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Published: October 18th 2007
I just got back from a 5 day camping trip in Litchfield, Nitmiluk & Kakadu National Parks. It was an absolute blast. We traversed 3 major parks over the course of 5 days. The group consisted of 5 Ozzies, 1 Dutch & 1 English. This probably doubled the amount of Australians I've met throughout this trip. I'm going to break it up into each National Park just for the sake of pictures.
Litchfield was the first stop on the tour and it is about 150km from Darwin. The tour was an active tour but because of the heat and humidity this activity would be limited to a few kilometers a day of hiking. It was just way too hot to go any farther, mainly because we couldn't carry enough water. This entire area of the Top End is very different in about 6 weeks. The monsoons will begin and most of the land will be flooded. 90% of what we saw is only accessible in the dry because of the heavy rains. The waterways will rise literally meters and increase its banks by enormous amounts. Last March was the worst recorded rain in history registering 1.8 meters (about 5 feet)
in 48 hours.
Most of our stops brought us to waterfalls and streams. Because of the danger from crocodiles we would usually hike to a waterfall, take some pictures, then hike to the top of it where crocs couldn't live. This company had special permits to enter areas of the park where your normal visitor wasn't allowed to go. Our leader was Greg, who had been leading Top End tours for 12 years. He really made the trip with his knowledge, enthusiasm and ability to keep us away from crowds. The sleeping arrangements would be swags with tents if necessary. A swag is a mattress that is surrounded by a canvas bag with plastic on the bottom. It allows you to sleep on any ground condition without a tent assuming no rain. They are pretty cumbersome so they are only used for car camping.
When I was studying abroad on ran into the issue of flies to some degree. This trip would prove to be horrible. They were out in huge numbers and were only attracted to your eyes, nose, ears and mouth. They would land on you from sun up to sun down and there wasn't a
thing you could do. Your best bet was to let them crawl all over your face and try to ignore them which was impossible. I can't describe the annoyance, but the motion of swatting flies is dubbed the Australian salute.
On day 1 outside of the waterfalls there was one major highlight. We camped at a hot springs that is well known in the local area. We arrived and there was only 2 other groups. We were all asleep by 11 in our swags under the stars. At about 1:30am we here a few big engines in the distance. About 10 minutes later 8 huge pickup trucks and beater cars tear into the campground. The camping spot was basically a big open field. We hear the music blasting and yelling as they all do doughnuts in the campground. It was a bunch of "Territory Folk" probably about 20-25 years old. They were wasted and determined to go for a swim. The music, singing, fighting and engines lasted 2 hours. The whole time I was laying there awake hoping they didn't notice our group 50 yards from them. This was the kinda group where you just kept to yourself and
Tolma Falls
We hiked behind the falls and swam there. didn't say a word, pretended to be asleep. Eventually they left, but not before one truck missed the entrance and pulled to within 10 meters of our sleeping group. I have to admit I was pretty scared. Day 2 would begin with maybe 3 hours of sleep.
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