Today was our last full day in the park. This time we headed south to Gunlom
plunge pool and it's natural infinity pool. It was a dusty, bumpy road in but
well worth the effort. Once at the car park we were unable to have a look at the
lower plunge pool as it was closed due to a saltwater crocodile that has moved
in. We heard that this crocodile has been tricky to catch, so until they do the
pool remains closed. Fun fact: this plunge pool is also the location for "Echo
Lake" from the original Crocodile Dundee movie.
Since the bottom pool was closed we headed up to the stairs to the upper pools.
The water was a perfect temperature not warm like the hot springs and not cold
that it took your breath away to get in. We spent several hours hanging around
the pools, eating lunch, and the kids spent ages building dams and playing in
the water.
This was a lovely way to finish our time in Kakadu National Park.
This morning we all got up early to catch the bus to our Sunrise Yellow River
Cruise. Once again we ended up in a half filled boat, which meant everyone could
move around a bit if they wanted. We headed off with our guide Brock down the
Yellow River towards the East Alligator River. We saw lots of crocodiles, black
cranes, spoonbills, egrets, Australasian darters, sea eagles, whistling and
black kites, both blue and teal kingfishers, and so many more birds.
The highlights of the tour for me where:
watching the sunrise over the marshlands
seeing a black crane (Jabiru) walk right past a crocodile seemingly with out a care in the world
seeing a male comb-crested Jacana (or Jesus bird) walking along the tops of
lily pads with his chicks tucked up under his wings with their little legs
sticking out.
The Jacana eventually dropped its chicks back onto the lily pads and they were
the cutest little balls of fluff.
After such a big morning we headed back to camp for the rest of the morning. We
had a good look at the green ants that were living in the tree next to our camp
site and caught up on an episode of Cutlaps until going to Burrungkuy art site
and lookout in the late afternoon. We read about the lightening man story, saw
lots of rock art, and climbed up to the lookout. Then headed back to the car
before we melted in the heat.
Today we headed out of the big smoke and into Kakadu National Park. Along the
way we stopped at Mamukala and walked out to the bird hide to have a look at the
wetlands. We saw an azure kingfisher, little masked frogs, dragonflies, lots of
egrets, cormorants and even a Australasian Darter.
Our next stop was the Bowali visitors centre to pick up some maps, get a few
suggestions of places to go over the next three days, and look around the
displays of the flora and fauna of the park. Soon after leaving the visitors
centre we pulled into camp at Cooinda Lodge and the kids headed straight to the
pool to cool off.
This is the first place that we have stayed at where the mozzies were really bad
and not just annoying. So we had dinner inside the screened camp kitchen rather
than braving it back at the caravan.
This morning we had a quiet one around camp before heading into the Darwin
Waterfront. Our first stop was lunch on Stokes Hill Wharf followed by a visit to
the Royal Flying Doctor Service Tourist Facility. They had a display on the
bombing of Darwin Wharf during WWII and on the Flying Doctor history. There were
lots of VR displays, which the kids really enjoyed. We all learned a lot about
the war and the Service!
Next stop was the wave pool at the Darwin Waterfront. We spent a few hours
floating in the waves then headed over to Mindil markets for dinner and the
sunset. We all picked our dinner from the various food trucks and wandered
through the market, where the kids got a grain of rice with their names written
on it. After getting a round of slushies we headed down to the beach to watch
the sunset. It was very, very busy so we walked down to a quieter end to watch
the sun drop into the water.
Today it was Humpback's (the caravan) turn for a service. We dropped it off
before 9am and then headed to a shopping centre in Casuarina to hang out in the
aircon and do a bit of shopping. We started off with a free coffee as the local
cops where treating everyone who came by to a hot drink. Then wandered through
all the shops.
Next we headed to the Darwin Waterfront District to have lunch and do some
scouting for a future trip back another day. We also dropped into the visitor
centre where the kids picked up some souvenirs and John picked up a stuffed
crocodile, which the kids quickly named Crocodylus.
After picking up the caravan around 4.30pm John parked the caravan for the third
time in two days. As we were setting up camp again we discovered that the
mains power in the caravan did not work any more. This was definitely an issue
for us Tasmanians, as we needed aircon to sleep when it was still 30 degrees
outside! The Darwin Jayco service centre was closed for the long weekend so we
called the Jayco emergency roadside assist, but they were unable to help us.
Next we tried Jayco head office, on the east coast as they were still open, but
although they tried to find us some help they had no luck. In a last desperate
attempt, I emailed the Darwin Jayco service centre hoping that someone would see
it the next day (even though it was a public holiday). It was a relief when
Brayden called us straight away and talked us through a few checks - a few
screws un-done, reconnecting some wires, and we had power again. We really
appreciated his help after hours on the evening before a long weekend!!
Because we added an extra day to the beginning of our booking at FreeSpirit we
had to shift sites this morning to our original booking (3 spots down the road).
Once we shifted sites we dropped Stacey (the ute) off for a service.
We then spent the day around the pools at the caravan park until we picked up
the car again in the late afternoon.
Today we took our time getting out of camp as we only had a short drive to
Palmerston (just south of Darwin). The kids and I headed back over to Wangi
Falls to swim out to the hidden pool once again. We managed to time it perfectly
and got the small pool all to ourselves for 10 minute or so before the next
group came out.
Once back at camp we all helped pack up the caravan for our move to Darwin for 6
nights (the longest stay anywhere so far).
We stayed as the Darwin FreeSpirit Caravan Park in Palmerstone, which has
several swimming pools for the kids, and power for the aircon. We are definitely
into the warmer weather now - 33°C today!
Our plans were thrown off a bit when we realised Friday was the Darwin Show
public holiday, so we decided to head into Darwin a day early to allow enough
time to get the car and caravan serviced. So today was our first and only full
day in Litchfield National Park.
To make up for not having a second day in the park. I got up early to do the
Wangi Falls Loop walk. The first part of the walk was up along the side of the
falls in a small forest that was full of the roosting bats that we saw the
previous night. I forgot how loud they can be!! I continued to climb into the
savanna forest at the top of the falls that provided views to the valley below
as the sun began to rise. There were only a few birds around but several flies,
so I quickly retreated back down to the falls.
We spent the rest of the day visiting as many highlights in the Park as we
could. Our first stop was to the termite mounds, where we learned that the
magnetics termite mounds are oriented north-south in order to regulate the
temperature within the mounds. These are not found anywhere else in the world.
Our second stop was at Florence Falls. We walked down the 138 steps to reach the
base of the falls. Here we all swam out into the pool, jumped off the rocks, and
even swam behind the waterfall. We had lunch near the outlet stream for the
falls, where we spotted a water monitor and lots of little fish. Theo spent a
long time trying to get a photo of a catfish that kept swimming nearby.
Eventually we headed up the Florence Creek track back to the car.
Our next stop was Buley Rockhole (or Bluey Rockpools as we kept accidentally
calling them). Here we found a series of little pools created by the river
eroding down the bedrock. We found one hole that was deep enough to jump into
from the surrounding rocks - it was lots of fun.
The last stop for the day was back at Wangi Falls where we all swam out the far
side of the pool to a small rock pool that was hidden near the base of one of
the waterfalls. The water in the little pool was warmer than the main pool which
was a nice treat until we had to jump back into swim back to shore as the light
was fading.
Today we continued north to Litchfield National Park with a stop in Katherine
for groceries and lunch. Late afternoon we rolled into Wangi Falls campsite.
After setting up camp the kids and I wandered down to the falls to have a look.
We timed it beautifully as the sun was setting on the rocks surrounding the
waterhole. The kids of course had to go for a swim. They reported that the water
was cool but not as cold in the West Macdonnell National Park.
Tonight at dinner was the first time we've had to pull out the mozzie deterrents
as we were starting to get bitten. We were also treated to a colony of bats
passing overhead just after sunset.
