May 4, Litchfield NP, Darwin

We started early in the morning to explore Litchfield. First stop was the Cascades, a walk that followed the creek and passed several small cascades as it went up. The path forded the creek, but we had to turn back. I bought new boots before we left, but soon after we started hiking here, the boots started losing the nubs on the soles. Here I couldn't get a good grip on the wet rocks.

Next was Wangi Falls. We could walk to the bottom of the falls, but not swim. It's the end of the wet season here and some water levels are still high. High enough that crocodiles might still be around. The parks take a count of the crocs and move any that are in tourist areas. The falls were spectacular. At the bottom of the falls there was a terrible squawking. It was the flying foxes. They were back from a night of insect hunting and settling into their trees.

At Tolman Falls we could walk to the top of the falls, but not the bottom. That is a protected area for 2 species of bats. More spectacular falls.

At Florence Falls, the waterfalls weren't so high, but the pool at the bottom was worth the hike. We swam around in the water a bit. It was getting hotter and the water felt really good. The water was so clear we could see the fish swimming in it and they were pretty big, some were 12" or so. Nearby was Buley Rockhole. It was a stream that tumbled down a series of pools. A very popular spot, there were people sitting in all of the pools. We chose a pool and bobbed around for a while.

Last stop in the park was the Magnetic Termite Mounds. There are Cathedral termite mounds, just going higher and higher and can go deep And then there are the Magnetic ones. They are tall with flat sides and the sides are aligned on the east and west, so the mounds appear to point north. These are built by termites in flood plains. They can't build down into the ground to help control temperatures in the mounds, so they use the orientation to do that. One side is always in shade!

It wasn't far to Darwin from there. We stopped at the info center and wandered to the Parliament Building. It's a very modern building and the locals call it the 'wedding cake'. There is only one chamber with 26 representatives and the head of the territory is the Administrator. The population of the Territory is just 300,000. The Territory Library was in the building and it was packed - it offered free wifi.

Darwin was bombed in WWII, then mostly destroyed by Cyclone Tracy in 1974, so the buildings are fairly new. The Town Hall was one of the first buildings bombed and a shell of it remains.

it was getting hotter so we found a campground. Decided to do some laundry and cool down a bit. The heat and humidity hit us like a wall when we walk out of the camper. Nice to have air conditioning.

Pictures - Samson at the Cascades, Tolman Falls, Jeanne at Buley Rockhole, Magnetic termite mound, Road Train with 4 trailers, Parliament House