Week Six:  Darwin/Litchfield National Park/ Edith Falls/Katherine

We loved Darwin!  There is so much to do and a lot of it free.  We did manage to spend some money doing the touristy thing, and on hitting the shops (quite exciting to be around so many after so many weeks on the road), but there is so much on offer for free as well. The down side of this, I guess, is that you do spend a lot of time travelling around trying to fit a lot of things in.  We have grey nomad friends who are staying in Darwin for 5 weeks, others who are staying for more even.  They have the right idea, I think!

We were very pleased with our spot at Howard Springs Caravan Park – on our own, near the playground, pool and a free gas BBQ.  Howard Springs is right near Palmerston, one of the fastest growing cities in Australia apparently, and you can see why.  One of the highlights there was a community market, with most of the stalls that are at Mindil Markets, on the Friday night.  With free entertainment and food to die for, it was great!  It is also easy to drive back towards part of Adelaide River from Howard Springs, and go on a Jumping Crocodile cruise.  This was highly recommended to us to do and we were not disappointed.  I started taking photos, but in the end I just wanted to watch, it was so amazing!  Tony and the Nikon were able to take faster shots, anyway!

Our spot at Howard Springs Holiday Park - pretty good, hey!

Antica.....pation!!!

Awesome!!!!

AWWW Mum, this is sooo cool!

Matt's standard face when Tony tries to photograph him.
We call him, 'One-eyed Jack'.

The crocs would come right up alongside the
boat.  We were so close.  It was UNREAL!

Another free thing to do is sit on Mindil Beach and watch the sun set.  Truly beautiful.



Tony and his photography off-sider, Matt.



We all thoroughly enjoyed the Museum and Art gallery, also free.  It had a great kid’s area.   



Sweetheart.  A MASSIVE croc. 



As well as the cruise, we handed over some hard earned cash to go into Crocosaurus Cove.  This we did after the Jumping Crocodile cruise and it was hard to match what we had seen on that.  But the boys absolutely loved it.  Charlie even got in to the water near the juvenile crocs and had a go at swimming near them.  I held a snake.  Not my favourite thing to do.



This is as close as Charlie would go:  peeking round the corner!




I look so relaxed, don't I?



We spent a great day out at Berry Springs.  We caught up with Peter and Sue, and as we were driving out of their caravan park we came across two other friends (Deb and Jeff who we had met a few times along the track!).  Such a nice surprise.  So we all had a beaut swim at Berry Springs, and Charlie and Matt wore me out nicely. 

 On our last night in Darwin we caught up with some very lovely people whom we had met on our travels, who were all in Darwin for the National Square Dance convention.  It was very colourful and entertaining, and as I have mentioned before – making wonderful friends on this trip is truly icing on the cake.   



Our friends are in the blue.




Pam and Graeme, on the far left...see you when we are on your side of Oz!



With some sadness, we left Darwin on the Sunday and headed for Litchfield National Park.  We had trepidations as quite a few people had told us that it wouldn’t be any good for the boys, and that you could see it in one day.  I was also concerned about the van park we were going to, having not been able to find out much on the Net.  Well, within about an hour of being at Litchfield Tourist park, I felt tremendously relaxed.  This does not happen often (being the mother of two rambunctious small boys and always seeming to have ‘house’ work to do).  It is a lovely little park, the closest one to the eastern entry to Litchfield National Park, with a lovely atmosphere.  We headed into the National Park itself in the afternoon, and were not disappointed by the beautiful waterfalls at Wangi (unfortunately closed to swimming) and marveling at the splendor of Tolmer Falls.  Tony checked out Florence Falls in readiness for heading there very early the next morning to take photos before the harsh sunlight got in there. 

Florence Falls



Sandy Creek



So Tony had a great time taking photos on his own, and the boys and I had a wonderful relaxing start to the day.  Win/Win.  After an early lunch, we all headed back in to Florence Falls.  We decided not to swim, as the water was quite cold and the south easterlies were still blowing.  I’m told they are called the ‘knock ‘em down’ winds as they come every year for about a month, and they knock all the tall grasses down.   The other reason we didn’t swim is that it is Matthew’s turn to have this awful cough that myself, then Tony have had… and Matthew sick is the absolute last thing we need!  He is atrocious when he is sick!  We walked down the 135 steps (not as hard as it sounds) to Florence Falls, where there were hordes of people – some swimming but most just enjoying the spot.  Then we took the Sandy Creek walk, following the easy path along the creek back up to the top.  I just can’t get enough of being near water, especially a beautiful and clear flowing creek such as this one.  There were plenty of spots where you could enjoy the creek in solitude, despite the area being quite busy that day.  It was just so wonderful and relaxing. 

We had allowed three nights for Litchfield, but found two nights stay to be enough.  This worked out well, as now we could stop one night at a free camp at Edith Falls, just north of Katherine.  Before we left Litchfield, though, we needed to stop at the Batchelor Health Clinic as Matthew had had a very unsettled night.  I strongly suspected an ear infection…so the non-swimming had come a bit late.  I could not believe the top quality of the health service.  Full checkup by a Registered Nurse, who was quite impressed by Matthew’s ear (I won’t go into the disgusting details) and gave us ALL the medicine we required – FOR FREE.  So with a big weight off our minds we were able to head to Edith Falls:  a great spot in the National Park at $9 per adult, complete with a proper amenities block.  We did a BIG walk (we weren’t prepared for how big, and poor Matt had to be carried for most of it), unfortunately skipped the swimming again as it was too darn cold, and had an early night.

Today (Wednesday) we headed back into Katherine to stock up, wash and clean.  We also spent a lovely few hours catching up with Mal and Laurice, who we thought we wouldn’t see again, but turns out we were both in Katherine at the same time.  The track can be a bit like that! 

Tomorrow we begin making the trek westwards (Lake Argyle, Kununarra, Bungle Bungles, eventually Derby then Broome).  Goodness knows what mobile and internet reception will be like.  There was none at Litchfield and Edith Falls…this does contribute to the relaxing J

 See you on the other side!

This is Charlie any chance he can get: up a tree!



Beautiful shot with the Nikon!