Recent experiences at Kakadu

Ronzo · Veteran Member

Recent experiences at Kakadu

Whenarewethere · Guru

We were there is 18, to us it looked tired, a lot of the side roads were closed. At the time we visited we thought it was still due to the tail end of the wet season. Later we found out it was due to politics.

Are We Lost · Guru

We visited in July 2019 and were glad we did. We had a site at Corroboree Park Tavern and the rates were quite reasonable. The main focus of Kakadu is Aboriginal culture, with sites and tours. The Ubirr Cultural Cruise is well recommended. Ubirr was closed for a while but reopened last month. One of the most popular sites for tourists is Gunlom Falls but that has been closed indefinitely.

We were disappointed that most of the roads to the natural beauty spots were poorly maintained, mostly requiring 4WD and not suitable for the average vehicle. On the other hand, Litchfield National Park has easy access to the common sites and you can enjoy a swim at some. We preferred that.

So it depends on what you want.

-- Edited by Are We Lost on Friday 30th of July 2021 09:44:46 PM

Mike Harding · Guru

Last time I was in the Top End locals were calling it Kaka-don't and suggesting Litchfield instead. Maybe you could do both?

Whenarewethere · Guru

A bit like in Italy. If you need to choose between Pompeii & Herculaneum. Every does Pompeii, but Herculaneum is far more interesting.

Peter_n_Margaret · Guru

Mike Harding wrote:
Last time I was in the Top End locals were calling it Kaka-don't and suggesting Litchfield instead. Maybe you could do both?

That is a bit like suggesting Uluru instead of the Great Barrier Reef.

Kakadu and Litchfield are nothing like each other.

We have just visited both. We spent almost 3 weeks in Kakadu. It is an amazing place for lots of reasons, but it is badly run down in my view.

Cheers,

Peter

Possum3 · Guru

I believe the Elders at Kakadu should travel to Mossman Gorge in Nth Queensland and learn how a community can run a successful (unsubsidised) tourist facility.
Mossman Gorge is undoubtably the best example of "Community owned and operated" tourist operations within Australia.

Ranger were required to reinstate the Kakadu Region to previous condition (as prior to mining).
Unfortunately some indigenous elders wanted Jabiru to be rebuilt - no agreement could be reached on what they wanted - Ranger is now not permitted to reinstate roads and structures.
Result is, chaos and run down facilities, whilst indigenous groups argue.

Caesar fiddling while Rome burns, comes to mind.

Possum3 · Guru

See latest news here; www.indigenous.gov.au/news-and-media/announcements/historic-handover-kakadu-jabiru-township

dieseltojo · Senior Member

Yep I should have listened to my friend that told me Kaka dont. I though...oh well its only a 200 klm loop....Might as well do it. Yep Kaka don't. There was a nice indigenous walk around; old drawings but some looked like the locals had tried to improve them.

TheHeaths · Guru

Couple of things I have learned while travelling. Firstly we are all different, so enjoy things differently, and as such someones dont go is someone elses dont miss.

Go and make up your own mind. Youll never, ever know if you never ever go!

Secondly, Ive been to many places. A great deal I would return to happily. Others I wouldnt go back to. But I have never regretted going to ANY of them. They ALL add to my experience of travelling and my country.

RichardK · Senior Member

Well said, Ian, we have the same outlook, have seen some magnificent places some of which we return to often but there are some we decide we have been there and look at different adventures.
We also find that peoples version of road conditions can be very different to ours.

Cheers
Richard

Greg 1 · Guru

I was in Kakadu in 2019. Quite disappointed to be frank. Most of the attractions were closed due to the roads not being open. When I asked why that was at the height of the tourist season, I was told that the rangers hadn't gotten around to it yet. If they want to run a tourist facility they need to get off their bronzes and run it properly. The decay and general lack of management and interest was pretty evident and whilst I was content that I did the drive in and out, I would not be in any hurry to bother again.

Mamil · Senior Member

So sad to hear that Kakadu is going downhill. It has to be my favourite destination in all of Australia, although I haven't been back there for more than twenty years now. And Are We Lost, I enjoyed the fact you needed a 4WD to get to some of the best attractions - made it feel like more of an adventure and kept the tourist hordes away!

Bicyclecamper · Guru

I did the Kakadu back in the real old days, with a lifted Sigma Galant and a 0ne ton trailer. In 1982. We have not been back. People back then were surprised that we were travelling in a 2 WD. But we took it on every 4WD track we could find, and only got bogged once, which I handwinched both the trailer and car out.

Are We Lost · Guru

Mamil wrote:
So sad to hear that Kakadu is going downhill. It has to be my favourite destination in all of Australia, although I haven't been back there for more than twenty years now. And Are We Lost, I enjoyed the fact you needed a 4WD to get to some of the best attractions - made it feel like more of an adventure and kept the tourist hordes away!

Maybe I should have been more explicit.

We have no aversion to gravel roads and have towed the van on some substantially corrugated ones, such as to The Painted Desert and the Mereenie Loop. But these were worse. I think most are marked for 4WD only but we did not see any that actually required engagement of 4WD. They were just badly corrugated.

We did take the van to 2 Mile Campground to freecamp overnight. The 12km road had us down to walking pace frequently and the bouncing in the car made it difficult to talk, despite tyre pressures as low as I dared. As it turned out, we had the campsite to ourselves .... quite surprising for peak season.

We tried for another site (Maguk from memory), but gave up after 1-2 kilometers having lost a mirror and the corrugations seemed to be getting worse. This entailed reversing the van all the way back to the turnoff. In the hour or more we were on the road, we did not sight one other vehicle.

Perhaps we were there when they were overdue for grading but we found that those leading to the natural beauty spots all had deep corrugations, while the roads to paid tourist experiences and cultural sites were fine, and mostly sealed.