1998
Lionel the Landcruiser
and Tap-Tap go Walkabout

Day 14
Kakadu

Rob at the top of the Gunlom waterfall - smiling from ear to ear!

I wonder if the water is cold? Rob dipping his toes in the water at Gunlom Rockpools.

Had a nice lazy day in the sun today and Hild and Rob finally got their feet (and everything else) wet in the rock pools at Gunlom. I can't call them 'dryfoot' any more, hmmmm, I'll have to think of something else.

Not really much to tell apart from that. Got up late'ish and had a bit of a clean up inside the tent -it is amazing how much sand and muck gets in there in a couple of days. Then packed up water (lots of it) and food and off they went back up the escarpment where they went to see the sunset last night, leaving me basking by the side of the lower plunge pool. They did try to take a photo of me from up at the top, but I was in amongst the trees watching the other humans playing in the water.

Can you see any crocs? Rob at Gunlom Rockpools.

Up at the top, there was a bit of swimming, a bit more paddling and a whole lot of lying on the rocks reading books. Early on there were quite a few boisterous kids, then it got a bit quieter and then after lunch a whole lot of people came up. Some were happy just to clamber to the edge and look down to the bottom pool, but a few of the the others (young men or more correctly teenage boys by their behaviour) insisted on jumping into the pools. Not an activity with much future we thought as most of the pools have a lot of rocks in there and some of them only just below the surface.

Gunlom Rockpools. Rob going for a swim.

Anyway, after a few hours of this Hild had had enough so they came back down and we drove back up to Cooinda Lodge, where the Yellow Waters cruises go from. On the way, Rob managed to get himself entangled in a convoy of 4WD's on some kind of tag-a-long trip we think. On the gravel back out of Gunlom there were a couple of them going really slowly, and with all the dust it was better to get past them. Until we got to one (a Nissan Patrol it turned out) that was kicking up so much dust that it was impossible to see the car so we had to keep a long way back. Once back onto the sealed road this one stopped so we went past, only to have first the patrol and then the two other ones I had passed come blasting around me. Not a problem I thought, we aren't in that much of a hurry and anyway I get through a lot of diesel above 100 kph, what with all the stuff inside and the extra spare wheel on my roof. But then, a few k's later I caught up with the three again at the end of a line of about 15 cars and utes, none of them going that fast or trying to overtake (which would have been easy as the roads are very straight and with few cars coming the other way. Then suddenly, the last car in line swerved violently to the other side of the road braked and after a bit longer (1-2 k maybe) pulled over, along with all the others! I wish I had had my CB on 'cos I bet they were all chatting away on that, but Hild had gone to sleep (remember what I told you about Rob's driving?) so we couldn't check it out.

So, with that bit of excitement we drove on to Cooinda and paid for the night's camping ($16 this time) and by the time we got out to drive into the camp site the convoy was here and taking up all the spare space in the middle of the camping ground! We had to make do with a little spec on the outside, which is OK 'cos that is all the space we take up and we would rather be away from large groups like that. But they are having an easy time of it though; the lead Landcruiser is loaded to the gills and when it stopped out popped a couple of young guys who began setting up barbecues and dinner tables and then all these seriously middle aged people hopped out of their 'Cruisers and Patrols and just sat down and let them get on with cooking dinner! Seems a pretty poor show if you ask me - what kind of four-wheel-driving holiday is that, if you leet someone else do all the hard work. I bet they don't even have to dig themselves out when they get bogged - no fun at all.

Can you see the croc? - or was it a floating stick? Sunset at Yellow Water.

Well, as usual, we ate before it got dark and then took a little stroll to try and 'phone Stewart and see when he will be arriving tomorrow.. And - just as usual - we got his answering service and said that , no, he couldn't 'phone us back 'cos we didn't have a 'phone so we are just hoping he is OK with the plan and isn't getting into Darwin early tomorrow and has to hang around all day until we get there before he can get into the apartment!

So, now we are off to sleep 'cos we have an early start tomorrow - boat cruise at 6.45!

Lionel