This morning we noticed that we were not the only refugees from last nights rain storm. There were a number of 4x4 vehicles in the parking lot that looked set up for camping, and there was a lot of wet gear hanging on the clothes line or laying on the concrete building porch.
Todays destination was Gunlom Falls, a bit over 200 km from Jabiru which meant another long quiet drive through the same type of tropical savanah as yesterday. Along our way we found a handy picnic area for lunch and took the opportunity to open and spread that wet insect tent on the ground and wait for it to dry out. In this heat it took less than 20 minutes. We also visited another rock art site, Nourlangie Rocks, where we did not see any signs prohibiting photography.
One of the features of our time in the Darwin/Litchfield/Kakadu area that we have not yet commented on is the high incidence of roadside fires. It seems to be a deliberate policy of local authorities to reduce fuel in the forest early in the dry season by lighting small fires. We read that these fires are a boon to hunting birds like eagles and hawks as the fire flushes insects and small animals from the undergrowth making them easy pickings for the hunter.
Gunlom Falls and the associated campground proved to be a delight and surprisingly busy. The water fall was similar to those described for Litchfield, with a large pool at the bottom and a series of rock pools above the fall, with the water being supplied by the rocky escapment that is saturated with water during the wet season. The campground was a delight, an open woodland lightly grassed to keep the dust down, no insects and the weather even cooperated by delivering low humidity.
We climbed the path to the top of the falls in the afternoon in order to take a swim in the rock pools. And then settled in for a comfortable night, and a night to remember.