Exploring Kakadu and Litchfield National Parks
Sonia & Marica
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30/05/2019
World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, covering almost 20,000 square kilometres, is a place of contrasting landscapes and diverse habitats. Saltwater crocodiles lurk in freshwater billabongs dotted with lotus lilies. Here you can browse through galleries of ancient Aboriginal rock art at Ubirr or explore its waterfalls and lookouts over the park.
The best period to visit Kakadu is between June and September when all the 4wd tracks have been opened after the wet season. Unfortunately, we are here in May and we are gonna miss most of the most popular attractions such as the spectacular Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls.
We enter the park from Kakadu Highway and our first stop is in Gunlom which is 35 km far from the highway through an unsealed road. Here we find a beautiful natural pool by walking about half an hour to reach the upper side. It’s safe to swim here because there are no crocodiles according to the sign at the entrance.
We spend then the night at Gunlom campground paying 15 dollars per person per night. It’s a really beautiful campground with good amenities and hot showers!
The following day we explore the Yurmikmik walks following the walk for Motorcar Falls which is approximately 1 hour on way.
The pool is really nice even though there’s not much water left in the waterfall.
We plan then to visit Maguk but the road is still closed so we decide to stop at Gungurul campground which is an unmanaged one and costs 6 dollars per person per night offering just basic toilets.
From here we continue to Jabiru which is a small township at the centre of the park and offers a range of services such as a small supermarket and a fuel station. Here you will also find the Bowali visitor centre which offers free wi-fi as well.
We head then to Ubirr to visit the rock arts of ancient Aboriginal people and admire the beautiful sunset from the top of the hill which you really can’t miss out! Here you will find Ranger-guided talks from Monday to Thursday.
A consistent number of activities are indeed included in the entry fee of 40 dollars per person. We first thought it’s overpriced but we soon realised that the park is really huge and it takes a lot of money to keep it safe both for the visitors and the great wildlife living here. Not to mention the maintenance of roads and campgrounds.
We spend the second and last night at Ubirr campground called Merl which actually was not the best since it’s very very very full of mosquitoes that makes your stay there quite impossible!
Overall we’ve enjoyed our stay in the park but we expected a little bit more in terms of natural scenery. That’s probably because, as abovementioned, they haven’t opened all the off-road tracks yet.
The following day we go out from Arnhem Highway heading to Litchfield National Park which is actually just an hour-and-a-half drive from Darwin. There’s no entry fee to the park and everything is very close so it’s easy to come here just for a day trip. However, we decide to take it easy and stay here overnight at Wangi Falls campground which is only 6.60 dollars per person per night and offers toilets, hot showers and barbecues. Indeed it is pretty full because there are less than 40 spots but we manage to find a spot for us.
The Wangi Falls are really nice and there’s also an easy loop which can be done in 1 hour or less. But we preferred Florence Falls and Buley Rockhole because of the beautiful rock formations and different shapes of pool.
We really would like to stay here longer but unfortunately the too many mosquitoes don’t let us enjoy this peaceful place.
Finally, we’ve loved Litchfield National Park because it’s not too big and it’s plenty of walks among the tropical forest and beautiful natural pools. Definitely a must in the Northern Territory!