Day 75 - Jim Jim Day

23/06/11

Today we rose early and got on our way to Jim Jim Falls.  We'd been told that the road had only been opened for less than a week.  First we had 55km of gravel road with corrugations all the way, then about 7km of rough 4WD track.  Easy to see how the road can be closed with much water adjacent to the road.


Then we made our way up the track to the falls - even though it was only 900m it was very rocky and took us an hour to do.  The falls themselves are spectacular with a beautiful pool at the bottom.


There's even a beach area which was well patronised by a couple of tour groups - the water is so clear, all the rocks on the bottom are clearly visible.



By the time we retunred to our campsite and hooked up the van it was 1pm - we decided to have a look at Jim Jim Billabong very near our camp.  Although this spot is some 65km from Jim Jim Falls they are connected via the same creek system.  We soon realised that although it is only 5km down the track we could not do it with the van on, so we dropped it at the nearby ranger station (sean is now right into hooking up the van).  The track was OK and we soon crossed our first water, then got to the second which got a bit deeper.  Then came to the third which was approx 30m across a running creek - decided that we wouldn't risk this one so went no further.

We then went to our next campsite 16km south of Jabiru called Malanjbanjdju.  Went to set up camp and was surprised to see Tony and Tracey - a couple that we have run into 3 or 4 times since we first met them in the West <cDoneel ranges.  Set up camp around yet another picturesque billabong.



We had a lovely night around the fire with Tony and Tracey and their 2 kids along with another young couple John and Mindy and their 3 kids.

The Campbells