I missed a day writing but I have a very good excuse. We arrived at Litchfield National Park and we have been mesmerised by the stunning environment, beautiful waterfalls and wildlife. Unfortunately the phone reception isn’t so great and that was enough of an excuse that I needed to avoid typing and enjoy the scenery instead.
We arrived here after a few hours drive from Darwin. Chris travelled with a pair of mens jocks on top of his van that I threw up there for a joke. Somehow they ended up in our washing machine at the caravan park and we had fun flinging them around at each other. (Look closely at photo of his caravan). On the way into the Litchfield National Park we stopped to look at the termite mounds. These are everywhere through Central Australia. Termites build them above ground instead of below because in the wet season the nests get flooded with the tropical storms. Some are over 50 years old.
Accommodation is limited in the wet season because many parts of the park become inaccessible due to heavy tropical rains and flash flooding . It was up to me and my trusty camping book to find us somewhere to stay.
We arrived at the Wangi Falls Camping grounds. No power or water provided (but both of our caravans are fully self contained and set up with provisions) and the sites were just $15.40 for a family. The Wangi Falls were just 300m away.
We set up in extreme heat, changed into bathers and hiking shoes and set off for Tjaynera Falls. The walk in was a hard 1.7kms over rocks and uphill. The only thing that kept us going was the promise of the plunge pool and waterfall at the end.
When we got there we were greeted with the most amazing sight. A pure water oasis. We stripped off straight away, had a quick look for crocs, and then we were in the water. It was sensational. We swam to the waterfall and sat underneath it, an amazing experience. The overhanging rocks were eerily silent as we floated on our backs and took in the peacefulness. A truly special experience and the best one of the trip so far.
The walk back was much cooler as we squelched along in our bathers.
Back at camp after some more 4WD ing ( which included a really deep river crossing), we were hit with the reality of a campsite without power. We had lost the pure bliss of our air conditioner. There was no breeze and it was 37 degrees celsius. A real reality check.
We shared dinner with a myriad of insects, spiders and large frogs which ensured my feet were firmly planted up off the ground. I am already covered in huge bites of some description. They are not mosquito bites and we suspect they must be ant bites. I think we are sharing our bed with a couple of them and I am obviously tastier than Ray.
A hot, very still night made Ray and Caleb get up and walk the 300m to Wangi Falls for an early morning swim. Caleb is thriving on all the swimming and is just loving it. Today he surprised us by swimming totally underwater around rocks and with fish for 15 seconds without coming up for air. Hannah has also improved and it’s hard to keep the two of them out of the water. Although it’s the best place for the kids to be in this weather.
Chris and Vicki had some more issues with their van so they packed it up from the cheap power free camping in the Litchfield National Park and moved to a privately owned caravan park 4kms away so they could have water and power.
They met us at Cascade Falls which was a rugged 1.4km walk over sharp rocks to a majestic small waterfall with the water tumbling down from a higher cascading waterfall. Breathtaking! We stripped off again and plunged in, always checking for crocs first.
From there it was to Florence Falls, a very popular tourist spot that had quite a bit of infrastructure making the falls more accessible. There were 135 steps leading down to the falls and Vicki loved it! (She’s missing her 1000 steps at home in the Ferntree Gully National Park). We all maneuvered our way around the sharp rocks and fish to the open waterhole area. Again, breathtaking. We were feeling really spoilt at seeing all of these amazing waterfalls and bring able to swim up to the cascading water and all around them. Even so, there are only so many waterfalls you can tolerate so we decided to take a look at just one more. This one was right where our campsite was, just 300m down a path. It would have been a shame to camp here and not see it.
Hannah was having a sleepover in our van so they went to collect her things on their way back and we met them at our van. The short walk down to Wangi Falls had us shaking our heads. We could hardly believe that we had been camped next to the absolute magnificence of a double waterfall! Words just can’t describe how magnificent it was. We knew it was too late to swim and our tummies were making loud noises so we vowed to get up early for a swim before packing up tomorrow. A day of adventure and lots of feelings of awe as we saw some of the most spectacular sights Australia has to offer. Put Litchfield National Park on your bucket list!
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