Tuesday 7th August - Thursday 9th August 2012

We decided that as an offer of fishing out of Darwin on a weekend maybe on offer we would come down to Litchfield National Park just south of Darwin. After doing a few jobs we didn't get down to Litchfield until nearly 3pm. Little did we know that all the camp grounds fill up around lunchtime. So instead of starting to look around we tried nearly all the spots until we found the last spot down a 4WD track to Tjaynera Falls (Sandy Creek). This involved a water crossing which was amusing as someone told us a 2wd could get down the track!
We also stopped at the Termite Mounds. One of them called 'The Cathedral' was around 50 years old.

The next day we chilled out at the campsite and did some school work before walking into the falls after lunch. It was another rocky walk but we were rewarded with a refreshing swim to cool off (actually the water was really cold!)

After getting back to camp we went for a drive to the ruins of Blyth Homestead. The Sargent Family (Mum, Dad & 14 kids) lived at a station about 50km away but the kids all worked in the tin mine behind the secondary homestead (Blyth). Our kids don't know they are alive - each child had to start working on the station from the age of 9 years old and they were not paid for all their hard work!

Thomas in front of the tin mine at the rear of the Blyth Homestead

Charlotte in front of the homestead - people were not tall back then. I had to bob down quite a bit to get through the front door!

We then took a drive down towards the Reynolds River before returning back to camp.

Ed and the kids checking out the water depth

We packed up early and decided to see everything that we missed on the way into the park.
The first stop was the beautiful Florence Falls (our breakie stop). They were quite spectacular from the look out. As it was till early we decided not to walk down to the falls as the sun was nowhere near warm enough to warm up the water for a swim.

Next stop was the Buley rockhole. I wished that a camp spot had been available here. It was beautiful and we enjoyed a swim here. I could have stayed all day!

After our swim we drove to the Lost City. It is a series of limestone rock formations in all sorts of interesting shapes.

The Lost City

We then drove to Tolmer falls Lookout. It was a lovely long drop falls that would look wonderful in the wet season.

Our next stop was Wangi Falls. We jumped in for another swim. It was a lovely swim. The waterfalls were warm to touch and there were pockets of warm water in the lake. (and no it wasn't from someone doing a wee!) It was past lunchtime so we drove onto Walker creek for lunch and the kids had another swim. We drove on back into Darwin after a great day in Litchfield.

Wangi Falls

The water coming off this side of Wangi Falls was lovely and warm.