29/03/2010 – 31/03/2010
We have now travelled over 4,500 klms. We arrived in Litchfield National Park after a short 100klm drive from Darwin and settled into the Litchfield Tourist and van park, very neat and tidy and owned by Lucas and his mum.
We are now out of range for phone and internet which was a new experience, it is always nice to be able to get away from it all but when it is forced onto you it is quite strange. This is the reason why I have had to squeeze 3 days into 1 posting.
We have met other caravanners from Townsville and Ipswich so by the time we got settled in and had a bit of a chat it is now almost happy hour, so how about we have a lazy day plan what we are going to do tomorrow and settle down to a social chat. A young couple from Melbourne arrived with 2 little children aged 6 months and 3 years, so Trice got her Nana fix.
We are up nice and early and are heading off to the tin mine at Bamboo Creek, it just never fails to amaze me how people ended up in these remote areas mining tin. The conditions were horrific when you compare them to today but this was ‘normal’ for these workers. This mine was worked using pick and shovel until 1951 when the tunnels were flooded by heavy rain. The 3 owners of the lease either died or were dying around this time from lung disease and couldn’t sell their lease so the mine was closed, the area is still saturated by tin with all the rocks on the paths glistening in the sun.
Off to Wangi Falls where you walk out to an observation deck, the falls are spectacular. “Hey Trice do you want to do the walk around the back?” This was a walk of only 1.7 klm but with the heat and more so the humidity the walk was a shocker, the sweat was just pouring off us but the scenery was superb, we have to find a swim but Wangi Falls is closed because it hadn’t been checked for crocs.
We went to the observation deck for Florence Falls but after our previous walk and facing 160 steps to get down to the pool, I didn’t think that Trice’s knee would cope, so we backtracked to Buley Rockholes and went to the lower pool. The current from the water coming over the water fall was strong but the water was just so clear and refreshing. We were speaking to a young tour guide who told me that behind the waterfall was a hole in the rock that you can get into and is about 7 feet deep and it allows you to get behind the waterfall. The waterfall itself was only about 6 feet high but the pressure and weight of the water just about crushed you. I swam over and got into the hole and just took in the noise and surging of the water. Happy hour was calling so we headed back to camp to recuperate and plan another day of walks.
Today we are off to Florence Falls and we are determined to do the walk which starts with 160 steps down a cliff face to the rock pool. Again the water is clear and there are all these fish swimming among the people, I have since found out that they are called Sooty Bream or Grunters. Trice found another baby and had another Nana fix, the woman took the opportunity and got Trice to baby sit while she went for a swim. The walk we went on was Shady Creek walk which was again different to the other walks. It was very dense rain forest but instead of the temperature dropping like Tamborine, the temperature actually went up. They have information boards displaying the humidity and temperature, in the middle of the rain forest it was 35 degrees and 100% humidity. Just on the edge of the rain forest it was 31 degrees and 73% humidity. You would think that with all the walking we would be like sticks but I can assure you that the constant intake of fuel does overcome any weight loss.
On our way to Tolmer Falls walk we came across a car accident, a Toyota Landcruiser from the nearby christian college had gone off the road and into some trees with a large tandem trailer on the back. There was no one there and we couldn’t see any blood so we could only assume the person got out ok. The front passenger side was totalled and 1 set of wheels from the tandem trailer were ripped off, we later saw the landcruiser go past on the back of a tilt tray.
The Tolmer Falls walk was supposed to be a 45 min walk but we got through it in 25 mins, we have both noticed that our fitness level has increased. It brought us out to the Tolmer Falls lookout which again is beautiful. The walk was very rocky but still very manageable, buying good walking shoes was a great idea.
We dropped into the Magnetic White ant mounds but with the Savannah Grass being over 8 feet high we couldn’t see the ant mounds. Apparently the ranges come through shortly and do controlled burning, we are too early again but we did get to stand beside a mound which had to be over 4 metres tall.
We tried to get into the Lost City and Table Top Swamp but both were closed due to the wet.
We headed off to Cooinda today which is around 100klm west of Jabaru, on the way we dropped into a walk at Nourlangie. We got to see some beautiful rock art and climbed this huge slopping rock that was like a huge piece of concrete and must have kept going for at least 500 meters. We arrived at Cooinda and went to a night where an elder Jumpin’ Jo and his nephew Deadly Dave played didgeridoos and other instruments. They asked if anyone would like to get up so Trice and I jumped up. The problem was that Trice was not allowed to play the Didge as it is against aboriginal custom. Apparently the story goes that a spirit was trying to win over to young sisters and they rejected him so he snapped off his penis and started playing a tune through it to impress them, they still rejected him - loser. This is where the Didge has come from and if a female were to play it then the aboriginal male will lose his pride and joy. They appear to have a fetish with genitals as all the aboriginal art has all the body bits but in larger size. Trice was restricted to banging clacker sticks while I playing the Didge.
