Katherine to Darwin

Friday 7 June - Katherine to Edith Falls (Leliyn)

In previous episodes readers might remember that it is a long weekend this weekend in the Northern Territory with Monday being a public holiday. We want to set up for three nights in a fresh location to ride out the long weekend while exploring a new part of the beautiful country.

Edith Falls swimming hole near our caravan site

Edith Falls lies just 50 minutes and 65 klm north of Katherine, 20 klm to the right off the Stuart Highway, the main road to Darwin. Edith Falls is also known by its Aboriginal name of Leliyn. After four lovely nights at The Shady Lane Tourist Park, Katherine, we were ready to get on the road again, albeit just a short road. We invoked our earlier plan of timing our arrival for around 11 am, just after the overnight crowd has moved on and too early for the next day’s campers to have arrived. The plan, when it works, maximises the greatest number of available sites for us. Today it worked a treat.

On the way into Edith Falls we counted five vans and three campers going out the other way and no van in front of or behind us - good odds for getting a site. With the campground about half full we picked a good site allowing for sun, wind, views and availability. Again we have a little private corner of the campground, convenient but not too close to the amenity block, with its own table and lush grass courtesy of daily sprinkling. It’s shady until midday, in the sun until mid-afternoon (to recharge the van batteries via the solar panels on the caravan roof), and shady from around 3 pm – just about perfect. Edith Falls swimming hole and the start of the local walks are just 150 metres away.

Edith Falls has a huge plunge pool with small sandy beaches and is a popular day visitor spot for people wanting to cool off in one of the few places where saltwater crocodiles usually don’t inhabit. Again the German and also French backpackers have all been returning safely from the swimming hole for over a month, so the Rangers have just recently opened the Falls for Aussies to swim – good timing for us.

The pile of rocks behind me in the photo did not exist until Christmas Day 2011 when 500mm of rain fell in a day and flooded the area, totally destroying the camping grounds and creating this beach of sand and rocks.

Saturday 8June – Day 2 Edith Falls (Leliyn)

Today we were up and away early (7.40 am) with our intended goal to do the 8.6 klm return walk to Sweetwater Pool located upstream and uphill from where were are camped. After taking the turnoff away from the shorter Upper Pool walk we travelled about a kilometre along a badly formed track with spinifex growing over it. Both of us were wearing shorts and eventually the spinifex got the best of us and there wasn't much to see so we turned around and headed back to the better formed track to Upper Pool. Needless to say we arrived at the Upper Pools quite early – too early if fact for a swim as it was still cool courtesy of a strong breeze.

Edith Falls Upper Pool

The views, sounds and general ambiance of the place were very relaxing. We chose several different vantage points and just sat not giving a second thought to the spinifex we had left behind on the other track.

We spied a seat high above and overlooking the gorge below us so we decided to clamber up the loose rocks just to sit on it. The seat was located at Bemang Lookout and this is where we had morning tea and again just sat and drank in the scenery below us.

Eventually the call of coffee back at camp became strong enough to make us retrace our steps returning us to camp at 11am. Before coffee we had a swim in the main plunge pool near our camp. The rest of the day was spent talking to Laurie and Denise (a lovely couple camped near us), reading in the shade of trees beside the van and, being a Saturday night of a long weekend, watching hapless travellers trying to find a campsite in the full campground

The temperatures remain quite hot during the day; well up into the mid-30’s.

Sunday 9 June – Day 3 Edith Falls (Leliyn)

Our third day here was really more of the same. Having exhausted all the available walks we settled more into a routine. Up early and away early to the Upper Pools we found a secluded spot in the shade in one of the waterfall channels that are used in the flood periods. Sitting there we overlooked the waterfalls cascading into the plunge pool below. It was here we met a young French tourist who was fixated on snorkelling in the pool below the waterfall and wanting to find the highest vantage point from which to jump into the murky waters below. He didn't speak much English and looked bemused as Julie kept saying to him repeatedly “no, don’t jump!” He ended up doing the first (snorkelling) but not the latter (jumping) much to our relief. After this we climbed out of the waterfall channel back into the sunlight to have a swim. Here we met up with our neighbours, Laurie and Denise from the Sunshine Coast and spent a lovely time talking to them some more.

Returning to camp we were very surprised to see it half empty, given it was chockers last night. Speaking to the Ranger she said that people get a bit scared of bush-fires and tend to take off when one is around. The Rangers are undertaking controlled burning all around us. They certainly know about controlled burns but a lot less about controlling smoke and ash fallout. This morning our car and van were covered in black ash and filled with smoke from the overnight fires.

Fires behind Bemang Lookout where we were yesterday

All day the smoke billowed around us as the fires burned, in a controlled way, down the cliffs from where the lookout was that we climbed to yesterday. All afternoon and tonight the lovely fragrant smell of burning forest fills the campground and our caravan.

This afternoon we followed the flies, smoke and ash back to the Edith Falls plunge pool for a refreshingly cool swim. That’s right I forgot to mention the flies! Those lovely sticky flies are around at the moment. They get into every little nook and cranny - I now know why jocks were invented. It’s a little like living in a military camp - everyone you pass look like they are saluting but in fact they are swatting flies. Julie has even started swearing; that’s how annoying they are.

Cooling off at Edith Falls

So today will be our last day at Edith Falls. Despite all the flies, smoke, ash and dust (ooh I forgot to mention the dust) it really is a very pretty place. The longer we stay here the more we understand it and appreciate its natural beauty. Other unknown adventures are calling us further north so with itchy feet we are looking forward to what tomorrow will bring as we head towards Darwin.

Monday 10 June – Edith Falls to Litchfield National Park via Douglas Hot Springs

Douglas Hot Springs campground

Just north of Edith Falls by about 60 klm, to the left a little and along 7 klm of dusty roads and one water crossing is Douglas Hot Springs named after somebody by somebody some time ago. Its claim to fame is that it is made up of two separate spring fed creeks. One comes out of the ground at 60 degrees Celsius and the other at normal river temperature. They come together in a large sandy area shaded by pandanas palms. By sitting in the combined streams at various locations one can experience different degrees of skin burns. The closer to the hot spring you are the closer to the burns unit in Darwin you are.

The 'cool' stream, Douglas Hot Springs

Bubbling up 60 degree 'hot' stream, Douglas Hot Springs

We arrived around morning tea time so we had morning tea and ventured down to marvel at nature’s cleverness. It was the Monday of the long weekend and although the camping ground was slowly emptying there were still quite a few people around some of whom were just so proud of their latest Country and Western CD they were willing to share it with everyone else. We had had enough of the dust etc. so we pushed on towards Litchfield NP. Douglas Hot Springs campground is well appointed though. It has numerous amenity blocks, fire pits, rubbish bins, water taps and shady trees for those who get in early. The park also has generator and a non-generator designated areas. So off-peak it would be a great place to say for a night or two.

We were up for a bit of comfort so we booked into the Litchfield Tourist Park on the outskirts of the National Park – about 14 klm out of Batchelor. Our site has complete shade throughout the day and is relatively cool compared to camping in the sun. Given we have a powered site, the air-conditioner works away from mid-afternoon until lights out at night. The park is very pretty and pretty quiet at the moment.

After setting up, the washing machine got going and we just put our feet up for the rest of the afternoon while we planned our activities for the next couple of days. We had beautiful sunsets each afternoon courtesy of the smoke from the many controlled fires in the area.

Tuesday 11 June – Day 2 Litchfield NP

Wangi Falls and swimming hole, Litchfield NP

Today we drove the 52 klm to Wangi Falls which are the main attraction for Litchfield NP. We walked from the base of the falls, 1.6 klm up over the falls traversing through monsoon rainforest dodging falling bat guano from the roosting colony above.

View from the top of Wangi Falls, Litchfield NP

From the top we had spectacular views of the floodplain below and out to the distant mountains on the horizon. Back down the bottom we headed for the café and information centre to get a coffee and find out what there was to do in the area. Both were closed due to a mechanical failure in the building. So we made up our own fun.

Next were the Tolmer Falls which had the added benefit of being viewed from the top – no climbing; that was left to the temperature. We then visited Tabletop Swamp positioned high up on the plateau which had the added advantage of no walking – we parked just 50 metres from the water’s edge. The swamp fills in the wet season and becomes an important water source for the summer. The bird and plant life are both in abundance.

Tabletop Swamp, Litchfield NP

Next we visited my favourite, the Lost City. With 10.5 klm of pretty easy but rough 4wd track in (45 minutes drive) we came to a weathered sandstone outcrop high up on the Tabletop Range. The whole area is like walking through ancient Inca temples. At the start of the dry season National Parks burn off the area leaving a fascinating array of 10-15+ metre high sandstone outcrops. After walking through and around these strange outcrops we had the enjoyment of the 4wd track to get back out (25 minutes drive).

With so much excitement in just one day we headed back to camp to rest up and avoid the heat of the day.

Wednesday 12 June - Day 3 Litchfield NP

Up and away early we travelled back into the National Park first visiting the Magnetic Termite Mounds. These mounds face north – south, are very narrow with some easily 2-3 metres tall. These magnetic mounds are in complete contrast to the many standard, monolithic cathedral shaped mounds just nearby.

Scientists have established the little termites have an inbuilt compass so that, even when the direction of the mound is artificially moved, they still build north – south.

Next to these magnetic mounds is a 6 metre high cathedral mound said to be 50 – 100 years old.

Well, after all this excitement we headed to Florence Falls and decided to put off the 135 step walk down (and later, up) until we are a little younger. Instead we walked 1.6 klm to Buley Rockhole. Here we found our own little piece of paradise in the form of cascading waterfalls flowing through several rock holes. With crystal clear cool waters babbling into sometimes shoulder deep pools we found the whole scene irresistible. We swam/lazed around in the pools for an hour-or-so with no-one else in sight. Leaving our tranquil surrounds we walked to the main Buley pools further upstream to be met with an already busy area with even more people streaming in. We turned around and made our way back down to our pools and had the place to ourselves once more. With perfect water temperature we enjoyed our piece of paradise once more. Returning to the car we headed back to camp having enjoyed our two days in Litchfield NP.

The campground at Wangi Falls is great. It has showers and toilets with good shady sites and is about 100 metres from the main swimming hole. If it was a bit cooler we would have stayed there but the shade, lack of dust and the air-conditioning of our van park will do us nicely this time around.

Thursday 13 June – Litchfield NP to Darwin

Darwin is very busy this time of year - the first three caravan parks I phoned were booked out for the four nights we were after. The V8 Supercars are racing this weekend in Darwin which has added to the crowds of southerners arriving for the winter. The weather was very hot (36 degrees) on our first day in Darwin but we still managed to see a few sights including the Mindil Beach Markets. We arrived early and had our dinner from one of the numerous Asian food stalls. After 1.5 hours it was still hot, more crowded and we'd had enough.

Friday 14 June - Day 2 Darwin

Jeff, Johnno and Ruth at the Wharf Precinct

Friday night we caught up with Julie's second cousin and her husband (Ruth and Johnno), Ruth's daughter Tanya and her partner Shaun and their toddler, Seth. The weather was very mild after the sun went done and we had a great evening sitting on the wharf in the Wharf Precinct watching the boats go past and having some lovely local Asian style barramundi with a bagpipe band entertaining us as we ate. While we were sitting there, along came Carl and Anna so we caught up with them once more.

Saturday 15 June - Day 3 Darwin

Darwin is a small capital city as we found out again today. We had a bit of shopping to do and ran into Tanya, Shaun & Seth outside a Repco shop which was handy for me because Shaun is a mechanic and helped me buy a couple of tools I needed to do some maintenance on the van. We then set off to the Parap markets, which is where the locals go. Here we bought some local produce, locally made condiments and locally cooked Malaysian food for lunch.

Sunday 16 June - Day 4 Darwin

Dinner at Stoke's Wharf, Darwin

Another quiet day today spent in the City Centre and wandering along the Esplanade which was rather pleasant. We finished off with grocery shopping, which was less pleasant then back to the Wharf area for a sunset dinner. Having caught up with all our chores, we're off to Kakadu tomorrow for about a week before we start heading to Western Australia.

Car, caravan and passengers are all still going well. _______________________________________________________________________

Some of our travels have taken us to places I went to with the family 16 years ago. This has been quite nostalgic for me as well as interesting to see after all this time how much has changed as well as stayed the same. The pictures below are a combination of 16 year old photos (on right) and those from this trip (on left) - spot the difference.