Jim Jim Falls

Monday 11^th June

Jim  Jim  Falls.

One of the best known Tourist Attractions in Kakadu National Park are the Jim Jim and Twin Falls.  We had been told in Darwin that the road into these attractions was still closed after the wet season floods, but once we got into the park, we checked at the Kakadu Information Centre and found that although access to both falls was now open, you couldn’t go any further than Jim Jim Falls unless you had a snorkel fitted to your car, due to the depth of the river crossings.

We were also told that access to Jim Jim was restricted to four wheel drive only, and that the last 10 km was a very narrow rough track requiring four wheel driving skills.  Sounded interesting.

Jim Jim Falls are 60km off the main Jabiru to Pine Creek Highway.  The first 50 km was along a VERY corrugated metal road.  There are thousands of theories about the best way to tackle corrugations, but at the end of the day every driver just goes with what he feels is the least harmful to his car.

This was by far the worst road we had driven on since we had been in Aussie, and after 50 km of bone jarring, teeth rattling, car wrecking corrugations, we arrived at the point where the road became a single lane, two wheel rut track, winding through the bush.  There was a large sign advising it was suitable for four wheel drive vehicles only, and that all vehicles should engage four wheel drive before proceeding. There was only one way to tackle it, dead slow.

Although it was pretty rough with some huge potholes, most of it was dry and dusty with the occasional stretch of soft sand, and a few creek crossings.  As usual it had been over dramatised, and we drove 95% of it in two wheel drive. 

The Aussies love to make a lot of noise about little things. It took about as long to do this stretch of 10 km, as it did to do the first 50.

At the end of the track we had to walk about a kilometre up the stream bed to the falls themselves. 

Some of the track required clambering up, over, and around huge boulders, but the effort was well worth it.  Another wow factor sight.  Not a huge amount of water coming over the falls, but the height of them and the setting was absolutely amazing.

We spent about an hour enjoying the scenery and having a swim in the huge holes just below the falls.   

It was amazing how many people had made the trip in to visit this spot, and it was great to see families with toddlers in back packs, right through to teenagers and grandparents, coming in to enjoy this spectacular bit of Aussie scenery.

After a bite to eat, we reluctantly left this magnificent spot and headed back to our car. The first 10km back out along the narrow track was made interesting by the vehicles coming in.  Several times we had to pull off into the scrub to allow cars to pass.

Back in JABIRU we had a cuppa, and then it was back to the pool for our last swim.  Tomorrow we would be leaving Kakadu and heading for KATHERINE.