Muriella Campground
We stopped off at Jabiru for a few supplies, fuel, water and, of course, internet. With fuel, make sure you take a jerry can with you. Towing a van slowly over dirt roads is thirsty work. We were horrified to see the needle drop so quickly. A full tank of fuel in Darwin and we barely made the 200klm to Jabiru (as the crow flies, plus close to 200klm in side trips).
Muriella is another ‘black top to camp spot’ location about 40klm along the Kakadu Highway. The layout is standard plus, the showers are actually hot, which makes me suspect that the weekend crowd at Merl, maybe had emptied the roof top solar, before we got there. There’s plenty of shade here and the campground is spacious.
If you just own a rod and reel, Muriella Campground is one of the few places east of the Kakadu Highway where fishing is permitted. There’s a lovely deep lagoon just a couple of hundred metres away which is also accessible by what could generously called a boat ramp. Good sized barra are caught here and fishing from the river bank is safe, given a 2 metre fall to the waterline. I found a neat little fishing spot on an early morning walk and we headed back with coffee and camping chairs to settle in for a mornings fishing. After a couple of throws, Tamika hands me the rod. So I launch the lure….and the reel, into the billabong. Admittedly, just in far enough that a good reach would retrieve it, but of course, this is how those croc-eats-tourist stories start. Still, I figure the odds are in my favour and after severe due diligence, scamper back up the embankment with the prize.
On the very next cast, Tamika snags her lure on a tree branch overhanging the water. Again, retrievable, with a bit of a tree climb. Couldn’t help thinking about those crocs they train to leap out of the water. Maybe one had quietly slipped in and was waiting for a cue. Luckily, not, but after retrieving the lure, we decided the local boat ramp might be a safer option.
There are two main billabongs in the area. The first is a walking track that starts at the day parking area. The maps show a giant loop around the billabong, but it’s obvious that that hasn’t been possible for quite a while. Most take the right hand turn, but the treat is taking the left. Once you hit the flood plain, turn left again and in a hundred metres this beautiful lagoon emerge from the shadows on my left. The beauty is that it’s long and narrow with heaps of bird life, so you can get a lot closer to the water’s edge than most.
While I was there, I noticed some four legged wild life on the other side. A wild boar, two sows and a litter. Two of the adults were feeding in the shallows, oblivious too or perhaps acutely aware that there were no crocs nearby.
The second is Sandy Billabong, a twenty minute slow crawl from the campground. The minimum requirements for this little expedition are All-wheel drive or 4WD on demand, reasonable road clearance and patience. You could probably manage a camper trailer or small pop-top if you’re dead keen, but, for mine, it’s a day trip and it’s beautiful. You can easily set–up for a picnic and relax and the photo ops are great!
TWIN FALLS
I think if we had our time over again, we’d have left the van at Muriella and made it a day trip to Twin Falls. It was 10klm of smooth dirt road and 40klm of hell, relief found only briefly on the tarred causeways. Now the road DOES get graded, but don’t count on it. It took us two hours to make those 50klm and even I, ever the optimist, was gritting his teeth. If you have an off-road van with kick-arse suspension, not a problem. Even the caretaker at Karnamarr Campground, doesn’t recommend it. Still, it’s doable, but we were an orphan amidst the camper trailers and hard-core 4WD enthusiasts.
Karnamarr is well laid out with the standard $15 per night per person. Jim Jim Falls along with Twin Falls are bucket list destinations in Kakadu. But again, your timing has to be exquisite – and by exquisite, I mean waiting patiently for Parks NT to advise the open-the -gate date for the dry season, and even then, it’s pot luck. Jim Jim Falls is a wet track specialist only. To see the waterfall thundering over the cliffs, it’s a chartered flight in the wet season. Same with Twin Falls. It seems an awful lot of effort for not much, right? It’s a question of not looking in the obvious places for your reward.
Firstly, the 10klm drive in from Karnamarr to the Jim Jim Falls carpark is an adventure in its own right. Narrow, winding, sandy, rocky, not to mention a couple of creek crossings thrown in, it’s as Mick Dundee as you could imagine. That was heaps of fun.
Secondly, the walk to the falls is a test of agility involving several “leaps of faith”. Luckily we caught up with a private tour and the guide could even tell us what rocks were safe and which ones to avoid. All up about 20 minutes of clambering and out of nowhere we were greeted by a stunning sandy beach and lagoon in the shadow of ancient cliffs.
Thirdly, while this looked enticing, we really wanted to see what is known as The Plunge Pool. This is what the falls cascade into. It was only another ten minutes of clambering and there we were. The best way I can describe it, is like swimming in a cathedral. The cliffs tower 150 metres above the pool on three sides, the walls echo with your voice and it’s perfectly still. You definitely felt like you were in a sacred space. Yep, the water was cold, but after your legs became numb, the rest was easy enough.
We’d made an early start that morning, so we were back before the serious heat kicked in. I gathered up some wood for the fire and we celebrated another highlight of our expedition with a nice sav blanc. Next morning, Tamika was determined to make an early exit as weaving back and forth across the dirt road and, unsure what was coming over the next hill towards us, made her a little nervous. We had topped up our tank from the Jerry can and could see on the map, a roadhouse about 60klm from Pine Creek, out next stop back on the Stuart Highway. I knew we could make it with a bit to spare. As it turned out, that bit to spare was all we would have. The roadhouse had long closed (another Covid casualty I assumed) and we only had what was left in the tank to get us there. It was a slow and frugal trip made in nervous silence. Even ‘angel gear’ got a turn or three. We were lucky to have a fellow vanner follow us in and we just made it to the servo.
PINE CREEK
Now technically we had left Kakadu AND we had visited Pine Creek a few weeks before for the annual Gold Rush Festival. However, the two specks of gold Tamika found in an organized panning event was enough to drag us back. Pine Creek is on the edge of a golden triangle and she was determined to do some reconnaissance. We drove out to Spring Hill, about 40klm and scratched around for a bit. We were close to Mt Wells and the old processing plant was not too far away. Well, it was well and truly abandoned, but nearly all the machinery was still in place.
It was a walk back in time and the most exciting discovery was a pile of semi-processed gravel in one of the bins. Tamika quickly emptied out her earlier samples and stocked up on a promising few hours panning back at the van.
After a couple of hours panning, I was summons outside to view what looked like gold chunks glistening in the sunlight. Unfortunately the old adage proved true. Further investigation concluded they were in fact little nuggets…… of tin. Oh well, practice makes perfect. So, we settled back to watch the Swans put Freo to the sword and headed back to Darwin the next morning. Kakadu was a great experience and we had lots of fun and learnt heaps. Recommend when your up this way Ken.