We entered Kakadu National Park from the south, via Pine Creek with a 3 day permit to enter Koolpin Gorge. After collecting keys from the ranger station, we bounced our way down the road towards Gunlom. Crossing the South Alligator River, we turned South East to Koolpin. The road was badly corrugated with some nasty twists and turns.
This poor guy found out the hard way that taking it easy gets you there quicker.
Koolpin Gorge is a string of waterholes linked by waterfalls in the wet season. The three lower pools are the home to salt water crocodiles, but beyond those it is safe to swim.
Walking up through the gorge is spectacular. The track cuts up over the ridge in places with great views of the surrounding country.
From Koolpin we moved on to Red Lily Billabong. There are no facilities there, and the track in is pretty rough at the moment, so not many people head out that way. We had the place to ourselves. A young couple with a tent called in, and seeing the number of crocs there, decided it wasn’t the place for them.
The billabong is a large expanse of water and covered with huge red water lilies. Lots of bird life and numerous large crocodiles.
Sandy Billabong is a favourite spot. The early morning light, rising mist and lurking crocodiles make the twisted old paperbarks look kind of creepy .
Yellow Waters Cruise on Jim Jim Billabong at sunset is one of the highlights of Kakadu. This is the fifth time we have done the cruise and it is always spectacular.
Afternoon fires turned the setting sun into a glowing red ball.
Kakadu Birds Slide Show Not Working?
We saw a number of small herds of water buffalo scattered through Kakadu. They had almost been eliminated but over the past few years are breeding up again.
This old landcruiser was used to chase down buffalo back when they were in large numbers.
Splashing Paint 
Loving the pictures and thank you for sharing our adventure with us.
Sorry. That was supposed to be your adventure with us Been a long day.
Wow – amazing images, you make me so proud of this amazing land called Australia
so interesting, thank you. Water lillies and crocodiles. It is the one place I have not been to yet up there. Can’t wait.
Whoa, G-orgeous!! I don’t want to be that close to crocs though…. (Yikes!)
As a photographer myself, I appreciate your photos and think they’re wonderful. And as an
American, I’m fascinated by your images of Australia. Thanks for sharing your adventures!
So much enjoyed the pictures of your trip. I doubt we will ever get to Australia and the pictures are wonderful.
Thank you so much.
Diane
John, I particularly liked this post and the spectacular pictures. It sounds like an amazing experience. The birds are beautiful. I hope you paint a series of them. I am sitting here in Seattle and am most grateful for this excursion to your beautiful part of the world. Makes me want to join your for a class in Australia. Thank you so much and stay away from the crocs!!! All the best, Judy Kennedy
Hi Judy,
You should come out here sometime – there’s a lot to see
I hope you are keeping busy painting.
Cheers
John
Hi John, I will check your schedule next year. Would love to come there. I am busy painting, portraits and birds mostly. I go back to your video lessons from time to time. Very helpful!! Hope to see you next year. Judy
What a pleasure to see your pictures of the Kakadu, especially since we were once there at Koolpin Gorge. We hiked up past the first three pools but I didn’t make the last one… overheated. We swam in the third pool and though we were assured that there were no crocs that day I only hung around the water long enough to cool off. We went on a river cruise and saw how high crocs can jump. Scary, for sure.
Fantastic pics as usual…have heard some people say “Kakadon’t, instead of Kakadu”…they don’t know what they’re missing! We’ve been once, but would love to go again and spend more time…you really do need to get out of the car and explore on foot. Goodonya!
Wow! Did you take all those bird photos yourself? How? Very, very beautiful. And more and more I admire your camping van! And the spectacular continent you have to travel with it!
I miss your showing us the occasional demonstration painting on your courses, though.
Have visited this post a few times now – just love the photos and story. We are hoping to visit Kakadu. From your posts it’s seems you have visited a few times. Have you ever been there in August? We love birds. Thanks for your posts.
Hi Julie,
We love Kakadu and have visited many times – the earliest being 1982. We were there in August 2009. There were plenty of birds around and the weather was good. This is a blog post from that trip:
https://splashingpaintblog.com/2009/08/14/kakadu-postcards/
Cheers John