We spent nearly three weeks in Darwin, pre and post France. Much of our time was spent with car and van services, repairs etc. John spent time in hospital for kidney stones on our return to Australia a concern that started in France. A weeks recovery was needed before we set off on our journey to Litchfield national park.
Darwin
Photos are of the coastline of Darwin and around the housing areas. A lot of areas around the van park were industrial and airport and military areas. The military planes leaving a all hours of the night which was really noisy.
The coastline at Lee Point and Night cliff areas.
east point reserve and war museum
We spent time in bicentennial park and visited the war tunnels which were used for storing armour during WW2
We saw a 5m croc at the museum, learnt about Cyclone Tracey, visited the Mindi Markets and had some cheap lunches at the Casino.
On our return from France we visited Charles Darwin national park which had views over he city of Darwin and had recovery time for John.
We left Darwin on the 8th Sept via Berry Springs National Park, a great place for a swim.
Litchfield national Park was next, a beautiful area with lots of water holes and swimming areas. We stayed at the Banyan tree caravan park, recommended, and did day trips to the following.
Florence Falls, worth the 135 steps to the bottom for a swim.
Bluey Water hole, access to hard for me but John had a swim
Tomer falls lookout
Magnetic Termite hills. Most termite hills are called cathedral mounds, however here in the Litchfield there are Termite hills called magnetic mounds as the ants build the mounds facing north/south to maximise the sun and shade . Middle photo is a cathedral termite mound.
The lost city, our next visit, are rocks that look like they are buildings from a lost city, but these formations are formed by years of wind and rain. the track down is 10kms of rough road but worth the drive.
and Wangi waterfall , the nicest point of this park with easy access, and you can swim to the waterfall and experience the water falling on you.
Green ant creek and waterfall, a 1.7 kms climb to a small plunge pool at the top of the falls.
and finally an old tin mining area, now abandoned and most of the men who worked in this remote area died very young from lung disease caused by the dust.
Litchfield was beautiful and a place to visit again, after the wet season when everything would be green and the waterfalls magic. We enjoyed our days here at Litchfield and met new friends at the park which we ended up seeing on the road through to Broome. Gayle and Rob were travelling in a huge bus style RV imported from the US.
Our final part of the trip across NT was back to Katherine for supplies and then across the Victoria hwy to WA. We spent a few nights in free camps and visited the Adelaide river Inn to see the buffulo statue from the movie by Paul hogan.
Next blog we will be in WA.
