Sandy Camp Waterhole to Leliyn, Jatbula Trail, Nitmiluk National Park - May 2004

Sweetwater Pool

On our last day on the Jatbula Trail we continued our journey downstream beside the Edith River. After another early start to the day we headed off, sticking to the north side of the river we passed through typical Savannah country we also passed through the Lerombol Rainforest, the largest patch of rainforest on the Jatbula Trail. The route this morning was also the dampest under foot, the trail crossing a couple of very damp swampy sections before we arrived at the magnificent Sweetwater Pool.

Resting up in the shade on dry section between Sandy Camp Waterhole and Sweetwater Pool.

Sweetwater Pool is another magnificent waterhole on the Edith River and like the last great waterhole we had sampled, Sandy Camp Waterhole this one came complete with it's own population of freshwater crocodiles. A few pre-historic lizards weren't going to worry us today though, stripping off we jumped into what may be the best waterhole on the whole trail. Apart from being a football oval sized waterhole it also features a small waterfall that cascades down onto conveniently placed submerged rocks, making it the perfect place to sit to get a back massage from the cascading water.

There was still plenty of water flown down the Edith River.

We lingered at Sweetwater Pool for a long time, enjoying our last moments of solitude on the walk. Leaving Sweetwater Pool we started the last easy section of the Jatbula Trail, the walk to Leliyn. The track improves a lot after leaving Sweetwater Pool as this section can see the occasional day walkers coming in from Leliyn. After passing yet another pool, the Long Hole, we arrived at a track junction. Left would take us to Leliyn via the upper pool, but we'd almost been waterholed out so we headed right and soon started dropping down towards the campground at Leliyn. Retrieving our good behavior bond back from the kiosk at Leliyn all that was left to do was to grab some clean clothes out of the troopie and head down to Edith Falls for one last swim. 

Sweetwater Pool came complete with a choice of back massagers....

..... and also it's own resident population of freshwater crocodiles.

The Dirt.

We walked another 14.5 kilometres today on what was another medium grade days walking. The main issue today was the swampy sections between Sandy Camp Waterhole and Sweetwater Pool, being early in the dry season we definitely got wet boots this morning, although things maybe different on the ground now days. Our Jatbula Trail walk had us walking 66.8 kilometres over five days, many people do the walk in less time but I figured that we'd travelled across the country to get here so we may as well take our time and savour the experience. Like I mentioned in the first post the Jatbula Trail is now one of our premier walks, and on the evidence of our visit it's easy to see why. I feel incredibly lucky to have walked this track with Sam and had this piece of paradise to ourselves for five days. Since we did the walk Lonely Planet and Take a Walk Books have both written up walk notes for the trail.

Relevant Posts.

Day 4, Seventeen Mile Falls to Sandy Camp Waterhole, Nitmiluk National Park, 2004.

Darwin, 2006.

Eighth Gorge, Nitmiluk National Park, 2004.

Darwin, 2010.

The rippled rocks are a left over from when this land was covered by the sea eons ago.

We've made it back, grabbed some clean clothes and are heading down to Edith Falls for a bit of a wash before we headed off on the next adventure.