Katherine to WA Border

My blog from Katherine to Broome is going to be fairly sparse, although I will blog about Lake Argyle and Kununurra. One reason is we headed west pretty quickly as we all had gastro and were feeling too miserable to get out an explore this amazing country. (There is a plus side in towing a large caravan complete with toilet... when you are all sick it sure comes in handy to be towing it!) The other reason is, that unless you are prepared for some serious off-roading, there really isn't a lot to see or do in this stretch and a fair bit of it is either Aboriginal land or cattle station so access is restricted/prohibited.

Katherine to the WA is around 500km. Given that none of us were feeling great and Rory doesn't travel long days at the best of times, we decided to break it into two legs. We spent one night at Timber Creek. Timber Creek is the only "town" between Katherine and the border, and to be honest, there's not much of a town there. The drive is quite nice. It's an easy drive with pretty scenery. You do need to be a bit watchful as the further west you go the more wandering cattle and horses you see. We didn't have any problems but a couple of times the cattle were quite close to the roadside so it's worth slowing down in case they decide to cross/spook.

One of the best parts of this drive is that you begin to see boab trees. These trees are so unique. They are native to Madagascar and believed to have come to Australia drifting on the ocean. At this time of year they are without leaves, which makes them even more interesting I think. Tilda and I were trying to decide if their roots underground mimic the branches above ground.

On the way to Timber Creek you cross the Adelaide River and it is seriously so beautiful! Not quite worth the drive just to see it but if you're heading that way it is a very, very pretty river (unforutnately I didn't get a photo of it). There was no one behind us (or anywhere near us... this road was so empty of traffic) so we slowed right down on the bridge for a very good look. There is a roadhouse there, which we contemplated stopping at, but the kids were calm and quiet so we took advantage of that and just kept driving. The drive from here is even prettier as you can see the deep gorge of the River across wide, open plains, dotted with varying quantities of termite mounds, stunted trees and scrubby growth. The ridgeline/cliff provides an interesting and pretty backdrop to the journey.

At Timber Creek we decided to do a bit of exploring, the main reason being that Greg wanted to go and see Gregory's Tree - a boab tree that was carved into on 2 July 1856 as a monument to his landing by explorer Augustus Charles Gregory. You can still see the carving as clear as anything today.

Greg at Gregory's tree

As you can see, Rory wasn't impressed by it 

We also stopped at Bradshaw Bridge to check out the Victoria River. Tilda and I spotted a crocodile in the river, which was pretty cool even though we have seen so many already.

View from Bradshaw Bridge

View from the lookout above town

View from Policemans Lookout (and below)

Litchfield National Park - Day 2

Blythe Homestead
This historic site is quite interesting. It's about a 10km of dirt road with 2 creek crossings (there'd probably be more in the wet season, although I'm guessing access gets closed in the wet). It is the site of an old Tin Mine from 1888 and the history is definitely worth the trip and taking the time to read. Much of the mining was done by the children of a farmer who found the mine site and the conditions are so harsh and unimaginable. To live in such a small house, that consisted of a single room, and was sweltering when we visited (and would only get worse) would be so tough. Then to be on their own and working the mine as well, is incredible to think of. One of the children had a pet crocodile, which I am guessing was a freshwater, as it had grown to 5 foot in the end... but seriously, how crazy!

The road in

One of the water crossings

The other water crossing

The homestead

These gum blossoms are pretty big and so very pretty and pink

Wangi Falls
Wangi Falls is probably the most popular waterfall/plunge pool in the park as it is a very short (80m) walk from the car park to the plunge pool. While we were there, at least 3 tour groups came through, so it can get quite busy. As we walked down to the plunge pool (a very short walk) we went past a sign stating the Freshwater Crocodiles inhabit this area. It caused me some stress but I didn't want to say anything and scare Tilda as we were really looking forward to a nice cool swim. So instead, I took a VERY careful look around before we got in and had quite heightened vigilance while in the water. There were quite a few people in the water so I felt better about swimming. I think, if we were there alone, I probably wouldn't have been able to convince myself to get in.

The plunge pool is surrounded by really pretty rainforest vegetation and high, red rock cliff faces. It is a really pretty location for a swim. The water was comfortable, not freezing but not warm, and has patches that are shallow enough for an adult to stand up and other parts where it is 14m deep in the dry season. We swam over to the lesser of the two falls. Rory even managed it with his Wahu vest and arm floaties. He sure loves swimming and these help him stay above water comfortably but still be able to learn the swimming motion. He is such a daredevil that after Greg climbed up onto a rock and jumped in, he wanted to as well. So Greg helped him up onto a much lower rock and he got to jump in as well. You should have seen his beaming face! Tilda had her snorkel and really enjoyed snorkelling. She kept finding fish of all shapes and sizes; some really were quite large! We didn't see any turtles or crocodiles (thank goodness!).

I had to include this final photo and the funny story that goes with it. While Greg swam out to the bigger of the 2 falls, the kids and I were playing on these steps. There are another set of steps which are the main entry point so it was just the three of us. There was fairly large (2 foot) piece of timber floating in the water and when Rory saw it he became adamant it was a crocodile and was quite scared. When Greg swum back in I got him to bring the log with him to prove it wasn't a croc. Rory adopted it immediately as his "pet crocodile" and was swimming it around and having fun with it. When it was time to leave I told him it had to stay behind (so he cried) and so Tilda pushed it out into the water a little way away from the steps. As we were getting dry and sorted, a grey nomad tour group arrived. One of them spotted the log and suspected it was a crocodile. Next followed various grey nomads to check it out, some taking photos of it, as they wondered if it was a crocodile. The kids, Tilda particularly, thought it was hilarious that they had fooled the older folk.

And finally, if you can only get to one National Park and don't have a 4WD or a lot of time, definitely go to Litchfield. It is beautiful and completely worth the visit to see the waterfalls, the monsoonal rainforests and to swim in the plunge pools.

Litchfield National Park - Day 1

I can see why Litchfield National Park is often preferred over Kakadu. It is very accessible to 2WD and the waterfalls and plunge pools are not big walks. It is also a very different type of National Park to Kakadu and other arid region parks. It is much more similar to the National Parks of NSW and Qld, in that there are more forests, waterfalls and rivers. The two main waterfalls in Litchfield – Wangi and Florence Falls – are accessed by bitumen roads and short walks. Gunlom Falls in Kakadu is accessed by 36km of very corrugated dirt road and to swim at Jim Jim Falls requires a two hour drive over dirt road, one way. Most of the things to do are easily accessible, and even those on dirt roads, like the Lost City and Blythe Homestead, are only around 10km of dirt.

The Lost City
This is 4WD only as it is 10.5km of dirt road and needs a high clearance vehicle. When we were there the road was rough but not terrible. It is an interesting drive in, through a nice  mix of vegetation. Every so often there was a really pretty purple flowering plant and another one was just a stalk with red flowers blooming on it. We passed only 3 cars so it felt quite isolated. The Lost City is an interesting set of rock formations, the result of weathering and erosion. When you walk among them, you can almost imagine (with a bit of imagination) that the remaining rock structures are the remnants of ancient buildings.

We found an elephant in the rocks 

Some of the structures stand many stories high (that's Greg at the base of one to give you some idea)

Florence Falls
This twin falls is very pretty, even at the end of the dry season. There are two walk options – one via the picnic area and river, which is 1.1km, or a shorter walk that involves 160 steps. We opted for the shorter walk and Rory managed the steps himself on the way down. (Greg carried him all the way up... such a great daddy). The plunge pool is surrounded by monsoonal rainforest and was very cool and pretty.

The plunge pool was quite cold and very refreshing after the walk down in the heat. There were a few people there but the plunge pool is big enough to share. There were freshwater fish swimming around us and Tilda managed to touch one, which she was so happy with. Greg swam out to both the waterfalls, which were still moving quite a lot of water, so was a bit of a challenge.

The kids weren't particularly keen to swim in the deep plunge pool, so they played in a shallower pool downstream. Rory found a bit of waterlogged wood that he pretended was a crocodile and floated that around quite happily. Tilda was looking for pretty stones. Every since our visit to the NT Rare Rocks shop, she has been quite interested in finding her own pretty stones. There were some very pretty siltstone rocks on the side of the path down to the plunge pool, some of which looked like zebra stone and okapi siltstone. Unfortunately they were in a National Park, and way too big, so we couldn't bring any home with us. Tilda found a really interesting rock in the bottom of the shallow pool her and Rory played in.

Termite Mounds
We visited the tourist termite mound site, which had some really interesting information about termites. The main attraction are the Magnetic Termites. These termites build on a north-south orientation so that their mound is exposed to the minimal amount of heat stress. Access to the Magnetic Termite mounds is restricted at this site to a built up walkway that keeps you a fair distance from the mounds, although it is obvious that people have driven off the road on the other side in order to get closer to some. From the walkway, these termite mounds look like a big graveyard filled with dull grey headstones. The Magnetic Termites are such an attraction as they only inhabit this region (I think) and the fact they build along the lines of magnetic north is unique.

The other termites found throughout Litchfield are Cathedral Termites. These termites build very magnificent and very large mounds and are pretty amazing too. Their mounds grow up to 5m in height!

Darwin free water parks

As I mentioned in the previous post, Darwin has 2 awesome, free water parks run by the local Council. These are amazing and it is hard to believe they are free!

Leanyer Waterpark
This was rated our favourite by all of the family. It has 3 giant waterslides, a fantastic kids splash pad and a very large pool. The three waterslides are blue, yellow and red. They are all enclosed and twist and turn many times as you go down. The blue was the slowest, followed by the yellow. The red slide is for going down in pairs on an inflatable ring. It is completely black inside which adds to the fun of it. Tilda was quite worried at first but once she got over her fears, she had a fantastic time! We all did. Rory of course couldn't go on them, so we took it in turns with one of us supervising Rory and one of us on the slides with Tilda.

The kids splash pad was amazing! It is pretty well covered, so you don't have to worry about getting burnt, although with our very fair skin we still covered up with rashies and sunscreen. There were 3 kid friendly slides, which included 2 speed slides next to each other (and having gone down one myself, it sure was fast for its size), and 2 curly enclosed slides. There was a tipping bucket that tipped out an absolute truckload of water (too much to let Rory go right under where it emptied), and all of the slides were connected by a climbing area. There was also waterguns, a large mushroom with water pouring over the top, another structure with smaller tipping buckets and an assortment of other play items. Rory had an absolute blast on this. He loved the speed slides and soon got up the courage to go down face first on his tummy. Many bigger kids using it marvelled at him because he is still so short and looks way too small to be doing things like that. Tilda loved all of it and was particularly drawn to the curly pink slide (the biggest of the slides on the kids splash pad) but spent most of her time on the big slides. We went back again 2 days later for Greg for Father's Day. It was so hot it was hard to figure out what else to do, and really, he and I are still pretty much big kids at heart so it was a LOT of fun to us too!

One of the days we were there a large group of Indigneous kids turned up after school. I have heard a lot of negative things about Indigenous kids in the media, and I have to say, these kids were some of the nicest, kindest there. One older boy stopped to pick Rory up and make sure he was OK when he fell over. They made room for other kids when the tipping bucket was going to tip so everyone could enjoy it. I think we often forget that the media always portrays the worst imaginable, working to sell sensationalised stories, and overlooking the fact that the majority of Indigenous people, kids or adults, are nice, kind and considerate people. And as we all know, you get the ratbags, lowlifes and other not-so-nice people in every race, gender etc.

The large pool (I didn't get a photo) was pretty cool. I don't know how deep it got as I only stayed in the shallows with Rory, but it starts of at 0 depth and you can wade out deeper and deeper. It isn't covered

The first day we were there for 2.5 hours. The second time we stayed for 3 hours! We were all stuffed by the end of it.


Palmerston Waterpark
Palmerston waterpark is different to Leanyer. It has a giant speed slide with 6 slides next to each other so you can race against other people, a young kids splash pad and an older kids splash pad. The speed slides at this waterpark are SO MUCH FUN!!!! But the rest of it not so much. The little kids splash pad is not much fun for kids over the age of about 3-4, unless they are not confident in the water. There are some holes that spray up water, some pipes that form a water tunnel with different pressured sprays and a 30cm deep little pool with a small (about 1m high) waterslide into it. Rory is such a rebel he almost got kicked off the kids slide. They had a rule that the kids must slide down sitting up only. After being at Leanyer and learning to go down face first, this was waaaay too tame for Rory and he kept persisting on going down head first. The lifeguard kept warning him and in the end we had to take him off it before he got into trouble. Still, he enjoyed running through the water, but it just wasn't as full of fun and adventure as Leanyer.

The older kids splash pad was pretty lame. It had 3 water guns you could turn to hit people with, but not the kids on the other guns, and a tipping bucket. This tipping bucket isn't as big as Leanyer but I am guessing it is the reason for the older age restriction.


The redeeming feature of this waterpark, other than free which means you really can't complain, is the speed slides. These slides are totally awesome and we had a great time on them. Again, one of us rode the big slides with Tilda while the other supervised Rory, but it was great. We calculated that Tilda climbed the 14m+ stairs over 30 times, by the time she shared her times between Greg and I. You got so much speed up on these that it was hard not to become airborne. On one go, I pushed off with my feet at the top and by the third hump, I got so airborne that I didn't hit the slide again until it flattened out in the lead up to the fourth hump. I got the wind knocked out of me and hurt some ribs and my back, not to mentioned scared myself a little, but gosh was it fun!!!!

Tilda met a boy and the pair of them had a great time racing each other, trying to see who would win. Tilda beat him every time and it was so funny hearing the pair of them dissect the race and why he had lost/she had won. Towards the end of our time there, it had gotten busy so I sat down the bottom to watch Tilda and her new friend, his brother and 2 other boys all race each other. In this race, Tilda's new friend beat her for the first time... he came first, Tilda came second and the boy's brother could not believe she had beaten him. It was funny to see his face and hear him say over and over “I can't believe you beat me!”. Tilda was beaming and it was a great way to finish the day.