Leeder’s needs about 2.8m of water to get in an out of, I always aim for more. The drive is a bit under 90minutes depending on how bad the corrugated road is. It is about 90minutes ahead of Darwin tides. Good boat ramp, nice fishing spot, and you can camp there too.
Category Archives: Campsites
Mardugal – Kakadu
Mardugal is one of Kakadu’s main camping grounds, it is also my favourite. Small fire pits to be used primarily for cooking. Wood is easy to find. It is the middle of Kakadu. Running water, hot showers. Rubbish bins (underrated!) too.
Easy to get into, at $10pp per night, it’s a great stop.
It can get midgees though, like most of Kakadu. Smoke helps, otherwise wear light, loose fitting clothing. I swear that’s the reason for these pants.
Maguk – Kakadu
Maguk is an easy-moderate walk with some small water pools on the way. When you arrive, it is a large waterfall in a large rockpool. Generally pretty empty too, no clue why as it one of the best spots in Kakadu.
On the temperate scale of Kakadu water, it is probably the warmest place you can swim. Big crowds are rare for some reason.
There is a camp site which I haven’t stayed at, alcohol isn’t allowed.
There is also some rock pools above the waterfall. There are signs everywhere saying you aren’t supposed to go up there, yet I see guided tour groups using those trails regularly, so I don’t really know the answer.
Gunlom – Kakadu
Gunlom
Gunlom is down a 4WD track, that being said a lot of 2WD’s make the trek, despite warnings from the rangers. I’ve saw a bumper broken the last time I was there, but most seem to go okay as long as they go very slow. No way I’d do it though.
The campsite is really good, it has some concrete firepits, running water in the toilet block, and some stone benchtops you can set up on. There was zero firewood around, so I would recommend that you gathered some on the way, like I should have. Even in July, fire is not necessary, but who doesn’t love a fire when they are camping?
Gunlom is two areas, the bottom and the top. The bottom is very accessible, a 50 metre super easy walk. The pool is large, the water is nice. There are some rocks around to sit on. There are usually a few older folks and younger kids around. Kakadu’s freshwater swimming pools vary in temperate, I’d say this one was colder than average.
The top pools are a steep walk up a hill. It takes about 20 minutes, and bring plenty of water and food for the day as you don’t want to have to walk up and down. The pools are smaller, marginally warmer than the bottom, and the view is amazing. Note it is pretty hard to get this shot, as there are usually a few people around trying for the same thing.
You can travel to a few more pools upstream that don’t have the views but have less people, and there is a small waterfall right at the back.
Overall Gunlom is easily one of the best places in Kakadu and that is saying something. $10 per person per night, if you are in the NT you don’t want to miss it.
The view from up the top
Gunlom at the bottom pool
Trip to Kakadu, Gunlom and some lookouts
5th of July 2014 to 8th of July 2014
Claire and I had secured permits to go to Jarranbarnmi for the weekend, unfortunately a rogue crocodile had forced the Kakadu staff to cancel all permits. We decided to head to Gunlom again, we love it. Did the drive down old Jim Jim Road, was great fun. Got there Saturday arvo and spent it in the lower pool. Spent all of Sunday in the upper pools, GT and Ailsa joined us. Saw a large snake in one of the water pools, that provided a bit of amusement.
Got the fire going on Sunday night, far out the wood burnt quickly. Headed back on Monday and stopped by Gungural and Bukbukluk, Claire didn’t like the walk at Gungural. Liked Bukbukluk a lot better. The trip back was fine, a large tree had fallen across old Jim Jim road, managed to get around by going through the scrub. Okay for Suzi but would have hated to have been towing something.
At the top of Gunlom
At the camp site
One of the lookouts