Hubby had planned to do the lookout walk and at the last minute I decided to join him. How stupid of me! It is designated as a difficult climb, 1 km return, 1 hour return. Those that know me know that I have a fear of heights, have no sense of balance and have bad arthritis in my legs and arms. Well I decided to give it a go as from the bottom people looked as if they were strolling up. Well it was a goats track up. Initially there were rocky steps up. The it became a goats track. At the stage that I considered turning back others said I had covered the worst of it. What a lot of crap! Then it was too close to the top to give up so unbelievably I got to the top. Luckily we did this early in the morning so it was not too hot and we were in the shade. I don't know how was more shocked that I made it - hubby or me.
The lookout was worth the climb. It looks out onto the southern hills and ridges, stony country, woodlands and riverine.
This area is also known by the aboriginals as sickness country. Scientist have made a correlation between the location of sickness sites and harmful mineral deposits eg uranium.
At the top there is also another magnificent site – that of the plunge pools.
They looked so inviting and you can swim in them. Lots of people were in them or sitting on the rocks around them.
To get there I would have had to negotiate my way through more boulders and it was steep and a long way down.
Apparently the track to this section was harder than to the lookout.
I also knew I had to get back. So I stayed at the lookout whilst hubby went down for a swim.
Just the walking part of this little excursion took us 2 hours instead of the one because of me. At the end I was happy that I did it.
This is the first place that I saw that had the toilets named in the local aboriginal language and English.
After an iceblock I rushed over to the far part of the grassed area as I had just heard that there was an aboriginal woman teaching how to strip pandanas and how to weave baskets. I spent some time there stripping pandanas. It is quite difficult. I need lots of practice. You need a lot of strength to start the process. A pot over the fire was boiling up rosella flowers ready for dying. I contemplated spending the rest of the day here but that was not fair to hubby. I also would not have stripped enough pandanas to start making a basket.
So we decided to make our way to Maisie’s in Pine Creek for a very, very late lunch. Thanks to Leigh’s recommendation before leaving Canberra we had a most scrumptious hamburger and apple pie at Maisie’s. We nearly did not make it as they close at 3.00pm.
I should also mention that the road to Gunlom was very corrugated. Some left their caravans close to the road entrance off Kakadu Highway as the road was that bad.
Not much further today. We are camped at Umbrawarra Gorge campsite. Not far from the gorge.
What a change of scenery between here and Kakadu.
A beautiful creek meanders through the gorge and there are several plunge rock pools for swimming. No crocodile signs here.
The last thing I needed today was more rock clambering. Well, to get to the pools over rocks I had to go. So I did for a bit.
A lovely spot. Someone went for a swim again. I didn’t dare take my shoes off as I didn’t know whether I could put them on again. So I just enjoyed the scenery.
In the evening as we sipped wine hubby played the accordion. A young couple joined us as they liked the music. He is a tour guide. We had an interesting chat about places. He asked where hubby was from - they couldn’t guess initially. With a few hints they got it right. Apparently he had been to lithuania. So the conversation kept flowing.
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