Then we packed up and headed off for Litchfield National Park. I'd asked at the Katherine Tourist Information about the 4wd track in from the south and got the usual “its very rough, its always rough, you shouldn't do it” stock response Tourist Information people have to questions about 4wd tracks. So we called the ranger for the area instead, who happily told me it had just been graded and was in great condition, so off we set! It was a nice enough track too, not too rough, and quite pretty. More large termite mounds
and a new kind of termite mound, these are called magnetic termite mounds.
The termites build narrow mounds on a north/south axis, so the mounds have maximum exposure to the sun in the mornings to the east, minimal exposure from above during the heat of the middle of the day, and exposure to the setting sun in the late afternoon/evenings – termites need consistent temperatures to breed (we read somewhere that the queen termite lays 3,000 eggs an hour, 3,000! Imagine if our HRH did that!), and this is their way of managing it. Clever little things those termites...
We stopped and went for a walk to Surprise Creek on route, a small waterfall and nice swimming hole for a quick dip. We decided not to camp though, as the march flies here were feral. So we made our way on to cross the Reynolds River crossing, which we'd heard was deep and were a little worried about. It was no hassle at all, and Priscilla waded through with her usual nonchalance. We stopped the night at Tjaynera Falls, and cooked up some steak and wedges on an open fire. The next morning we walked into the falls and had a swim,
before heading into the main section of Litchfield National Park, and the throngs of people!
We had a dip at Wangi Falls (very busy, but nice)
then stopped for a look at the view of Tolmer Falls, before heading down to the Florence Falls 4wd campground for the night. Nice quiet spot with a few visitors...
We walked to the falls and had another dip (incredibly busy – tiny area full of local Aussies, backpackers of all nationalities and travelling Aussies alike), before settling down for the night. In the morning we went to Buley Rockholes, and discovered our favourite spot in the park – a cascade of little waterfalls and rockpools winding down the hill with crystal clear water – beautiful! And we'd beaten the early tour buses so had the top pool to ourselves for a good hour before we dragged ourselves away to make the drive up to Darwin.
Before leaving the park, we did the little 4wd track down to see the Lost City (lots of lost cities in this area, I wonder where all the people went....)
Then we headed into Darwin. We did a quick scoot about town, called at the not terribly helpful Tourist Information, then headed out to the Free Spirit Caravan Park – three swimming pools, a bar and a quiz that night, what could be better?! We won some sweets at the quiz which had a discount voucher attached, which worked rather well with our decision to book in for the rest of the week the next day.
While in Darwin, we visited the Mindil Night Markets and had some tasty Thai food while watching the sunset
before picking up a few gifts in the markets.
The next day we took Priscilla in for a service, and went to Crocosaurus Cove in town while we waited. Here we saw some big saltwater crocs up close for the first time, pretty scary watching the handlers go into the enclosures to feed them – you certainly wouldn't catch me doing that!
Bad news from the mechanic was that Priscilla needed new front brake pads, which he wanted to charge an exorbitant price to do, so we went to pick her up and spent the rest of the day trying to arrange something a bit more reasonable.
On Saturday, this happened.
Pretty much all day – as you can see, Jen needed an umbrella even under Super Tarp to stay dry. All in all, a bit of a wash-out, and not ideal preparation for the arrival of our first guest, Mr D'Andreti from Sydney, coming to join us for a week in Kakadu. Which you'll hear more about from him soon, as we take a well deserved week off blog writing!
Love to all,
Claire, of Jen and Claire fame
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