Wide open spaces

There are a few options for where to camp in Litchfield National Park, but every time we mentioned to people we were heading there, we were told we had to stay at the Florence Falls campground. Always happy to take the advice of fellow travellers if it means one less decision for us, we headed there hoping to get a spot as it worked on a first come first served basis. As we drove through the campground it looked gorgeous. If some places can bring you down, like the last place we stayed, this one had the opposite effect. It was just so peaceful and made us feel relaxed the minute we pulled up. There were flat, level sites on both sides of the road, nestled amongst tall gums and other trees, each with their own fire pit and loads of space. We found one near the amenities block and set up. After some lunch and a laze around camp settling in, we were getting pretty hot from the mid thirties temperatures and keen for a swim to cool off. While I recharged my batteries with some solo time back at camp, Kat took the kids to explore the falls after which the campground is named. Florence Falls are made up of a couple of falls, one looking like a river of pearls tumbling from the cliff top above, forming a translucent wall before plunging into the natural waterhole below, with the other one cascading over the rock wall down to the water, looking more like vertical rapids. The waterhole itself was a circular in shape, about 30m across, with huge, fern covered rock walls on one side and tall trees on the other side creating a natural shaded amphitheatre. It was just stunning, and with cool, refreshing water and was the perfect place to wile away a few hours. The water was crystal clear, and full of big black fish about 20-30cm long, swimming around the submerged rocks, seemingly happy to share their oasis with us. After a cool off, it was time for dinner, before an early night.

After a busy few days in Darwin, we were ready to slow down and just enjoy the relaxed environment we were in. We hung out at camp in the morning before wandering down the 135 steps to the falls for a cool off before lunch. We had bought an underwater camera in Darwin so we took that down with us and had loads of fun taking photos of the kids making silly faces underwater, as well as the fish that were swimming with us. The kids had their lilos and floated their way over to the falls before we all swam under them to sneak into the space between the rock face and the water. The falls sounded like pelting rain on a tin roof from in there, and gave a pretty brutal massage on the swim out. We soon learnt that going under water to escape the falls was a much more pleasant option. After lunch back at camp, Oli & I played a game of chess while Em sorted through her flower press to get out some of the beautiful specimens she had collected along the way so far. I was pretty impressed with how quickly Oli had picked up not only the basics of chess, but also some of the strategy. He was already providing me with challenging games (although it could be argued that challenging me at chess was not that hard given I haven’t played it in about 20 years). After our game, Kat thought we should do something about Oli’s growing locks. In this heat, longer hair was not much fun so he was equally keen for a haircut and, given there weren’t too many hairdressers around, he was happy for Kat to give it a go. While not quite up to the standard of his usual cut, he still gave it the thumbs up.

Wangi Falls is another lovely swimming spot in the park, and has a big grassy section next to the waterhole, so we packed up a picnic lunch and headed there the following morning. It was a slightly more commercial feeling campground, with a small cafe set 100m or so back from the waterhole. It was a much bigger swimming area, with the main waterfall on the far side. As the day was heating up already, it wasn’t long before the kids were in the water. We soon caught up with them and all swam over to a shallow sand bar section for a quick rest before continuing towards the main falls. We had a great time swimming under and around the big falls, but weren’t sure if we should be reassured or concerned when we saw a croc trap tucked just around the corner from where we were swimming. Eventually we headed back to the other side and dried off before sitting down to lunch in the shade. After lunch, we treated the kids to a ice cream each before heading back to camp. Although we agreed it was a lovely spot, we were definitely happier with the campground we had chosen. Later that day as Kat was taking the kids down for another swim at Florence Falls, Em’s ankle suddenly started hurting to the point that she couldn’t walk on it. She didn’t trip, or roll it, so we were at a bit of a loss as to what caused it, but luckily we weren’t planning any long hikes over the next few days, and we took it as a sign that we should just kick back and enjoy the serenity.

With nowhere to go the next morning we decided that we might as well whip up a batch of pancakes for breakfast. When Kat suggested that to the kids, she got a resounding yes together with shrieks of excitement. To get them even more excited, she suggested they could each have a go of flipping them. Kat, keen to show the kids how it was done, did a couple of confident pancake flips, perfectly timed. There were ooohs and aaahs from the crowd before it was the kids turn. Oli was up first, and after a few nervous attempts, where the pancake did little more than slip around the pan, he gave it just enough force to launch the pancake into the air. We all held our breaths as we watched it flipping in slow motion through the air, before he thrust the pan out just in time to catch it, a perfect flip! Then Em stepped up to the plate for her go. Again, she started tentatively as she gauged the weight of the pan, before getting up the courage to go for the flip. The pancake flew into the air, before landing, splat, back down in the pan. Two out of two. They continued their flipping antics as we made the rest of the pancakes, with minimal losses, before Kat got super confident and put on a show for the kids. We reckon she got the pancake to do about 3 full somersaults before landing perfectly in back in the pan, even on the right side. We all agreed that she is possibly the best flipper in the world. We enjoyed a feast of pancakes with all sorts of toppings, then lazed at camp like sloths until after lunch when we headed down to the falls for a swim. Given Em was incapacitated I needed to carry her down to the falls on my shoulders. Going down was ok but walking back up 135 steps was definitely a workout for the legs. When we got back to camp, our kids had a play with the kids of a family opposite us at camp. They had heaps of great board games and they all spent hours playing and laughing. While they were occupied, I went for a drive to get some firewood and also to charge up the second battery in the car which was getting low. Although I was slowly learning the dark art of solar panel management, our site required constant realignment of the panels as the shade and sun seemed to swap places every 15 minutes or so. Given we were now in a much warmer climate, the freezer in the car was chewing through the power so when we weren’t driving for a few days, the panels struggled to keep up.

Although we were contemplating heading off the next day, we decided that we could manage one more day of lazing. The kids had fun again in the morning playing more games with the other kids, and we enjoyed a couple more swims at the falls during the day to cool off. That afternoon Kat bumped into a friend of one of her good mates from home so they enjoyed a catch up that night around the fire. We packed up quickly the next morning so we could stop off at Buley Rockhole on the way out. It was another great swimming hole, made up of a series of small cascading rapids linking a number of surprisingly deep plunge pools. We played there for an hour or so before hoping in the car for one more stop, this time at the ‘magnetic’ termite mounds. Up until now we had seen heaps of massive termite mounds but these ones were really different and unique to this particular area of the park. While not actually magnetic, they get their name from the fact that they align north to south. Their thin towers still climb upwards of a few metres high, but by having the thin part of the mound pointing north, they minimise the amount of sunlight that hits them throughout the day, thus keeping temperatures significantly lower inside the mound. We were astounded at how clever such seemingly simple life forms can be. After a quick look around, we hopped back in the car and headed for Katherine.

Florence Falls

Wangi Falls

Buley Rockhole

Magnetic termite mounds