LITCHFIELD NATIONAL PARK

LITCHFIELD NATIONAL PARK

We were up early to get a start on the drive to Litchfield as we had heard there were limited camping sites at the good spots.  Our aim was to stay at Wangi Falls.  Fortunately there were still a few sites when we arrived.

Brad had been talking to another Expanda owner about their vans in Darwin and they were heading to Wangi Falls too.  Lucky for all, they had 2 girls aged 10 and 8.  Both families strolled down to look at the waterfall and the 5 girls chatted and giggled the whole way.  We went off to do our own thing and told the girls they could play together later.

 We headed out down a 4wd track, which to Brad’s delight, had a couple of river crossings.  At the second river crossing, he talked me into getting out of the car to video him crossing over again.  Just as I opened the door, a ** snake slivered past the car.  As you can imagine, my feet didn’t get out of the car!

We then arrived at Blyth Homestead, which was a run down old homestead which the Blyth family lived in sometime in the 1920s.  The doorways were all low, there were only 2 rooms and there were 14 children.  As we walked around, Abi moved quite quickly as she saw another snake and that was it for her.  She was ready to get back in the car.

On the drive back we spotted a large termite mound that we had to stop at for another Ranger photo LOL

As we go to the last river crossing heading out, Brad sweet talked me into another attempt at videoing the river crossing.  There was a big pullover area for me to stand in so I got out of the car and recorded the river crossing.

Once we got back to the campground, Brad and girls went swimming in Wangi falls.  Abi swam over the waterfall and went right under the waterfall.

Later that afternoon we caught up with the new family, Darryl, Raelene, Lucia and Chelsea and kicked back with a glass of wine and beer. The girls were having a great play and there was a lot of giggling going on.  The parents were so happy the girls were having fun that we stayed on for dinner and the kids all watched a movie.  They fed the kids and brought over a large barramundi for the parents.  It was delicious.

Next morning, our new friends were moving on so we invite Lucia and Chelsea over for breakfast while the parents packed up.  The 5 girls again just giggled away together.  Our girls are hoping to see them again very soon.

After we got organised, we headed to the Cascades for a bushwalk.  Again there were signs indicating that there were crocs in the area but it was open to visit.  The walk to the lower cascades was close to the water and seemed like a very good place for crocs to live so with that in mind, I was on edge.  I really have been pathetic on a number of occasions.  Brad took the lead and we powered through.

Once we made it up to the upper Cascades I could relax and enjoy the picturesque location.  However, Abi spotted another snake and she was the one on edge from there.  The walk down around the loop was very rocky and it was getting warm. So after a quick lunch of crumpets, we headed to Florence Falls.  Brad bought a lilo from the local shop so the girls could go deeper in the water and closer to the waterfall.

There were a lot of stairs down to the plunge pool at Florence Falls and there was a lot of rocks in water.  The girls hoped on their lilo and took in turns in going under the waterfall with Brad.  Abi said the water really hard.

After a relaxing swim the girls puddled around in the rockpools and then we hopped back in the car to another 4wd track to the Lost City.  It was a collection of rock formations that looked like city ruins.

That night we cooked up a big bbq and had an early night.