After leaving Kakadu we drove to Humpty Doo and had lunch at the iconic Humpty Doo pub with the Hardfurms and the Beesons. We all caught up on our latest adventures, the kids played and we had some good food. Plus Mark got to have his picture taken with the buffalo horns.
From there we drove to Litchfield. We had heard how people rate it over Kakadu. Too be honest I'm not sure I agree. They are both beautiful places, but we loved the cultural side of Kakadu. Probably didn't help that the first place at Litchfield we went to was Florence falls and it was full of tourists. There was even a lady sitting eating Macdonalds! Was a bit of a culture shock after being out in more remote areas. But after that we found some quieter spots and ended up loving Litchfield. We camped at Wangi Falls campground which is a nice spot, except at night when it was so hot to try to sleep!
The Florence Falls have still got a really good amount of water flowing down them. Would have been a great photo if all the people would have gotten out of my shot. We walked back through a small rain forest walking track. Its a beautiful little spot, really really pretty.
That afternoon we went to Buley rock holes, now that's a lovely spot. A series of small waterfalls and rock holes with plenty of room for everyone. We found ourselves a little pool and spent some time swimming and jumping in. Now I'm getting the love for Litchfield.
We also went and had a look at The Lost City rock formations. They are these interesting rocks that over time have ended up looking like the ruins of a city. The kids even managed to find a car!
Most afternoons we walked down to Wangi Falls and had a swim, it's a great spot. We went to a ranger talk one evening and learnt about Litchfield. I didn't like it much when he said there were freshwater crocs still in Wangi, but I got over it. I was hot and there were enough other people around to limit my chances. It was at Wangi that we met the Walker family, another travelling family from Tassie.
The next day we met up with the Walker family and drove down to the Blythe homestead. It's an interesting old building with information about the family who used to live there and work the tin mine. We found it very educational for the kids to read about children there own age having to work do hard back in the old days. Jake particularly like the story of the 9 year old boy who had a pet crocodile.
Next stop was Sandy Creek. A shortish walk in to this amazing beautiful waterfall that we basically had to ourselves. We all had a swim around and cool off before walking back. I love these gorgeous places.
On the way home we stopped in and had a look at Tolmer Falls. There's a great viewing platform and the view is fantastic. Of course seeing it's the end of the dry there's not as much water coming down. You can't really see it in the photo but there's this cool hole that has formed at the top of the falls from all the rushing water. Looked impressive.
We went with the Walkers to Walker creek. Probably my favourite day at Litchfield. Another smallish walk in along the river past all these lovely little camping spots by little swimming holes. We stopped at the end and spent ages exploring, swimming and of course jumping off the rocks. It was a very nice relaxing way to spend a day. We also had a quick stop at the old tin mine for a bit of education in the day.
The Walkers headed back to camp and we continued on to the Cascades. It's a nice walk in with a few rocky bits at the end to climb over. It's a pretty spot at Curtain falls for some photography and a swim. Jake got bitten on the neck whilst hiking in, he proclaimed it was a white tail spider. Being a nurse I tossed up with believing him or going with 'it's probably just an ant bite'. I went with the ant bite option and we continued hiking!! He seems to have survived the attack.
We popped into the Walkers camp on the way home. As is typical the kids played and the adults chatted. Mark ended up helping David fix the seats on his car and Bonney cooked us a delicious meal.
I went for a run one morning and went down to Wangi. No one was there but I still didn't see any crocs, I'm sure their not really there......well that's what I tried to convince myself of.
We packed up our camp and drove to Greenant Creek. We did a short walk in to Tjaynera Falls. The view of the falls is a little restricted but the pool at the top was wonderful. We had a swim, saw a monitor lizard and basically just enjoyed ourselves.
 |
| Green ant nest |
 |
| camouflaged monitor |
Last stop at Litchfield was the magnetic termite mounds. Another good educational experience for the children. The termites build their mounds from North to South to regulate the temperature inside. Pretty smart little critters.
And that's about it for Litchfield. Like I said at the start I was a little overcome by the amount of tourists at Florence, but that was the only occasion we experienced that. We loved Litchfield and thoroughly enjoyed our four nights.
We spent many a time at the pool, it's hot and this is a pretty nice one. We ran into Amy, Leo and kids who'd we'd met at Elquestro, at the pool one night. We had dinner with them and Vik, Craig and kids and played a bit of trivia.
We took Beth into the city for a look around at the big smoke. We stopped at the camping store on the way in, which entertained us for a while!! Mark was trying to find a new cowboy hat. Not sure about these ones.
As we were driving around we spotted the Walkers down at the WW11 oil tunnels. We stopped and had a chat to them before going to explore the tunnels. They were interesting, to think of the effort put in to make them and then they ended up not really being used!
The kids had convinced Nan to go on the croc jumping boat with them. Not sure she was that keen but she went anyway. We had a great time seeing all the crocs. They can jump surprisingly high. However the highlight of the trip was seeing Brutus. He's a one armed 90 year old huge croc and I mean huge. I was on the wrong side of the boat and the photos don't do him justice. He's an incredible big boy.
We drove down and had a little look at Fog Dam, had a picnic lunch then went to Windows on the Wetland. We weren't expecting much but we ended up really enjoying ourselves. It's a small but hands on informative centre. Kids filled out the quiz and spent ages learning. The view from the top is pretty specie, would be amazing after the wet. Well worth a visit for sure.
Much to my delight we went to the Military museum as well. I told the children they had to stick with Mark. I had a leisurely look around then sat having a cup of tea while I waited for Mark, Beth and the kids. Best idea yet! It was another good museum, I'll admit that. They've done a great job with a new main building and display. That's the kids history lesson for the day.
Third museum......yep I really did make it to all three. I must admit I'd almost had enough once I got to the Aviation museum. I enjoyed looking at all the planes and had a bit of a read of the signs. It was hot and I was done, I broke even my record, 8minutes and I'd seen enough. Two hours later I managed to drag Mark out.
Now I enjoyed the Botanicsl Gardens much more. We had a lovely wander about looking at all the plants. It's only a small gardens but I loved all the colourful plants.
We said a sad goodbye to Beth/Nan. It had been lovely to have family to visit. The kids got spoilt rotten and lots of hugs. At least this time it's only goodbye for a few months.
