Saturday, 13 August 2011

13/8/11 Jim Jim Fall, Kakadu

Today we drove to Jim Jim Falls.  It was 55km of teeth-rattling, gravel road corrugations followed by another 8km of 4WD drive track over bumps and ruts, across rocky creek crossings, through sections of soft sand and we did it all successfully until we came to the last creek crossing which was a mud bath.  Gerd took a middle of the road track and we ended up with the front left hand wheel in a hole which was up to my knees. The car could not move backwards or forwards.  We had to wait until the next vehicle came along - a couple of young German men in a rented van who thought that it was a wonderful adventure to give us a tow backwards. (Thanks for the snatch strap, Brenton.) By that time a number of other cars had arrived and everyone had their cameras out.  We worked out that by hugging the left hand wall and gunning along we could all manage to avoid the hole.   


From the car park we had to walk another kilometre over tree roots and boulders and past a crocodile trap to get to the falls. The spectacular cliffs tower 150m around the gorge.  The water in the plunge pool is very cold because most of the time it is in deep shadow.  Gerd said that it was "very refreshing" ... brrr.





We had to face the creek crossing again on the way out but this time, apart from my pulse racing and my blood pressure soaring,  it didn't cause any problem.  We arrived back at Yellow Waters just in time to take more sunset pictures from the boat ramp.



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