It was only a short drive to Litchfield N.P. and we checked into Litchfield Tourist Park ($28 power & water) before lunch. The caravan park is just outside the boundary of the national park and our camp site had a concrete slab and a roof over it to keep us cool.
That afternoon we drove out into the park and stopped to view the Magnetic Termite Mounds. They are called magnetic because they are built north to south. We thought they looked a bit like large toombstones!!!!
We then continued on to Florence Falls where we walked down the 135 steps to the bottom pool and had a swim before walking back to our car via the Shady Creek walk.
Just a short drive then to Buley Rockhole, which is a cascading seried of pools and is also great for a swim. So we made the most of that.
That was enough for our 1st day, so back to camp for happy hour with the mossies and bugs and a long night with no TV. Just as well we both like to read.
We had decided only to spend 2 nights there so we left camp early the next day to see the remainder of the sights and drove out to Walker Creek first. Here we did a lovely bush walk along the creek which had 8 small camp sites along the way. If you wanted to camp at them you would have to carry all your gear in. The track was quite steep in places and it was a very hot day, so at camp no.7 we cooled off in a big rock pool.
Our next stop was Wangi Falls where we walked the loop walk which was a steep climb and took us around the back of the falls. It was a hard climb going up and coming down was very hard on the old legs. Again we cooled off in the pool at the bottom of the falls. There were warnings that freshwater crocs live in the area, but we didn't see any. We are told they won't harm you unless provoked. By this time we were ready for lunch and ate our picnic lunch on the grassed area in front of the falls.
Tolmer Falls were our last stop for the day and we reached them after a short walk to the viewing platform. By this time we were all walked out!!! All the falls areas were impressive.
There was no shortage of water at our caravan park and they had sprinklers watering the grass and gardens all day. There was no lighting around the camp and although the toilet block and the cafe/bar area were well lit, it was pitch black everywhere else, which mad the view of the clear, star filled sky, exceptional. We had no coverage for mobiles or intenet and no TV. Although the camp was very nice with green grass and shrubs, this was the worst place we have stayed at for mossies and bugs.
There is no doubt Litchfield National Park is a very beautiful area and we are really glad we came to see it, but again the burning off of the bush spoilt the scenery and left the air very smokey for days. One spot of fire we passed had large flames by the side of the road. Apart from 2 dingos which ran in front of us and 2 small roos by the side of the road, there was no other wildlife to be seen.
Tomorrow we will be travelling south to Katherine. More blog from there.
Rhonda (Sam) and Pete
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