Matt Down Under
Ruby developer, founder of choc media, bushwalker, MacGyver fan and hobby photographer, German citizen and Australian Permanent Resident.
In 2008 I moved from Germany to Australia, the best decision of my life. On this blog you can find stories and photos about hiking in Tasmania and on the mainland, travelling, and life in Australia — my journey from Working Holiday to Permanent Residency.
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93 posts tagged bushwalking
Jatbula Trail — Day 5
Route: Sandy Camp Pool — Leliyn (Edith Falls)
Before I left the campsite in the morning I finally got the chance to take some good photos of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos that were sitting and clowning in a tree right next to the campsite. As common as they may be in Australia, I never managed to take a really good photo until then. What’s really fascinating — and most people probably don’t recognise it — is, that just like many other birds in Australia they look slightly different in the North compared to the South.
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Jatbula Trail — Day 4
Route: 17 Mile Falls — Sandy Camp Pool
I really managed to leave earlier than 8am — at 7.30am, amazing improvement. Before I left I soaked my towel in the water and put in under my wide hat, covering head, neck and shoulders. It really makes a big difference and keeps your head cool. It also helped against flies.
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Jatbula Trail — Day 3
Route: Crystal Falls — 17 Mile Falls
It took me some time to find a safe way across the river. It was almost possible to jump from one rock to the next, but for the last part I didn’t get around wading through the water, so at least I wanted a place where it wasn’t too deep or the current too strong.
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Jatbula Trail — Day 2
Route: Biddlecombe Cascades — Crystal Falls
It was so hot in the morning already that after breakfast I went for a swim before packing up and leaving.
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Jatbula Trail — Day 1
Route: Nitmiluk Visitor Centre — Biddlecombe Cascades
I arrived in Katherine one day before my departure on the Jatbula Trail, I wanted to camp at Katherine Gorge for one night just to get acclimatised to camping and outdoors again before starting the hike. Besides, the campground is a wonderful location with lots of wildlife, great facilities and many opportunities for short walks.
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The sign in the photo marked the end of the Jatbula Trail, a few hundred metres before the Edith Falls car park. When I walked past it at 1pm last Tuesday, I had to pause for a moment, take a photo and recap the experiences of the past few days. The message on the sign is exactly what I tried to articulate in my previous blog post. It says:
“You have walked the land and now end your journey with photographs and memories of your experiences along the Jatbula Trail.”
“During the wet season Jawoyn moved around this high, broken tableland between Katherine and Leliyn (Edith Falls) that you have just walked. There was an abundance of porcupine, wallabies and other small game. As you have just seen, there was also plenty of water.”
“Jawoyn people hope you leave with a greater appreciation of country and culture.”
I did indeed. And I couldn’t have got that appreciation and those experiences from a bus on the highway or an airplane in the sky. Walking is the best way to learn to appreciate country and culture. You get to see places that others, who don’t walk, will never get to see.
Back from the Jatbula Trail
Last Tuesday I returned from the Jatbula Trail. It was a fantastic walk — very exhausting, very hot, but I made it and it was a great experience. I saw Aboriginal rock art that must have been hundreds if not thousands of years old, I swam in waterholes every day, I saw flocks of 50 or more Red-tailed Black Cockatoos flying past me and didn’t meet a single person between the start and finish of the trail.
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At Katherine Gorge
This morning I left Darwin and jumped on the early Greyhound bus to Katherine. Timing couldn’t have been better because for the first time since I returned to Darwin five weeks ago, it rained.
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Going hiking on the Jatbula Trail
I’m still in Darwin, working on my tan and I’m actually fairly busy with work for some exciting online projects at the moment, but I decided to take a break from the computer and go back to Katherine on Thursday, where I will walk the 58km Jatbula Trail in Nitmiluk National Park before they close it for the wet season starting October.
