Kakadu & Top End
Kakadu Light
6-15 February 2002
Our Kakadu Light trips deserve a story. Since none of our clients has written one, this is by owner Russell Willis.
With an average age of 70 (not including me), it was not a young group. But Don and Frank were both experienced walkers who had walked with us before so I anticipated no problems. We began with a leisurely drive to Kakadu, then a special tour onto Aboriginal land, arranged at the last minute to replace another Aboriginal wet season tour that wasn't running due to lack of water.
On the third day, we began our major walks with a trip up Baroalba Creek. We saw a number of Aboriginal art sites as well as numerous cascades and waterfalls. And, of course, we stopped for numerous swims.
The next day we did a scenic flight down toward Jim Jim and Twin Falls. We got good views of Twin but there was just enough rain and storm around that we couldn't get close to Jim Jim.
As the rains really began, we moved south and did the best waterfall walk of the trip. There are a number of tour companies that will take you to Motorcar Falls; a few that will take you to Kurrundie Falls, but there may or may not be anyone else who will take you to the lower falls on Motorcar Creek shown at left.
We had timed it well. We left Kakadu and the rain began in earnest. The Motorcar area got over 200 mm in one day. We did a very wet walk above Edith Falls, then drove on to Katherine to spend the night before going out to Katherine Gorge. The rain was so heavy that the road was cut. Not a major problem as seen at the right.
The rains continued and the water rose. In town, the Katherine river rose from 4.5 to 17.4 metres, the highest it had been since the 1998 flood. In the park, the jet boat ride up the gorge was spectacular while the walking tracks turned into small creeks.
From Katherine we moved north to do some short walks in Litchfield. Then, on the final day, we visited the Territory Wildlife Park where I had a close encounter of the bird kind.
There is too much more to fit on a single page, so you can see more photos and read a bit more about this trip.
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