Keep River National Park - Goorrandalng Campground

 20 - 23 July 2022

We booked three nights at Keep River National Park as our final stop in the Northern Territory. We didn't know much about the park but the information we read suggested stunning views and some nice walks. After a nice lunch stop at Saddle Creek we continued west almost as far as the WA border before turning off into Keep River.

Not far from the park entrance there is a water point - a tap where you can obtain fresh water that may or may not be suitable for drinking. Someone had placed a dish underneath the tap and some birds were taking advantage and having a drink and a dip. We parked up in the shade of a tree and Mick spent some time taking photos. From there we continued in to Goorrandalng Campground. The road was in fair condition with a few dry creek crossings and lots of corrugations on the 15km drive.

We arrived at the campground and set up on the site we had booked. There wasn't a whole lot of shade but there was plenty of space to set up the solar panels to catch the sun for most of the day. We went for a short walk to look at the rock formation in the centre of the campground and Mick was surprised to see a White-quilled Rock Pigeon. Chatting to some other campers, we discovered they are quite abundant in this area so there would be ample opportunity to get some photos.

We decided on a fairly early start in the morning for the Goorrandalng Walk - a 2km, grade three loop walk. We took way longer than the estimated 1 hour as we kept stopping to admire and photograph the amazing views, as well as the rock pigeons that seemed to be everywhere. Despite not having been on any serious walks for about a month, we found this one to be relatively easy.

Mick spent a morning session the next day at the water point again and as the day warmed up we discovered that the place to be was in the shade of the rocks in the middle of the campground. The temperature there was significantly cooler than at our campsite across the road. While there we chatted to some other campers and ended up joining them for drinks by a campfire later in the evening.

The following day, Mick revisited the water point late in the afternoon, and we again joined the neighbours and some other campers for drinks around the campfire. It was lovely to chat to some different people who were all enjoying the surroundings as much as we were, and to share ideas on other places to visit.

In the morning we packed up and again stopped at the water point for a while before driving on to the Ranger Station for morning tea. There is a small dam at the back but not the abundant birdlife we had expected. From there we returned to the highway, bound for Western Australia.