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Here’s the latest on our time in the Northern Territory
17 to 20 August (day 151 to 154)
Wangi Falls Campground, Litchfield National Park, NT
After leaving Mataranka we continued along the Savannah Way to Katherine where we started our detour towards Darwin. We were initially planning to head south to Daly Waters and back up to Katherine but we are starting to get concerned about needing to be in Broome by the end of October. I didn’t know until recently that the ‘top end’ of Australia experiences 3 seasons – the Wet (Dec to April), the Dry (May to September) and the Build-Up (Oct – Nov). During the Build Up temperatures are in the high 30s and low 40s and it gets incredibly humid with thunder and electrical storms, but little rain.
We are really only covering the top part of the NT at this stage. We are hoping to get to Alice Springs and Uluru once we have travelled down the Western Australia (WA) coast and are heading east. If this isn’t possible because we run out of time or it is far too hot (it will be Jan/Feb) we will do the centre of Australia as part of another shorter trip sometime if the future.
While we have really relished the northern winter we know we are going to pay the price as the temperatures are already getting into the mid 30s.
Anyway getting back to our time at Litchfield we stopped in Katherine to stock up on groceries on the way (we are going to spend more time at Katherine Gorge on our way back from Darwin). We came to our first red-light since we left Cairns about a month ago and experienced the joy of Woolworths again. It was nice to pay $1.25 for a bottle of soda water instead of $4.50 and not have to pay $4.20 for 4 small carrots.
We decided to camp at the Wangi (said wong-eye) Falls Campground as it has the best facilities and is situated right next to the falls and plunge pool. Because of this it is very popular and we just managed to get a campsite. People ended up camping in the carpark areas most nights as all campsites were taken by the mid afternoon.
After we had set-up we headed up to the falls. What a delight; they are absolutely magnificent. The sun was shining on the rock face and it looked stunning. We both agreed that it was the most beautiful scenery we had experienced so far. I have included a couple of photos that really don’t do it justice. The falls flow down the rock-face into a very large rock pool. During the wet the falls flow heaps more than this.
We swam in the plunge pool below Wangi Falls at the end of each day to cool down after exploring other areas of the park. All of the swimming areas in the park are surveyed by the rangers to ensure there are no estuarine/saltwater crocs at the beginning of the dry season. Any salties in the area are trapped and relocated. There are freshwater crocs but these will only attack people if provoked.
The park is full of waterfalls. We visited all of the main attractions including Florence Falls, Buley’s Rockhole, Sandy Creek Falls and Tolmer Falls.
This is Florence Falls:
On the return walk from Florence Falls we saw a Short-Eared Rock Wallaby. They are only about a foot tall.
Buley’s Rockhole was my favourite after Wangi Falls. It’s a series of cascading rock pools.
We also did part of a 4WD track in the park called Reynolds River Track. As well as visiting Sandy Creek Falls we stopped in at Blythe Homestead. This was an outstation established in 1928. The family lived on the main station and would send their children to work on the outstation once they turned 9. They had 14 children so they had plenty of kids to send there. While there, the kids would look after the cattle and mine a small tin-mine just nearby on the property. The homestead was a very basic timber slab construction with a pressed termite floor. Its amazing that people were living this lifestyle as late as the 1930s.
As we headed back along the 4WD track we had a ‘garbled’ distress call over the UHF radio. We ended up playing our part by using the satellite phone to contact the national park head office and arrange assistance for a woman whose husband had gone walking in the Lost City and not returned after 3 hours (despite it being a 20min walk). We found out later that the rangers picked the man up on the 4WD track into the Lost City and all was well.We went to the Lost City ourselves a few days later. We don’t know how anyone got lost there as the track is well-marked, its quite open and there are plenty of people around.
20 to 27 August (day 154 to 161)
Free Spirit Caravan Park, Darwin, NT
By the time we got to Darwin we were really looking forward to a ‘city fix’. We were going to stay out at Lee Point but after hearing lots of stories about the ‘killer’ midgies (sandflies) we decided to stay further away from the coast. Michael fancied the look of this caravan park which has ended up being very nice despite being under the flight path.
We have used the time in Darwin to get some work done on the car – new tyres and windscreen and a service. This is the 4th service we have had since we left Canberra as it has to be done every 5000kms.
We have also done some ‘city’ things. We went to see the Harry Potter movie, had dinner out and wandered around the shopping mall. Michael has also set-up the laptop so we can watch TV on it using a receiver and little antenna. This has been a treat as its usualy the local ABC radio in the evenings when we can get it.
We have also done a few touristy things – went to Mindil Beach markets and watched the sunset, had a walk through Charles Darwin National Park which is home to several WWII ammunition bunkers, visited the Museum and Gallery of the NT which has a terrific exhibition on Cyclone Tracey, drove out to Mandorah which is on the other side of Darwin Harbour and popped into Berry Springs. While our car was being serviced we went to the Wave Pool by the harbour. Its run by the NT govt and is only $5 for half a day. I think we need one of these in Canberra but it would have to have to have a cover for winter and be heated.
Darwin is a lovely city. The area along the coast is very scenic and there is a lot of Development happening around the harbour with nice restaurants etc. We have been very impressed – pity its so hot otherwise it would be very tempting as a place to live.
This is the view back to the city from Mandorah on the other side of Darwin Harbour:
And this is the development around the wharf area. The water in front of the buildings includes a small beach and swimming area.
Our next stop is Kakadu National Park. We are planning to camp at 2 places in the Park (Jabiru and Yellow Water/Cooinda) as it covers a lot of area and there is a lot to see.
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