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Published: November 9th 2009
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31st October - 2nd November 2009
Litchfield National Park
Litchfield is awesome!
I have done nothing but swim in waterholes, do some seriously fun off road driving, get up close and personal with some rather large termite mounds, star gaze and permanently part my hair in the waterfalls! It has been just great!
For starters, Litchfield is small, really small. You could be in and out in one day. But that would be boring! There are 3 main watering holes to have a swim in: Florence Falls, Buleys Rockhole and Wangi Falls. All are great, all have their own character.
Wangi Falls is where I stayed the night. It's the biggest swimming hole and the falls were still flowing alittle. It is shallow in most parts but then you swim over the deeper sections and well, let me just say, it's abit scary. Black water, no idea how deep it is, ooohh it's abit unnerving! I start to imagine being pulled under by a croc!
Buleys Rockhole is more like a series of small pools linked by the water trickling between them. You basically find your own little pool, stake your claim and set up
your picnic for the day!
Florence Falls is probably my favourite. The Falls are actually a double set waterfall that were flowing really well at the time. The water runs down into a speculator monsoon forest that is lovely and green. It was just beautiful. The only bad side... the fish. They bite! And I mean, they bite!! But what you do I found out, is swim over to someone else and then they start to bite that person and not you! See, problem solved. Florence Falls is just gorgeous and I could have stayed there all day... I just about did actually! It has a really deep pool and a few guys were jumping off the top of the Falls (boys being boys). Probably about a 25m drop. Looked like fun! I was having fun swimming under the falls and when I missed judged my surfacing, managed to be pounded by the falls. It's nice if you let it hit you on the back, abit like a massage!
But Litchfield isn't all about waterholes.... I got to go off track baby! That's right, my van was repaired from my little Kakadu incident and with 2 new tyres
Wangi Falls
Litchfield NP, NT on my Bella, she was ready to hit the trails. I took the short 10km track down to the Lost City. Mind you 10km might sound like nothing, but on these roads, it takes alot longer and feels like 50 kms! The road is only a single vehicle track so you have to be on the look out for oncoming 4WD's. Makes going around sharp bends alittle... nervous racking! The Lost City is a series of sandstone pillars that have been weathered down to form these odd 'city' like towers or columns. It really does feel like you are walking through a 'lost city', if you use alittle imagination (which I have plenty of it would appear). Great place to explore.
Litchfield is alot greener than Kakadu which I really liked. There is just so much to see in such a small area. Tolmer Falls are magnificent! Only a short walk into the viewing deck and the gorge is just stunning! That's the thing with Litchfield, everything is just breathtaking. There are all these caves around Tolmer Falls where the endangered orange horseshoe and ghost bats hang out (great, bats... don't I just love bats)!The views from this lookout
Fish cam!
Wangi Falls are absolutely gorgeous and all you can see to the horizon is green woodlands. I was very taken by the place.
The magnetic termite mounds are pretty impressive. To think that this little insect builds these huge mounds. They actually have an inbuilt magnetic compass and the mounds are always built on a roughly north/south alignment to keep the core cool. I will never look at a termite the same again. There are a few different types of mounds, the most impressive I thought were the cathedral mounds. Ok, I will stop talking about termite mounds, but hey, when your on your own, you tend to really enjoy these sorts of things. I might need help after this trip!
I didn't realise my timing (the joys of not having to worry about dates and times) but I managed to visit Litchfield over the weekend, which is when every man and his dog from Darwin were there. The waterholes were packed! It was probably because the swimming hole at Berry Springs have been closed because of a bacteria that has been found in the water. That and the fact that they just pulled a 4.7m croc out of the
Buleys Rockhole
Litchfield NP, NT Springs! What would you take on.... bacteria or a croc? It's a shame about Berry Springs, I was looking forward to having a swim there. By the sounds of it, Berry is the popular swimming hole for city people so with that closed, Litchfield is really the next option. It's not far from Darwin at all. So I enjoyed my swim with the entire population of Darwin. You know me... just one of the locals now!
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Darryl and Sarah
Wallaby Wanderers
No way! We swam there!
Berry Springs, closed because of a croc!! Well it must have been too scared to swim with us because we did swim there!! Great to see you're enjoying your travels. Off roading rules! Go girl! Much love Dar and Sar