Days 115 & 116 - Litchfield National Park

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It's not too far from Douglas Hot Springs to Litchfield but the bus is slow and we had a few things to check out. The first stop out of Douglas Hot Springs was Adelaide River. We needed to top up our fuel tank and there was a market to have a look at. We walked over to the Adelaide River Inn and I introduced Georgi to Charlie (the Buffalo from the Crocodile Dundee film). Charlie is stuffed and stands on the bar at Adelaide River Inn. It was a bit early for a beer so we just said hello to Charlie and didn't take a photo.

On a previous trip to the NT, Lenny had really enjoyed Litchfield so it was going to be interesting to see what, if anything, had changed.

We drove through Batchelor and out to Litchfield National Park. At the start of the park is a walk that explains all about termites and the mounds they build. We stopped for a while to read all of the information. Then it was on to Florence Falls where we met Alice and Satria again, We had previously met them in Broome so it was quite a surprise to see them here in Litchfield. We had lunch at the creek that feeds Florence Falls and then drove on to Wangi Falls where we hoped to get a camping site at the local campground. Unfortunately it was full, so we drove on looking for a free camping site but nothing eventuated other than the Bamboo Creek Tin Mine where we did a walk . Eventually we settled for a camping site near Wangi as we planned to revisit the area and do a walk the next day.

Next morning, we decided to check out the new (huge) cafe that is at Wangi and got chatting to some fellow travellers. Georgi found out that Ray had worked on Heron island the same time she had and they struck up an instant friendship so much that the alternate partners eventually had to drag them away from each other!

We took photos of the falls at Wangi but there wasn't much water and we decided to do the loop walk which goes up and around and over the top of the waterfalls. That took about an hour and we almost thought about getting in for a swim by the time we got back to the bus.

There were a million people already at Wangi (which was the same as everywhere else we had been in Litchfield and luckily the school holidays had finished the week prior!!)

We decided against a swim at Wangi, agreeing instead that we would take a quick look at Tolmer Falls and Buley rockholes on the way out of the park and head on up to Darwin. Litchfield used to be a quiet "little" park that many people did not know about - not any more.

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Photos

Termite mounds all aligned north south
Built by Magnetic Termites

Wangi Falls
A great spot for a swim

Comments

[Greg French]

Hello from Acton Park
Hi Len Its been a while since I wrote but I think I have viewed most of your blogs and the photos have been amazing. I envy you both with the fantastic experiences you have had. You have certainly explored our outback!! Hope you are well. Greg

[LennyGeorgi]

All good up here (but a little warm)
Hi Greg, Saw that you were in perth? recently visiting rellies. It is very warm here in Darwin and we hope to get the last of some bugs ironed out of the Coaster before we leave for Kakadu (soon). Cheers Len