Wangi and Tolmer Falls, Buley's Rockholes

Goanna

 

Wangi Falls (Daniel hiding behind Conor)

Buley's Rockholes

We’ve enjoyed Litchfield today, and because it’s quite small we could leave the trailer at the campsite and just drive around to three different sites. We had an abortive attempt to walk from our campsite to Buley’s Rockholes – got to Florence Falls to discover that the walk is closed at the moment. On the upside we saw a goanna and short-eared rock wallaby on the way. So it was back to the car and Tolmer Falls which is a beautiful waterfall – you can’t swim in it because it’s a home for the protected ghost bats, but there’s a nice walk around the top of it. Then it was to Wongi Falls, which is where most people try and camp here, and I can understand why because it’s a lovely big pool where you can swim and walk etc. We did the walk around and over the top of the falls which gives you a nice view, and then Nick and I had a dip in the pool, which is almost like a lake it’s so big. It still wasn’t warm enough for the kids (they’ve been spoiled by visiting thermal pools), so after a nice relaxing lunch and ice cream we finished up at Buley’s Rockhole. It’s basically a stream cascading down over rocks, with lots of different levels and a few deeper holes, but is permanently inundated with tourists it seems, so we joined them all and hopped in. There’s nothing that special about it I guess except that the water gushes down really fast, so the idea is that you sit in front of a gushing bit and have a massage, but there were also good places to jump into deep pools which the kids enjoyed (they finally got in the water!). It was a nice way to finish off the day anyway, with a cooling swim and places to sit on the rocks at the edge to watch other people. We were a bit jealous of the tour groups who even had a lackey to walk down with a plate of fruit for them! I gather Kakadu is even worse in terms of being full of tour groups so we might as well get used to it I guess.

Darwin to Litchfield

Magnetic termite mound

Cathedral termite mound (Daniel grumpy at having to pose for yet another photo)

Florence Falls

Conor in his new crocodile tshirt purchased in Darwin

We left Darwin this morning feeling like it was a day too early, but also needing to keep going in terms of the time that we have left. We took the trailer back a third time to Tim, the guy who was fixing it for us – he’s a very nice guy and did a fine job in the end but it just seemed to take forever, and he was a perfectionist, so kept coming up with better ideas. We met him at a parts shop and he offered to fix the suspension for us, which was the urgent repair we needed, and then since he was a welder/blacksmith, we thought we would ask him to also put a bash plate over the water tank since the hoses keep getting hit by stones and broken. It took him longer than he thought to fix the suspension, but at least he got that done on Saturday when we had to bring the trailer back to him for the day, then he measured it up for the bash plate, and put it on this morning on our way out of Darwin. So it was longer than we would have liked, with more tooing and froing, but a lot cheaper so shouldn’t really complain. He was a nice guy too.

Once that was finally sorted we headed out for Litchfield National Park, stopping first at the magnetic termite mounds just inside the park. There are a mixture of cathedral termite mounds and magnetic termite mounds there, the cathedral ones are incredibly tall, and cathedral-like, and the magnetic ones are only a couple of centimetres thick and completely flat. Apparently termites can’t take big fluctuations in temperature, so most termites move underground for the heat of the day. The magnetic termites however for some reason can’t do that, so they have to regulate the temperature of their mound by aligning it north – south to catch the early morning and late evening sun. So in the morning they hang out on the eastern side of their mound, in the middle of the day the mound is very thin so doesn’t get much sun, and when it cools down in the evening they hang out on the western side which still retains the warmth from the afternoon. Very clever.

After a brief look at them we set up camp at Florence Falls which is a bit dusty and the campsites are pretty small, but otherwise seems pretty nice. We’ve put up all the annex walls, having been told that mozzies are bad at here and at Kakadu, and once we’d had a late lunch we walked down to the waterfall, which has a nice pool to swim in. After the heat of the day it was nice to cool off, and the falls are quite picturesque, but we both commented that we’re getting a bit spoilt for gorges and waterholes when we think that these ones are just ‘ok’. I guess we’ve seen an awful lot of gorges and waterfalls over the last 4 months, so they have to be pretty special now to stand out!

Lazy Sunday

A more relaxing day today, but still enjoying Darwin. We hung around the caravan park and had a morning off – well actually the kids and I did, while Nick went and tried to find somewhere to wash the car but didn’t succeed (queues are too long on a Sunday morning) and refill the gas cylinder etc, then after lunch we headed off to the museum. It has a mummified 5m crocodile which they caught near Darwin in the 1970s which is pretty impressive (in a scary way), and also an exhibition on Cyclone Tracey, which was quite sobering. It made Conor quite uncomfortable, especially the booth you can go into to listen to a recording someone made during the cyclone, which you listen to in the pitch dark. I didn’t last very long in there either.

Then this evening we stayed in town and went to the sunset markets at Mindill Beach, which were great. I guess they were pretty standard in terms of touristy stuff, but great food and a huge selection of different foods. We sampled crab cooked a couple of different ways, prawns different ways, seafood laksa, pizza, fairy floss, ice cream and smoothies. Hard to believe but at the end of that, Conor has now come home and asked for a crumpet before bed. Must be having a growth spurt. Both of the boys now have really long hair (for them anyway) which needs a cut!

Tomorrow morning it’s off to Litchfield for a few nights, and then Kakadu.

Delightful Darwin

an evil smile

Burgers and a movie

What a great day we had today. We had to pack up the trailer to take it for more repairs and then went straight to the crocodile park which the kids had been looking forward to. The Rahls recommended it to us (Crocodylus) and it was really very good. We got a tour with lots of information, crocodile feeding and got to hold little baby ones at the end. Apparently it’s actually a natural action for the saltwater crocodiles to jump up to get food, like birds or small creatures in trees near riverbank (and it makes for a good picture). We spent a couple of hours there, looking at the crocodiles they breed for skins and meat and all of the other animals as well. After that we went to the water park which Doug and Sharon recommended to us for lunch and a play. It’s a great local tip which isn’t mentioned in much of the tourist info because it’s free, and a bit out of town I guess. A huge water park with younger kids’ waterplay stuff, and 3 big slides, plus playground, bbqs etc etc, very impressive. Not only that but it also has lifeguards on duty – did I mention that it’s free??? We had the best time there for a couple of hours in the afternoon on a hot day, Conor went on the big slides about 20 times, Nick and I took it in turns with him, while Daniel aimed the water cannon at anyone passing and ran around trying to avoid the big bucket which slowly fills and then whooshes down on your head. Great fun. Took no photos of course, because we were all wet and having too much fun!

After picking up the trailer – still not finished - we set it up again before racing out to catch the free showing of the first Harry Potter movie on the lawns of the waterfront precinct. It was a beautiful night, you brought your own chair, got a hamburger nearby and watched the movie…. And again it was free (the Darwin festival is on at the moment but I think they actually show a free movie there once a month). A big day, so today we’re taking it slower – building up energy and appetite for Mindill Markets this evening. We’ve also been making use of the caravan park’s luxuries such as 2 pools, a bouncy pillow, washing machines and….. toasters! Many crumpets had all ‘round this morning, plus more of the watermelon we bought the other day which is still going, and we’re just waiting for the box of mangoes to ripen, tomorrow might be the day.

Darwin!

I logged onto the internet on the way in to Darwin this morning, only to get an email from mum and dad telling me about Paul Lockyer’s death, which is all very sad. Dad worked with him when we all lived in Singapore together, 24 years ago, and flew with the helicopter pilot a bit when back in Sydney. They are devastated of course, and wishing that they weren’t so far away.

Anyway. We came straight in to try and get our trailer fixed today but didn’t end up having much luck. We found a nice guy who gave it a good go, but didn’t manage to get it done during the day, and as we of course need to sleep in it tonight, we had to take it back to sleep in tonight, and he has offered to try again tomorrow. It’s a bit of a pain to have to set it up now and take it back in again in the morning but these things happen. We went into town to the Info bureau and had a nice lunch in a food court for a treat (nice to be in a big town sometimes), and ended up with a lovely swim in the caravan park pool this evening. It’s really warm here (sorry those in Canberra) and thankfully every park seems to have a pool. We’ve only got a few short days unfortunately, so are trying to work out what we can fit in in that time. Not only is the rodeo on but the Darwin Festival as well, so there’s even extra things on to tempt us.

Lunch with the Ralhs

The NT roadservice guy came pretty quickly really this morning, less than an hour’s wait, and basically told us what we suspected, that we needed a new battery. He also reckoned that our jumper leads weren’t worth much and that that was why we couldn’t jump start it. So it was straight into Mataranka to get a new battery from the only place in town, Willie’s Autos, which is a busy place, being on the main highway to Darwin. Its owner is 65 he said, dying to retire but has to find someone to sell it to first. Anyway once we were sorted with a  new battery we headed for Katherine, only to realise halfway that we should have filled up with fuel as well…. Quick stop for a jerry can refuel. It turned out that the Ralhs were heading starting their trip south today and so we organised to meet for lunch in Katherine. It was a shame that we couldn’t overlap for a night together, but the lunch was still a nice catch up for us and the kids. We got tips for Darwin, Kakadu and Litchfield NPs and in return gave them some tips about Alice Springs and Uluru, although Robyn and Vin have already been there pre-kids. I have to admit to feeling a bit relieved that we have all those long driving days behind us for a while (that they’re just starting).

We had planned to stay in Katherine tonight because we needed to get the suspension on our trailer looked at, but when Nick took it there it turned out that the guy didn’t have the parts, so we have to have it done in Darwin. We were going to stay with Megan and Jamal but will have to see them on our way back down, when we’ll also go to Katherine Gorge. For the moment we just want to get up to Darwin and get the trailer done tomorrow (before the weekend). We’ve bush camped tonight in a dusty, noisy roadside stop about halfway, with the idea that we can get there early and get it done in time to get to a caravan park. It might be good to get in early as it turns out that the Darwin Rodeo is also on this Friday and Saturday, so we’re hoping to go and have a look at that as well.

Trying not to be bitter about being stuck in Bitter Springs

A long, boring driving day yesterday. We were going well so decided to push through from Tennant Creek all the way to Mataranka – 560k in all. We arrived late in the afternoon into Bitter Springs/Mataranka, set up quickly and walked down to the thermal springs which were fantastic. The water gushes out of the ground at quite a speed (and warm) so there’s a current which pulls you along from where you hop in, to where you hop out, walk back around and do it all again. We brought goggles/snorkels so could see the little fishes in the water and I even spotted a couple of turtles. Daniel wasn’t so keen on all the green slimy weed everywhere, but it most places it was so deep that I couldn’t stand up and the water was crystal clear so it was a great way to end the day – we haven’t had showers for a little while and the weather’s pretty warm so it was badly needed.

It turns out that the drive yesterday might have been a bit too much for the car – we got all packed up this morning to find the battery flat. Not from leaving any lights on or anything like that, just flat. We tried jumping it off our second car battery, off our trailer battery, and even off another traveller’s battery but nothing. So now we’re testing out our upgraded super dooper covering all contingencies NRMA membership and waiting for someone to come and help. Luckily Mataranka is only 5k away (good thing we’re not in the middle of nowhere) and it only really needs to get us 100k to Katherine. I’m kind of glad that it all happened before going into Litchfield NP or Kakadu, which might have been harder to get out of. We have the trailer booked in in Katherine for new suspension which was supposed to happen today, maybe tomorrow now, so this could be an expensive couple of days!