Days 24, 25

DAY 24 – Monday

Today we headed for Adelaide River, where we were going to base ourselves at Mt Bundy Station to look at Litchfield National Park.  We called in at the Station first and decided that $40 per night was too expensive when we can stay in the national park for $15, so we headed into Adelaide River to get some fuel.  The local market was on so we stopped for a look.  The boys did some honey tasting, and we bought some spice made of smoked garlic and sea salt.  Then back in the car and up to Litchfield National Park. 

We decided to go all the way to Wangi Falls to stay, as Harry and Joy had stayed there and recommended it to us.  We got to Wangi Falls at about lunchtime and found a good site.  The boys were both asleep in the car, so Darren and I unhitched and levelled the van.  We had just moved the car away from the van when another caravan pulled out of a nearby site.  The site they pulled out of had some really good shade and we decided it was worth hooking the van back on to move sites. 

Once in our new site we set up camp and decided to go and have a look at some of the other areas in Litchfield (we would look at Wangi Falls later).  We grabbed our bathers and towels and got back into the car.  Our first stop was the Litchfield Tourist Kiosk.  There wasn’t much there other than a few souvenirs and some overpriced food (special of the day was– hotdog in roll for $7-50 plus $1-00 for cheese), so we headed off.

Our next stop was Florence Falls.  We found a park in the crowded parking area and headed off on the walk to the falls.  1.5km and 135 steps later we were at the falls.  It was a beautiful place, but very crowded.  We found a place for our stuff and immersed ourselves in the lovely cold water. 

The boys looked at the fish that were swimming around our legs, and were excited because they were the largest fish we had encountered yet. 

Darren was chatting to a guy from Ararat (Daryl Baldock) and the kids swam around for a while.  There were some teenage boys climbing up the cliffs to jump into the pools below.  They were about 30 feet above the water, so nobody was sure if they would actually jump or not.  Finally one jumped, to the cheers of the watching crowd, and then a few of the others decided they would too.  Darren got film of one guy jumping out too far and doing a massive back whacker, where the crowd all cringed and “oooohhh”ed.   He sat on a rock for a good half hour later, looking rather subdued and very red.  Then some younger kids decided to climb up, but one of them slipped and fell about a metre down the falls.  When he stood up we could see that he was bleeding.  He jumped back in the water and started to swim.  Darren swam over to him to make sure he was ok, and swam next to him back to safety.  When he got out of the water they had a look and he had a graze on the head that was bleeding and a big graze on his back.

When we had enough of swimming we went back to the car and decided to head in to Batchelor (about 50km) to get some ice and some food from the general store.  We had a look around and then got a text from the Andersons saying that they were staying at the Big 4 in Batchelor for the night, wondering where we were.  We called into the Big 4 and the kids had a swim in the pool while we had a drink and a chat, then we headed back to Wangi Falls.  It was dark when we got back, so we had a quick tea and sat under the stars listening to the water crashing over the falls, for a while before heading to bed.

DAY 25 – Tuesday

After breakfast we headed over to have a look at Wangi Falls.  The viewing platform was fenced off and all the signage told us that we could not swim here as they could not be sure it was safe from crocodiles.  The falls themselves were beautiful and we spent some time watching them. 

There was a walk to a lookout leading off the platform and we decided to have a look.  The path led off into the surrounding forest, and when we got under the cover of the trees, all you could hear was the screeching of the flying foxes.  When you looked up in the trees you could see them hanging upside down in the trees.  They were very active and we even saw some having an argument on their branch.  We made it to the lookout, which gave us a view back over the tree tops of the park, and completed the loop back to our camp.

We decided to look at the other attractions at Litchfield, and finish at Buley Rock Hole for a swim and lunch.  We packed the car and headed off.  First stop was Tolmer Falls Lookout, which was a short walk to a platform overlooking the falls.  Once again we were awed by how beautiful the falls were. 

There is no access to these falls due to the two endangered species of bats that have colonies in the caves at the base of the falls.  A few photos and then back in the car to tackle the 4wd track into The Lost City.  On the way to the turn-off, we passed the Andersons heading to Wangi Falls to set up camp.

It was a 10 km drive through sand and bush to get to The Lost City.  Darren was happy to have the opportunity to drive the track, even though he didn’t get out of 2wd the whole time.  The Lost City is rocks in the middle of the bush that were formed in a way that you could easily imagine that they were ancient remnants of where a city once stood.  We did a short walk through the rocks, with the boys taking the opportunity to climb as high as I would let them, then climbed back into the car and back out to the main road.

Next stop was Buley Rock Hole.  We found a shady spot for our stuff and set up the portable gas stove.  Darren cooked hotdogs for lunch while the boys had a swim. 

Buley Rock Holes is a series of small swimming holes along a creek.  If you find the right spot, you can sit on the rocks while the water flows over your body, or there were some deeper pools where the kids could bomb and dive to their hearts content. 

The kids met some girls from Darwin and were jumping in the deep pools with them.  The girls moved on to Florence Falls, which was further downstream, and we met up with the Andersons and had a swim with them in a safe little water hole.

Mitch and Thomas were diving with their goggles on and Mitch found and earring and belly ring that one of the Darwin girls had lost in the water.  The boys wanted to go to Florence Falls and return them, so they ran along the track while we packed up and drove to the Florence Falls parking area.  Darren went down to the falls to get the boys.  Meanwhile, Mitch had swapped Facebook and email details with one of the girls so that Darren could email them the photos he had taken of them jumping off the rocks.  They finished their swim and headed back to the car.

We went back to Wangi Falls and had a few drinks and nibbles with the Andersons while the kids played UNO.  Sausages and potato salad surprise for tea and off to bed.