Litchfield National Park

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After a very lazy Sunday morning we went to Linda and Amanda's hostel to hang out round the pool and then head to the Mindal Beach Sunset Markets. They were cool, I could have spent a fortune. We had an eat and got a niiiiice fruit juice and I treated myself to a new dress. There was also this band that consisted of a didgeridoo and drums. They were real good, phat drum and bass beats with an awesome didge sound added to it.

So after a very unsussesful job hunt in Darwin Monday morning it looks like we're moving on so we booked a day tour to Litchfield before we left. It was a good day but with not much time at each place. The first quick stop was at Fogg Dam where we accidentally ran over a snake. It seemed ok, spazzed out for a while but then slithered off the road. You can see where the saying "mad as a cut snake" comes from.

Next was the highlight of the day for me...on to the Adelaide River for a jumping croc boat cruise! And my wow was there some big assed crocs. From the top deck of the boat a piece of meat was dangled over the side on a big rod and the cros jump up to get it! They are so funny, they wiggle themselves up and their little legs just dangle down at the side, it tickled me stupid, but well "never smile at a crocodile" or it may be you they jump up at next!

Lunch was at Rum Jungle, which was a real nice buffet with bubbly to drink, I was happy! Then with a full tummy it was into Litchfield National Park! The first interesting things here were the Termite Mounds. There was a field full off them and it pretty much looked like they were tombstones. Termites are clever little buggers and have built them perfectly in line north to south, which gives them the name Magnetic Mounds, and means that the temperature is regulated perfectly for them. There's a building in Zibabwe that uses the theory of the termite mounds heat regulation to apply it to itself, clever!

The next stop was Wangi Falls, an enormous swimming hole surrounded by rainforest, where in which hundreds of bats hung out in the tree tops. Two waterfalls cascade down the rock face, which the aboriginals said we're mating, the female on the left the male on the right. When the white fellas came along, and bear in mind they were normally from a religious background, they refused to call it by the name the aboriginals had given it about them mating. They said it was filthy, and asked for another non-offensive name so Wangi basically means fishing hole. It was a nice place but so busy.

Next was Florence falls, another nice waterfall where we saw a shy black wallaroo amongst the monsoon forest. We followed a trail which led us around the forest over several streams and back to the bus!

The last, and the best, part of the National Park was Bluey Rockhole aka natures 5* spa, oh yeah! It was a series of rockpools joined by small cascades. We started at the top and slid, jumpes and climed our way down through the pool to finish at the bottom with a back massage from the bottom waterfall.

It was a good trip out but what dissapointed us was that it was very tourististy, paths were clearly marked and even concreted. None of the other National Parks had been like this, and it was sooo busy it lost some of its beautiful character.

When we arrived back in Darwin we found out that we managed to get booked on The Ghan, an iconic Aussie train, to get to Alice Springs for only $149. So, as we leave tomorrow, we best pack up and then head to the vic for our last free meal!

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