To Litchfield National Park

Sunday 22nd June 2008

No one was inclined to wake up today except Katie whose usual 6am was advanced to 7:30 with the time change – one definite bonus from moving into the Northern Territory.

After packing up Paul went for a shower while I took the girls down to the Hot Springs again following their pleas for a return visit ever since we left them yesterday. I didn’t get in tho’ cos it was chilly (by our adjusted standards) this morning with a fair bit of cloud in the sky – hope we don’t get a repeat of the weather we had on the Gibb River Rd. We weren’t particularly worried tho’ because we knew that the only roads we are going on in the foreseeable future are sealed so there shouldn’t be a problem...

Ahh, no worries, the clouds stayed small and scattered with no chance of rain. But we did manage to find ourselves another dirt road! (See later today).

A quick stop in town to pick up the weekend newspaper (doesn’t get here til Sunday!) and some Brumby’s sausage rolls to sustain us through the trip and we were back on the road. For a very major route, the road itself was slightly underwhelming... not very wide, very few passing places (less than the road between Mandurah and Bunbury) and a couple of big holes in prominent spots. And what about those trucks?!! Four trailers on some of them!! You really notice it when one of those go past in the opposite direction and if you want to overtake them you gotta make real sure the road ahead is clear for a long time. The views weren’t very exciting and an excruciatingly slow set of traffic lights for some very long roadworks has Paul a little concerned about how long his drive from Darwin to Alice is going to take.

The turn off to Litchfield National Park was a welcome sight and the scenery changed for the better – probably helped by the anticipation of arriving somewhere good.

We stopped to check out some Magnetic Termite mounds – they build tall edifices whose flat faces look east and west with the pointy bits facing north and south (I’m sure I ought to be able to explain that better!). Apparently this is so that a large surface gets the warming morning and evening sun but not the baking midday heat – or something like that...

I’d decided we could stay at the campsite near Florence Falls, partly because of nostalgia from my previous visit to the falls (when I’d jumped from the top – about 12-15m high) and but also because I didn’t want to join the crowds and commercial sites at Wangi Falls.

On arrival there was a choice of a 2WD campsite or a 4WD one – we went for 4WD, hoping that it was likely to be less popular and we were right – only one other inhabitant when we arrived (although four more by the end of the day) – and they were in a new edition Jayco Swan so we were in good company! The road in was a little more than we’d bargained for, tho’ – tight corners around trees, large bumps across the road and a steep downwards slope. Might be interesting getting back out...

I managed to push in a little of the bumper – one of those annoying little posts that designate parking areas – just not quite tall enough to make itself visible when one is reversing a trailer around a tight corner! Ho hum - sorry Dad!

The girls and I waltzed along a very nice path to the falls while Paul took the car around the long way so that we could make a quick getaway to the next sight on our schedule (we’d arrived much later than we’d anticipated so needed to get a move on – we have promised to leave here tomorrow so that Holly is back in civilisation on her birthday and we needed to see as much as poss this arvo).

The falls were quite as spectacular as I remembered – twin cascades with a large plunge pool below and plenty of rocks for Holly to climb on, over and around. The only disconcerting part was having to share it with so many people – we’d been warned that all the attractions get much more crowded in the NT but it was hard after having the delights of WA so much to ourselves.

We managed to prevent Holly from copying several other swimmers who were climbing the falls and jumping from the top (who would do a thing like that?!!) – in fact, she didn’t even suggest it so maybe she is becoming sensible in her old age (double digits tomorrow – as we are constantly reminded).

Leaving Florence Falls behind we headed towards the Lost City (large rocks that, if you squint and suspend disbelief, can seem like a ruined Inca city) but found the 10km track closed to all traffic with large fines for those choosing to ignore the sign.

Well, time for another waterhole, then! We chose the Buley Rockhole and weren’t disappointed –they are a series of cascades with some deep bits and long rapids bits. Holly and Paul looked like they were having so much fun leaping into the deeper pools that even I got in!

Katie and Paul took the car back to camp while Holly and I did a 3km walk back in about 50 minutes – not bad going considering we had to stop for photos, for sore feet, for tired legs, to inspect ant holes etc. etc. The campsite is very close to the creek, set in lovely bushland and is so quiet (especially compared to the main road outside yesterday’s caravan park).

Both girls had trouble getting off to sleep – too much excitement about tomorrow...