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Reports

During my travels, I received free accommodation for a night in exchange for writing a daily travel diary. This diary documented how I reached my next destination, the hosts who welcomed me, the food I was offered, and other experiences along the way. Below, you will find the archives of these extensive reports. Please note that English is not my native language, and most entries were written quickly, often around midnight. Enjoy!
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Thursday, 20 June 2002
--> Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia (day 2)

I was woken up by Ed at 6am and with a warm cup of coffee and a gaze at the morning sun rising from behind the horizon I really woke up. We were only standing at the water front of the Sandy Billabong, slurping our coffees and watching the sun light the sky orange and blue again, when Ed pointed out this crocodile track in the grass. From the water to our camp and back… Good that I closed the zipper of my mosquito tent.

After a simple muesli breakfast around the campfire, we loaded everything on the truck and the trailer again and started driving. Today was going to be the wet day, with lots of swimming.

First we drove to the majestic Jim Jim Falls, southeast of the Kakadu National Park. They are 212 metres high! Here we commenced on a easy scenic walk to the enormous rock pool down below, there where the waterfull plunges down during the wet season.

Of course I had to make a dive in that cold water (see 300-bytes animation), but fortunately a sunbath at the nearby sandy beach and a lunch on the rocks warmed me up again.

After this rocky lunch and the 30-minutes return trip out of the gorge back to the car, we drove to the entrance of the gorge towards the Twin Falls. Now this was something more unique. To get to the Twin Falls, we all had to swim some 800 metres. Whoever didn't want to swim, could lay on an airbed, like tour guide Ed did with his cowboy head on (he took along my camera in a waterproof bag).

The water was nice and I had a great swim and it made me realize that a 800-metres-swim is still somewhat of a swim. But when we all arrived at the sandy beach in the middle of that rock gorge, it was well worth it. There straight above us, two waterfalls tumbled down in a big rock pool. This is where we swam around, sunbathed and had a little nap. This is a little bit of paradise in the Kakadu National Park.

After a few hours of relaxing we all swam back and were ready to set up our camp in the dry bush near the falls. It took us a bumpy dirt track to get to our camp area, but with Buena Vista Social Club (listen along with Real Player)in the cassette player, life goes by with a smile.

Tomorrow the last day of this 3-day Safari with AussieOverlanders!

Good night Kakadu!

Ramon.




The Dutch can read my chronicle 'Lekker Survivallen' here.

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