Litchfield National Park

Tuesday 28^th June

Litchfield National Park

We were woken up this morning just on daybreak to the sounds of a peacock calling out.

Today we planned to visit LITCHFIELD NATIONAL PARK.  It was high on our agenda of ‘must do’ places to see, and everyone we had spoken to, had raved about it. Naturally we were quite excited to be finally getting the opportunity to see it.

It was about an hour’s drive to the park and then the road travels through the park for about 80 km.  As you drive through the park there are side roads to the various points of interest that the park is renowned for.

The first one we came to was the Magnetic Termite Mounds. 

Sounds interesting, doesn’t it?  There are about 200 mounds spread over about 5 acres, they are all built like a wall, and they are all orientated north/south. 

There is only one particular kind of termite that build their mounds like this, and they do it so they can control their body temperatures,  going to the sunny side or the shady side of the mound, depending on what they require. So the next time someone calls you ‘termite brain’ don’t be too offended.

Just across the road from the magnetic termite mounds was a huge mound made by a different type of termite.  This particular specimen was over 5meters tall and estimated to be more than 50 yrs old. 

There are literally millions of these types of mounds all over the place here in the Northern Territory.

The next stop over was called the Buley Rock Hole.  We had no idea what to expect here, but judging by the number of cars at the car park, it was obviously a big attraction.  A short walk brought us to a small stream tumbling down a series of waterfalls which in turn had carved out sizable pools, ideal for a swim.

What a beautiful spot.  We had been told there were places to swim in the park and had come prepared with our togs.  We stayed for about half an hour while Cameron tried out all the holes, jumping and diving off the rocks.  We had to bribe him to get out, by saying we would call in again on our way out of the park.

Our next stop was Florence falls, further down the same stream.  Here the stream dropped vertically for about 50 meters into a huge pool, and we all enjoyed a swim here before heading off to the next attraction.

Tolmer Falls, our next stop off, could only be viewed from a lookout.  They drop about 100 or more meters into a gorge, and at the bottom are several caves which are home to some of the world’s rarest bats. 

Consequently you are not allowed to walk into the bottom of the falls.  The scenery around these falls was quite spectacular for its stark ruggedness.

Our next port of call was the Wangi Falls, and I’ll bet you all pronounced that wrong.  Remember this is Australia, so it’s not Wangee, but Wangeye.  Anyhow, again a spectacular sight.  A lot more water this time.  Normally you can swim in the huge pool at the base of the falls, but like Katherine Gorge, they had still not done a saltwater croc count, so there was no swimming allowed. 

Our last call was a place called Walker Creek which we had been told was good for swimming, but it wasn’t.  Too small and shallow, but Cameron had a bit of a splash anyhow, and the creek itself was very picturesque. 

From there we headed back the way we had come, stopping in at the Buley Rock Hole again where this time we all had a swim, staying until the sun was almost set.

From the photos, it looks a bit dangerous to be diving in, but believe me, those holes are DEEP.  I tried diving in and touching the bottom, but gave up.  My ears were bursting and I ran out of breath, and I still had a long way down to go.

As we were travelling in there was a lot of smoke in the air, from controlled burn offs along the road side.  We had become quite used to this phenomenon as it is used a lot to prevent forest fires. 

As we drove out again, we passed a couple of places where they were still setting fires,  and when we got back to the main road there was a big red sun setting through the smoke.  It looked very spectacular.

Overall we were a bit disappointed with LITCHFIELD.  I think possibly we had built it up in our minds to expect a lot more, and had even programmed 2 or 3 days to visit it.  Now we had done it all in one day.  We are now left wondering what KAKADU will be like, as many people have said LITCHFIELD was by far the better of the two National Parks.  Only time will tell. 

Tomorrow we will head north again and spend a couple of days rest and recreation, and getting ahead with school work, at or near BERRY SPRINGS, which is about 50 km south west of Darwin.  From there we will move into Darwin itself.