Litchfield

Flowering Gum

We’ve spent two full days in Litchfield National park and it’s been the best fun. Lots of people told us Litchfield is “better” than Kakadu and I can’t agree. It’s like comparing apples and oranges-they’re different! Kakadu is great if you’re prepared (and can afford it) to drive all the way out there, fly over it, boat down it or take long walks to see it. Litchfield is easy-there are heaps of waterfalls where you can swim, in easy walking distance and nothing seems to cost lots of money. If I was ever to come back up here though, I would come out to Litchfield just to swim.

Yesterday, we got up early (for us) and did 3 of the waterfalls-Green Ant Creek and Tjaetaba Waterfall, Wangi Waterfall and Buley Rockhole.

Plunge Pool Above Tjaetaba Waterfall


At Green Ant, we walked a 3k circuit to the falls and were able to swim in a small plunge pool above the falls-the falls and pools below are a sacred aboriginal site. We were the only people there for a long time and it was really a beautiful water hole. The walk was lovely-through shaded monsoon forest for about a third of the way and up a fairly easy track to the top of the falls.

Wangi is an easy to get to spot so it was very busy with tour busses, but it’s a large pool so there was plenty of room for all. We saw lots of very large sooty grunter (fish) as we swam and no crocodiles! The two falls into the pool are beautiful and it was amazing to swim over and find one is quite cold and the other is really warm-they obviously come from two very different sources.
Wangi Falls


Buley Rockhole was a series of rock holes (naturally) of varying sizes and depths. The water came over and through them pretty swiftly, so it was like swimming in a lap pool. It felt the most refreshing of all the places we swam because of the fast moving water.
A Couple of the Buley Rockhole Pools


We stopped quickly to see the magnetic termite mounds-there are lots of huge termite mounds up here but the magnetic ones are very clever. Unlike other termites that go underground in the heat, the magnetic termites build with the sun in mind and live in the front in the mornings then go to the back of the mound in the afternoon. The mounds (which look like big sheets of slate) face roughly north/south. Just in case we hadn’t had enough water and fun, we came home and had another swim in the park’s lovely little salt water pool!

Today we slept late-mainly because it turned really cold in the night and we didn’t sleep too well early on. We drove from here out to the Lost City-a group of weathered sandstone formations only accessible by 4WD. It was a good drive and they were reasonably interesting but I guess we were comparing them with the Bungle Bungle and they didn’t stand up to the comparison.
The Lost City


Next we drove into Blythe Homestead along another 4WD only track. It had the deepest water crossing we have done so far and was lots of fun. The homestead was really interesting-it had a book for us to read written mostly from an oral account gathered by a granddaughter from her family. The homestead was an out station of another larger station and was used as a base by the same family to mine tin.
Blythe Homestead


I was amazed to read that the first child to leave home was the third one at age 25. She (with the help of her mother) decided she would go and live in Adelaide River and at age 25 had never handled money as the kids (who worked from before sun up to after sunset) had never been paid. They went out to Blythe homestead and worked cattle and the tin mine and their father would drop them off supplies every few months-they started working the tin mine around age ten. It was amazing to read that her father delivered all but the first two children (he watched a midwife deliver those then delivered the rest himself) and they had 13 I think. They were taught it was weak to go look for help (especially a doctor) and they had some horrible accidents happen to them as children working out at Blythe Homestead.

After Blythe Homestead, we drove on to Wangi Falls for lunch and another lovely swim. While we were making our lunch of wraps (me cutting, Russell assembling) a nice couple sitting opposite started to talk. He commented we made a good team then asked us all about us (where were we from, how long had we been travelling) we were amazed when we asked him the same-they were from the Netherlands and had been sailing around the world for 4 years with their son. He was 9 months old when they left and is about to turn 5 in two days. They docked in Darwin, bought a $55 tent, rented a car for a few days and came out to see Litchfield. They had had a year in Brisbane at a bible college and bought an old commodore which they drove to Melbourne, but otherwise have been sailing the whole time. The longest they went without sighting land was 23 days after leaving the Galapagos Islands!

We had another swim at Wangi, then went on Tolmer Falls-very scenic, but no swimming-before heading into Batchelor to buy a few groceries and check for mail. I can imagine they would be amazing in The Wet.
Tolmer Falls


We are staying at Banyan Tree Caravan Park which is 13ks from Batchelor and just outside the national park gates. It’s run by a nice German family (3 generations I think) On night one, there was us and 3 other couples, night two us an one other and last night us and two. One of those (a couple from QLD) who are camped right behind us, are leaving today so by the time we get home from our cruise, it might be just us! The park is really nice, we have a huge site with shade on 3 sides, the ablutions block is almost new and pretty clean, the pool is new, and they have a good little store that does good take-away (by the looks). And all this for $18.50 a night! They get a lot of busses calling in, and right now, I think that is all that is keeping them alive. I think most of the visitors who visit the park come from Darwin on a day tour which is a shame as there is so much to see and do.