Day 42: Jabiru to Gunlom Falls (via Maguk Falls)

Today we packed up camp and headed off with the first planned stop being Maguk Falls. There was a 1 km walk in and it was fairly hot. We passed one spot on this small stream where you could see a couple of nice sized Barramundi just hanging in the water. After a couple of creek crossings and some rocky terrain we finaly reached the falls. They were quite impressive and the plunge pool at the base was deep - so deep you couldn't see the bottom. Wasn't completely sure whether salt water crocodiles had been cleared from here but saw some other people swimming near the waterfall, so thought bugger it, it was hot.

More sooty grunters and archer fish met us as we started snorkling, but the most exciting thing was finding some big fresh water long toms which are long skinny fish, a bit like a garfish, but with two long jaws with lots of sharp little teeth.


Next we went on to Gunlom falls where we planned to camp the night. It was 35 km off the main road and we had some creek crossings on the way. When we got there the water fall was quite high but only a small amount of water coming down as it was the end of the dry season. That evening we had another swim at the base of the falls before dinner.

At about 8pm we noticed some lightening over the back of the ridge where the falls where. It gradually got closer, and then it seemed to be right on us in seconds. The rain came crashing down and the thunder and lightening was extraordinary. We hid in the van while this went on. One particular bolt of lightening cracked right on top of us and brought Felicity to tears. The water was running over the ground like it was a river bed. I must admit I was wondering whether we were going to be flooded in and the road out impassable. After a couple of hours the storm passed and we were off to sleep.