21 - Litchfield National Park continues.

21 – July 2016 - 27/7/16

Continuing our Litchfield N.P. experience we walked the Greenant Creek trail to Tjaetaba Falls and thoroughly enjoyed a refreshing dip and spa at the top of the falls.

An invigorating massage

Buley Rockhole - where the waters cascade along a rocky bottom with intermittent holes spaced out in the rock creating pools of water where you can immerse your bodies into these pools. It looked fabulous and was well patronised with swarms of people.

Plenty of mermaids along the cascades

Nearby was Florence Falls which was a mini version of Wangi Falls in a great setting and also swamped with people.

The above picture is at the base of Florence Falls. Not sure if the fella on the left is old enough for that? The guy on the right is obviously expecting a mishap and then there is innocent Mary between them??


The Shady Creek Trail walk from Florence Falls was a beautiful experience with the background sound of running water along the walking trail in amongst the Monsoon Forest along a level slate paved path.

  

The Lost City was a group of sand stone pillars publicised as reminiscent of ruins from a long lost civilisation. It was an outing but didn’t seem overly impressive to us.

We had been considering travelling through the isolated Limmen National Park located about 275 kilometres south east of Katherine which also had a section called the lost city and we had been wavering whether it was worth the several hundred kilometres of dirt road involved travelling through this National Park after viewing Litchfield N.P. version of a similar feature. A conversation with one of the local rangers revealed he had previously been stationed at Limmen N.P. and that Limmen N.P. lost city was magnificent, well worth the effort and made the Litchfield N.P. lost city look insignificant. So it looked like we would be exploring Limmen N.P. after all.

Tolmer Falls can be observed at a distance from a viewing platform which looked ok but you were unable to get up close and personal with the fall to get the feel of its grandeur.

Tolmer Falls viewing platform

In anticipation of some extended time spent travelling through isolated remote areas Steve got under the caravan for a cursory visual inspection and found a broken brake wire at one of the wheels. He didn’t procrastinate about it, just quietly prepared his required tools and it was all fixed within a couple of hours once the issue had been identified. Thank goodness for the soldering iron, now part of our tool kit.

One morning 45 minutes before sunrise a crow woke us up doing what crows do, making a high pitched uk-uk-uk-uk outside our bedroom window that went on and on. We had attended a ranger talk a few days previously and they mentioned the bird life was exceptional at Tabletop Swamp, so we made the 20 minute drive to the swamp arriving just before the appearance of the sun. It was a great setting but we only saw one duck in the distance on the water. Speaking with someone who had been camped there overnight (no camping permitted) showed that there had also been no evidence of bird life the previous evening.

The magnetic termite mounds were quite special to view, nothing like any other termite mounds we’ve seen in the country side.

Steve’s brother Phillip with wife Keryn, kids Cody, Jemma and Logan were experiencing their first extended Australian road trip leaving from South Aussie travelling up the centre of Australia to Darwin then planning to travel back down around Western Australia and we all just happened to be in the same location of Australia at the same time. Our neighbours at the campground in Litchfield N.P. left the morning corresponding with the arrival of Phil with caravan in tow about half an hour later.

Our site with Phil alongside

It was an exciting time catching up with one another. We did heaps together, swimming, kicked the football, shared meals, talked lots and explored Litchfield National Park.

The 7 of us at Buley Rock Hole

For us Litchfield National Park was a beautiful picturesque location which in turn created a great atmosphere with plenty of smiling happy people wherever you were in the park. We could have easily stayed longer but there were still other locations to explore in the Northern Territory and the fuel supply in our pantry was looking very bare.

After 19 nights at Litchfield National Park we headed back to Darwin to restock our supplies.

Our plans were to next explore Kakadu National Park.

P.S. Due to no phone / internet reception at Litchfield N.P. we hadn’t been monitoring our electronic correspondence. For those who have been kind enough to add a comment to this record of our Aussie travels we have added a thankyou comment.

21 - Litchfield National Park continues.

21 – July 2016 - 27/7/16

Continuing our Litchfield N.P. experience we walked the Greenant Creek trail to Tjaetaba Falls and thoroughly enjoyed a refreshing dip and spa at the top of the falls.

An invigorating massage

Buley Rockhole - where the waters cascade along a rocky bottom with intermittent holes spaced out in the rock creating pools of water where you can immerse your bodies into these pools. It looked fabulous and was well patronised with swarms of people.

Plenty of mermaids along the cascades

Nearby was Florence Falls which was a mini version of Wangi Falls in a great setting and also swamped with people.

Base of Florence Falls. Not sure if the fella on the left is old enough for that. The guy on the right is obviously expecting a mishap and then there is innocent Mary between them.

The Shady Creek Trail walk from Florence Falls was a beautiful experience with the background sound of running water along the walking trail in amongst the Monsoon Forest along a level slate paved path.

  

The Lost City was a group of sand stone pillars publicised as reminiscent of ruins from a long lost civilisation. It was an outing but didn’t seem overly impressive to us.

We had been considering travelling through the isolated Limmen National Park located about 275 kilometres south east of Katherine which also had a section called the lost city and we had been wavering whether it was worth the several hundred kilometres of dirt road involved travelling through this National Park after viewing Litchfield N.P. version of a similar feature. A conversation with one of the local rangers revealed he had previously been stationed at Limmen N.P. and that Limmen N.P. lost city was magnificent, well worth the effort and made the Litchfield N.P. lost city look insignificant. So it looked like we would be exploring Limmen N.P. after all.

Tolmer Falls can be observed at a distance from a viewing platform which looked ok but you were unable to get up close and personal with the fall to get the feel of its grandeur.

Tolmer Falls viewing platform

In anticipation of some extended time spent travelling through isolated remote areas Steve got under the caravan for a cursory visual inspection and found a broken brake wire at one of the wheels. He didn’t procrastinate about it, just quietly prepared his required tools and it was all fixed within a couple of hours once the issue had been identified. Thank goodness for the soldering iron, now part of our tool kit.

One morning 45 minutes before sunrise a crow woke us up doing what crows do, making a high pitched uk-uk-uk-uk outside our bedroom window that went on and on. We had attended a ranger talk a few days previously and they mentioned the bird life was exceptional at Tabletop Swamp, so we made the 20 minute drive to the swamp arriving just before the appearance of the sun. It was a great setting but we only saw one duck in the distance on the water. Speaking with someone who had been camped there overnight (no camping permitted) showed that there had also been no evidence of bird life the previous evening.

The magnetic termite mounds were quite special to view, nothing like any other termite mounds we’ve seen in the country side.

Picture to come

Steve’s brother Phillip with wife Keryn, kids Cody, Jemma and Logan were experiencing their first extended Australian road trip leaving from South Aussie travelling up the centre of Australia to Darwin then planning to travel back down around Western Australia and we all just happened to be in the same location of Australia at the same time. Our neighbours at the campground in Litchfield N.P. left the morning corresponding with the arrival of Phil with caravan in tow about half an hour later.

Our site with Phil alongside

It was an exciting time catching up with one another. We did heaps together, swimming, kicked the football, shared meals, talked lots and explored Litchfield National Park.

The 7 of us at Buley Rock Hole

For us Litchfield National Park was a beautiful picturesque location which in turn created a great atmosphere with plenty of smiling happy people wherever you were in the park. We could have easily stayed longer but there were still other locations to explore in the Northern Territory and the fuel supply in our pantry was looking very bare.

After 19 nights at Litchfield National Park we headed back to Darwin to restock our supplies.

Our plans were to next explore Kakadu National Park.

P.S. Due to no phone / internet reception at Litchfield N.P. we hadn’t been monitoring our electronic correspondence. For those who have been kind enough to add a comment to this record of our Aussie travels we have added a thankyou comment.

20 - Litchfield National Park

15– July 2016 - 15/7/16

With the alarm set for sunrise at 7am we were travelling by 7.15am, so early for us. Breakfast was to be when we arrived at one of North Territories much publicised ‘must do’ locations to spend a few days at Litchfield National Park. 

Over the last couple of months we had been hearing a lot of frustration from other travellers who had been unable to obtain a camp site at Litchfield N.P. after travelling quite a distance to this location. Two other campgrounds in the national park had been closed for the season and the main campground at Wangi Falls was unable to cater for the increased volume of travellers seeking a camp site. 

Adding to the congestion school holidays was upon us (school holidays for 4 weeks in July which also coincided with the middle month of the designated 3 months of the peak tourist season in the Northern Territory) creating even more pressure on the camp ground. 

We had assessed our best option was to queue up early in the morning waiting for camp sites to become vacant from exiting campers and hopefully obtain a site under the present regulations without a booking system where late arrivals are less likely to find a site. 

The last 60 kilometres from the township of Bachelor we were starting to feel a little anxious as there hadn’t been one vehicle travelling in the opposite direction from Litchfield NP. About 5 minutes from our destination a couple of motor homes and one small caravan travelled past us in the opposite direction easing our tension. 

Our time of arrival at 9.30 am just happened to coincide with 3 available camp sites. We managed to reverse into the easier looking entrance with millimetres to spare. Looking at one another we had huge smiles on our faces. We made it and we got a camp site! And yes the place was packed.

Our camp location at Wangi Falls - Litchfield N.P.

 Once our camp was set we decided to put breakfast off for a bit longer as we “just had to” go for a walk to inspect the much publicised Wangi Falls located about 300 metres from the camp ground. It looked simply stunning with a couple of spectacular looking waterfalls dropping into a large water hole which looked so inviting. The water hole was crowded with people and at the two water entry points there was a large congregation of people looking on, making it difficult to enter or exit the water. We had heard the better times to go for a dip was before 10 am and after 3 pm to avoid the daily blitz period of tourist buses converging at the falls.

Wangi Falls viewing platform

Breakfast was consumed at lunch time and we did have a smallish afternoon siesta before immersing our bodies into the waters of Wangi Falls. There was the initial slight chill effect when entering the water (something to do with hot bodies created by 34 C day time temperatures) which quickly changed to a comfortable level where our bodies were soothed by the water for about 90 minutes floating around admiring the charming setting.

Crowded at the water entry point - Mary with red hat

The water felt quite soothing

Two water falls at Wangi Falls

 Springs keep the water flowing all year at Wangi Falls, compliments of the sandstone tabletop plateau which acts like a giant sponge absorbing wet season rains and then slowly releasing the water over the dry season. 

We found ourselves participating in up to three sessions in the water each day, spellbound by the incredible panoramic landscape setting around us whilst floating in the comforting waters. 

We had arrived on a Thursday and almost instantly felt an atmosphere of serenity envelope our souls to the degree it wasn’t until the following Monday we managed to motivate ourselves to jump in our vehicle to get out there and spend time exploring some of the many other attractions on offer at Litchfield National Park. 

The early 19^th century Bamboo Creek Tin Mine short walk was interesting.

Tin mine crushing plant

Walker Creek trail followed the creek with 8 walk in camp sites strategically located alongside of the creek at locations with water holes creating an almost private oasis at each camp site.

Campsite 3 private water hole

After spending time exploring other areas of the National Park it seemed natural, each time we returned to our camp at Wangi Falls to participate in another dip, finishing off our day in a delightful way. Other times when we should have been exercising but couldn’t resist the waters of the Wangi Falls pool we had been supplementing our exercise needs with some aqua aerobics shown to us by Chris at Home Valley Station keeping our bodies in trim or should we say it was that psychological thing? 

The Cascades was another great walk following along the edge of another permanent flowing water course with some sections amongst the thick monsoon forest. There were many gradual water falls cascading over steps of the rocky outcrops with one section given the name of “Curtain Falls.”

The Cascades walking track

 We scampered along these rocky outcrops for a couple of kilometres mesmerised by the continual flow of water, streaming across the rocky outcrops with many different sized ponds along the way.

Our Cascades day had been one of those rare times of overcast skies providing a more comfortable walking temperature where we were not overcome by the heat or humidity of the day. We continued scrambling along the edge of the water flow pushing our way through thick vegetation exploring way past the designated walking area of the Cascades. As a bonus we did have an enjoyable dunk in our own private pool.

Our own private warm pool

Looking opposite direction our own infinity pool

On posting this entry we had been at Litchfield N.P. for a week. It was such a charming location it was unquestionable another week would be most fitting.

At the campground there is no phone reception. The Northern Territory Government do provide a limited Wi-Fi service (can view our e-mails or other electronic communications) near Wangi Falls (what we would normally call, our “Telstra Hill”) which was available for about 6 hours each day when it was working. Unfortunately it was hit and miss where it was operational one day but non-operational the next.

It had been 12 days since our last food shop so we decided to drive to the township of Bachelor (about 65 kilometres one way) to obtain fresh food and post this entry.

19 - Berry Springs & Territory Wildlife Park

19 – July 2016 - 6/7/16

Heading south from Darwin we stopped at a battery specialist business and obtained new batteries for our caravan. At least we hoped to have eliminated any anxiety about power issues while travelling in remote regions. 

About 50 kilometres south of Darwin was our next planned stay at a caravan park near the small township of Berry Springs for a couple of days. 

We were aware of Berry Springs Nature Park from viewing its location on various maps we had been studying but we hadn’t been the recipients of any comments for this area. After setting up camp and then spending a couple of hours installing our new batteries we drove the few kilometres to the Berry Springs Nature Park. 

Our caravan power supply

We had no idea what to expect. Driving into the largish carpark we found it to be crowded with vehicles and people. We initially felt a bit deflated with the volume of people around, far greater than we had experienced at Edith Falls, Douglas Springs, Mataranka and other similar locations and we thought we were going to be swamped with people in the water. 

We made our way through a beautiful looking large Monsoon Forest along a path towards the water area and there were many grassed sections in amongst the trees with tables and bbq’s. There were many happy groups and families spread out amongst these areas appearing to be set up for the day.

There were so many areas like this to relax at

We viewed the three swimming areas which were all in a very attractive setting and yes there were plenty of people in the water. We chose to dip our bodies into the lesser crowded lower pool and found the water temperature to be not cold, not hot but just right. There were fish swimming around and we could see the sun’s rays shining onto our feet in the depths of the water. Even the water had a pleasant feel to it. A couple of hours later we emerged from the water with very wrinkly bodies.

See the bubbles from Steve's dive to get into the photo within the 10 second time frame

Such a beautiful location

For us on the day, Berry Springs (a high) would have stood as our best water experience for 2016. It was a magnificent setting along with an outstanding water encounter. We could not have done any better to finish off what had become a disappointing day where we had incurred unexpected costs for new batteries (a low) and then the added strain of fitting the 36 kilogram (each) batteries into an awkward location. 

Day two was spent at the other main attraction for this area at a Wildlife Park. We enjoyed a great day spent walking around viewing the Fauna and Monsoon Forest for this area. They are not Rain Forests even if there are similarities in appearance, as the Flora needs to acclimatise to surviving without rainfall for up to 9 months of the year during the dry period of the Monsoon Climate, thus they are called Monsoon Forests.

Blue - walking paths - white shuttle bus

There was a hop on hop off shuttle type bus vehicle transporting people to the various main attractions which we did use for some back tracking but we primarily chose to walk along the various walking paths around the park. After around the 6 hour mark our legs were saying “no more,” so we caught the next shuttle bus back to the Main Entrance, got into our vehicle and drove a couple of kilometres down the road to Berry Springs where we attended to our body’s needs, soaking our weary bodies in the soothing waters of Berry Springs for another hour before returning to the caravan park. We were almost dropping off to sleep floating in the soothing waters supported by our floatation devices.

Tree Frog

Freshwater Crocodile

Lagoon with chatty Pelicans

Eagle

Buzzard with rock in mouth dropping it onto emu egg to break it open to eat its contents

Curlew

A close encounter experience

Crimson Finch

A great photo

Gouldian Finch

A touching moment

Pied Imperial Pigeon

Rainbow Honey Eater flying over the water - too fast to get the perfect picture

There were no other publicised attractions in the immediate vicinity and we decided to do a day trip north from our current location exploring the area to the eastern side of Cullen Bay opposite Darwin at Mandorah.

We viewed a WWII plane crash site amongst the scrub, drove around the township of Wagait which seemed to be a community of alternate type people living in an isolated environment with most houses on 5 to 10 acre blocks of land. It appeared many of the occupants parked their vehicles at the close by Mandorah wharf; (Mandorah seemed to consist of a wharf and nothing else) catching the 45 minute ride on a ferry to Darwin each day for work.

WWII plane crash site

Mandorah ferry jetty - Darwin in the background

It was a day’s outing which we wouldn’t bother with again. There were a couple of other locations east to Dundee Beach which we decided not to view as it appeared that it was an area for fishing persons and primarily for those with boats.

Other than Berry Springs and the Territory Wildlife Park we weren’t inclined to explore the Cox Peninsula located on the south western side of Darwin any further.

Next location will be Litchfield National Park and we are not sure how we will go with site availability due to school holiday period. Fingers crossed.