6 - Litchfield National Park 23rd June to 7th July 2021

 

Entry 6 – Litchfield National Park 23^rd June to 7^th July.

FYI. Entry 5 was added at the same time as this entry 6. Best to read the previous entry 5 first. We will remove this blue line when we are next able to update our Travel Journal.

For our first night at Wangi Falls camp ground it was time to put away the quilt and blankets. At bed time it was still 28 degrees, dropping to 22 by the morning. It was delightful weather conditions, our primary reason for travelling to the northern region of Australia for this period of the year. There was the need to allow our bodies a few days to re-adjust from the colder southern region’s temperatures.

It was time to get back into the swing and participate in some of the many walking trails on offer at Litchfield National Park. We started with the Wangi Falls loop walk. It was early morning and humidity to contend with. The humid conditions seemed escalated in the near vicinity of the falls. It seemed like Mary was experiencing her own water falls event with her own body working hard to combat the extreme humidity with sweat streaming off her head.

Along the loop walk at one section there is a mini water fall with the falls water seeping out of a section of the sandstone rock face. This was a prime example of water moving about underground till the water either finds a passage or creates its own pathway.

The loop walk passes by near the top of the main falls. There seemed to be a greater flow of water than on our previous visits.

There were the ever-present flying foxes resting up in a patch of monsoon forest alongside the falls. It was interesting viewing for our perceptions looking at a picture of the flying foxes.

Late one afternoon we partook in the Tolmer Falls walk hoping for a nice sunset setting. The heavy cloud cover negated a coloured sky but we did enjoy the walk. We watched a pair of Rainbow Bee Eater birds flying about chasing their evening meal. They flew about at a fast rate and once they obtained a catch would land at a nearby tree to tenderise the catch before gobbling it down, resuming a lookout for more prey and taking off at a fast rate in pursuit of their next catch.

There was certainly more water flowing at the upper levels of Tolmer Falls than previous visits. It did make for fabulous viewing of the falls along with the roar of the water spilling down the falls.

The climate of northern Australia is beneficial for some spectacular flora and fauna. From our camp, we enjoyed watching the cockatoos in the trees above - breaking off the flowers, holding it up to their mouth with one leg and the other foot firmly clamped to the tree limb.

One day the sky was covered by thick dark clouds. Our power needs are provided by solar generated energy with our solar panels accommodating the required power need of our batteries. Under normal conditions our batteries return to full charge by late morning but on this cloud covered day, they only managed to get to 75 percent capacity. Overnight we noticed our fridge was running full time not cycling on and off as normal. This further compromised the condition of our batteries with Steve turning the fridge off and on manually when he woke during the night. By morning our batteries were below 50 percent capacity, at risk of not recovering. Steve cleaned all the roof mounted solar panels to best optimise solar input. Thankfully, we had blue skies the following day and by days end our batteries had returned to full capacity. It seemed not only was there a need for our bodies to re-adjust to the hot conditions of northern Australia, also our fridge and batteries needed time to adjust. Gratefully both seemed to be operating as they should after their initial melt down. We didn’t feel the love for another $2,000 hit for new batteries or a 2 to $3,000 hit for a replacement fridge. And the heartache involved of trying to source the required equipment and surviving for a period without either one.

On our way north during those long days of just driving, a few times we experienced some rock strikes on our tow tug from other vehicles. Unfortunately, this trip we incurred catastrophic damage to our windscreen. The nearest location from Litchfield NP to facilitate a windscreen replacement was about 200 kilometres north in Darwin. We had heard it was extremely busy around Darwin and suspected accommodation options to be scarce. We decided the best option for us was to take a day trip to Darwin. With the tow tug booked in at the repairers, (required 3-4 hours for replacement) with a completion time of about 4pm when we would drive back to Litchfield National Park. Thus, we had planned to take advantage of having internet access whilst in the city of Darwin, to catch up on all our internet activities including uploading our blog.

We had removed some of our valuables from the tow tug and repacked it ready for an early Monday morning start the next day for Darwin. Late Sunday afternoon Darwin was placed into lockdown due to a covid-19 outbreak with policed road blocks put into place and very restrictive reasons for any permissible movement away from one’s home. One of the stated lockdown areas was the Litchfield region. We got to hear about our lockdown dilemma when Steve’s mum in Adelaide, (about 3,000 kilometres away) rung to inform us of these proceedings. We spoke with the camp ground hosts to clarify this news and found them to be in a rather excitable frame of mind and were expecting the arrival of the park rangers at any time to lock down the camp ground. It wasn’t long before the excitement/unrest spread around the camp ground.

As it transpired Litchfield municipality was specified as one of the areas placed into lock down but Litchfield National Park was just outside of the Litchfield municipality. We were still free to move about within Litchfield NP but in reality, there was nowhere permissible to wonder further away from the park. What a wonderful location to be confined at during a covid-19 lock down period. As it transpired most states in Australia closed their borders at around the same time due to a rapidly expanding covid-19 outbreak.

Our windscreen replacement scheduled for Monday was re-scheduled for Wednesday and further re-scheduled for the following Wednesday, subject to any further covid-19 impacts.

We resumed our seated positions under the shade of our awning, taking in the sights of our surroundings.

Another day’s outing, we visited Blyth Homestead established 1928. It was quite interesting viewing with a low roofed veranda we even needed to duck under. There was an interesting water hole we needed to negotiate on the way there.

Further on was Sandy Creek Falls. From the carpark at Sandy Creek there was a walking trail about 1.7 kilometres to the falls. This was our first time at Sandy Creek Water Fall and for us it would be the more beautiful falls and pool in Litchfield NP. It was described as a “good walk and a dazzling swim.” We would view that to be a perfect description. Its beauty was difficult to fully capture in a photograph due to its tree lined, tight surrounds. We tried several times for that perfect selfie showing us both enjoying a beautiful location together.

Entry to Sandy Creek Road was a bit restrictive with a water crossing about 150 metres long at half a metre deep to negotiate.

With the covid-19 pandemic lockdown the volume of people moving about / visiting the park greatly diminished. The other main camp ground was located about 30 kilometres up the road, at Florence Falls which was located nearby two other major attractions, the Buley Rock Holes and Florence Falls Pool. When we had previously visited this area, it had been very crowded with people and uninviting for us. We decided to take a drive to Florence Falls and thoroughly enjoyed a swim in the (covid-19 lock-down) less crowded Florence Falls Pool. If you look closely at the picture – at the coloured dot you might see Mary hanging on to the wall under the falls water.

We had a look at the Florence Falls camp ground and found a camp site suitable for us. We returned to our camp at Wangi Falls and packed up, relocating to Florence Falls. Yes, it was a bit of an effort packing up and then re-establishing camp. The 33-degree temperature did leave us feeling a bit flat by the time we had finished our change of camp location. Once camp had been set, we did stand under the cold showers cooling off.

Later in the afternoon we drove to Buley Rock Holes and enjoyed time spent in a few of the different rock holes. The water was beautiful and refreshing leaving us delighted with our change of camp location. Even more splendid we experienced the most fabulous Buley Rock Holes all to ourselves. We were in the right place at the right time, thank you to a covid-19 pandemic lock down or lock out, both worked for us.

The campground was still full by late afternoon. The nearby water pools where much quieter without the large volumes of day visitors, did we say thanks to the covid-19 lock down.

We were hoping to be able to stay at Florence Falls for a few days, subject to covid-19 impacts with rules still changing on a daily basis.

On waking up on our first morning at Florence Falls we walked down to the falls for an early morning refreshing dip, with the pool all to ourselves. To be in Litchfield NP is a divine feeling and to have one of its prime locations to one’s self is heavenly.

We had just finished breakfast and were pondering our next move for the day when a couple of cyclists rode into our camp site. Dave and Mary were our Adelaide based son’s parent in-laws. They were riding from Broome to Darwin, exploring the sights along the way. We had heard from our son’s wife they were around a couple of hundred kilometres south of us the week prior. How ironic they had ridden into Florence Falls less than 24 hours after our arrival. The layout of our camp site quickly changed.

We all returned to the Florence Falls Pool, which includes 176 steps down a steep stair case to the falls = 704 steps for us for the morning. We did have a need to stop a few times to allow our cardiovascular pump some respite on the way back up.

Late afternoon it was back to Buley Rock Hole for more soul pleasing water activity.

The following day we did a bit of a road trip showing Dave and Mary some of Litchfield NP special features. We started out with a walk at Walkers Creek and a dip in one of its many water holes.

We called into Wangi Falls for a bite to eat at the café. Whilst at Wangi Falls we spoke with the camp ground hosts who provided us with all the latest news on the lock down. The authorities were hinting at the lock down to be lifted at 1pm the following day which just happened to be a Friday. Steve suggested his gut feeling was to relocate back to Wangi Falls camp ground. He thought it would be quieter in comparison to the Florence Falls and Buley Rock Hole area with the return of people once the lock down had been lifted and considering the approaching weekend. The other three disagreed primarily due to the call of the Florence and Buley beautiful waters.

Somehow Steve got his way and Friday morning we all relocated to Wangi Falls. There was only one road hazard for us to negotiate on the day.

Once we had re-set camp at Wangi Falls we drove back to Sandy Creek for Dave and Mary’s viewing and a beautiful refreshing dip. This time we took our small camera hoping to be able to capture the surrounds of Sandy Creek Falls. Look at the picture below, under the dot is a person standing on a rock at the base of the falls helping to show the actual size of the falls.

After 5 nights with us at Litchfield NP we shared breakfast, bicycle style before waving bye to Dave and Mary who were continuing their cycling to Darwin.

Hopefully the day we uploaded these blog editions our tow tug’s windscreen was being replaced. Indicating we had internet access, compliments of being at the populated city of Darwin.