Woonona Mob "Zig Zag Oz": Gorge-ous

Edith Falls

Swimming on top of the world...top of Gunlom.

View from on top of Gunlom Falls, looking out over Kakadu

At Jim Jim Falls (only accessible by 4WD )

Jim Jim Falls

Twin Falls...notice Ellie & Russ in bottom left corner! No swimming allowed here...but who said you couldn't put your head under the water fall!

Crocodile trap at Twin Falls...notice the shoulder of wild boar in the cage on the right...yum yum!

Stunning walls with ferns and palms at Twin Falls

Swimming On Top Of The WORLD!!

By Ellen

At Edith Falls we were swimming up the top of the falls!

At Gunlom we were swimming up the top of the falls!

We were climbing up steep hills with loose rocks, trees in the middle of the path

(most likely to save us) also the rails.

Edith falls is near Katherine in fact it’s 30 k’s away.

Gunlom is in Kakadu NP extremely beautiful.

Swimming up the top of both falls is warmer than swimming at the bottom

(because the sun shines on it more often also the gorges hide the sun).

At Gunlom it was like an infinity pool.

At Edith Falls we saw snake #24

At Gunlom we saw snake #25

Now at Jabiru we saw snake #26

A heap of snakes in 3 beautiful places!!!

This is Winter?!....

By Maeve

Swimming, ice blocks and sunburn? What’s happening? As a matter of fact whats happening is winter, though, not as you’d think winter to be.

We’ve recently been swimming in some lovely thermal springs down in a town called Mataranka where the water is normally 33 degrees ( too warm for me) with millions of tourists (terrorists) crowding them.

The best was Bitter springs, with its crystal clear waters and pandanus banks, it was heaven all over again. You would swim down a winding 300m river to get to the end of the Bitter spring’s thermal pool.

There was one more spring at a homestead renowned for the movie setting of the famous book “We Of The Never Never”.

It was a pity that the spring was turned into something more urban, with concrete walls and that the spring had been blocked off for reasons I don’t why. We were talking to a group of 3 people about the place and we mentioned the river next to us, and about us swimming in it, and they went wide eyed at us as if we were crazy, “I wouldn’t swim in there” one muttered “I’d never swim where there’s crocs” said another.

So yes there are crocs, freshwater crocs, but I went for a swim. (I’m

scared of the estuarine crocs)

We went to many falls all of them stunning and picturesque, my favourite was Jim Jim.

Now that day was a wonderful and quite a hilarious trip.

First off we went to Jim Jim on a windy, sandy, bumpy and corrugated road, obviously destroyed by those elephant sized tourist busses!

Jim Jim was beautiful, with a 1km walk to the plunge and beach pool it was worth the walk. The Beach pool was my favourite out of the two, it was refreshing and cold but I relished it on that hot day, with its clear water and deepness. I constantly dived down and swam under water for ages, it was fab-u-lous. I stayed in for ever swimming all through it while mum swam for 5 sec; I had to be forced out, as I don’t feel the cold.

Next was Twin falls, now here comes the hilarious part, the road to twin falls was similar but with one large river crossing. Once we got to the actual twin falls part we parked the car, and had lunch “where’s the number plate gone” said mum ?…uh oh. The number plate had come off at the front, “I bet you its in the river” said dad, “or in a crocodiles stomach” I said.

We decided to go for the walk first which included ( to get to the actual walk) a 2 minute cruise. Ellie saw a freshwater croc and a short-necked turtle.

The Twin falls were named “Twin falls” because there were two identical falls side-by-side.

On the drive back home we kept an eye out for the missing number plate, even in the trees as it is a habit of people who find number plates to put them there. We got to the river crossing without any sign of it. The river crossing is 1m deep and 20mtrs wide, so the whole time going through it we were staring on top of the water for a floating object… no sign of it “bugger it” said dad, and just as we were about to leave the river crossing…. “there it is” yelled dad! But it was underwater. So we tried to get it with a long stick… that didn’t work, soooo dad drove back in and stopped, hopped out of the window into the water and plucked our number plate “BH 47 EO” out of the water while mum stood there with a long stick in case a saltwater crocodile came along so she could distract it. (They live in there). We all cheered, he reversed out of the river crossing, and we got back in the car…um.... let’s call it a

flooded car! Ellie’s and mum’s side was flooded on the floor, while dad and I kept dry. “OH NO” gasped mum, “THE BOOKS UNDER MY SEAT”! “ OH NO” cried Ellie,” MR SQUIGGLES”! (Ellie’s toy hamster), they had both got wet as well as other things.

So we mopped up the floor but not completely and we all got a fantail.

P.S

Neither of the girls has mentioned all the bushwalking we have done, including a 12KM walk into Butterfly Gorge, the second gorge at Nitmiluk. We are getting very fit.