From Katherine we headed towards Batchelor (ex, Rum Jungle) the town that is said to be the gateway to Litchfield National Park. Batchelor lies approximately 100kms south of Darwin which makes it an easy day trip to Darwin if want to do some shopping and city sightseeing.
After settling into our accommodation at the Batchelor Holiday Park we spent the best part of the next day touring through Litchfield National Park.
First stop was the Magnetic Termite Mounds which is a major attraction area after you enter the park. Here you see gigantic termite mounds standing up to two metres in height and they face north-south. After reading some of the very well placed signs it appears that they do this as it controls the temperature throughout the day exposing the least amount of surface area to the sun. When we first walked to the viewing platform we almost thought the area looked like an old burial area with ancient headstones that stretched off into the distant scrub.
We then drove onto see the Tolmer Falls. From the parking area it is an easy walk of only a few hundred metres to the viewing platform. This spectacular fall cascades over two separate escarpments into a wonderful plunge pool but the fall and the pool are not accessible to the public. The reason being that it is also the home to the rare and protected Ghost and Horseshoe bats. But it was still awesome taking the walk to see what we could see.
As the day was getting away from us and we had read on the sign at the point of entry into the park the tracks into the Lost City and the Cascades and the area of Wangi Falls were closed to the public, we headed back for some fun time and a refreshing dip into the pools of Florence Falls and Buley Rockhole.
Florence Falls is set amongst the monsoon rainforest. We took the 135 steps down to the base of the falls and I am so glad we did as it was magical. Here you can enjoy a swim in the crystal clear water at the base of the falls. There were quite a few people enjoying themselves when we arrived. If you don’t want to go down the steps you can always just view the falls from the platform above.
Then we back tracked a couple of kilometres to the Buley Rockhole area which is a series of small refreshing waterfalls and plunge pools. Again it was quite busy but still absolutely beautiful.
At each waterfall car park there are toilets, picnic and BBQ areas. Wangi Falls which is further into the Park is probably by far the most popular area but as I have said, it was closed to the public when we visited the Park. When the Wangi Falls area is open you can also camp there for a short time for a small fee.
The above kept us very busy for the day with lots of walking and enjoying the cool clear plunge pools. After lots of driving it’s always nice to take time out and do some exercise.
Below are a list of others places we have visited that may be of interest to you:
Free Camps – Broken Hill to Cobar -NSW
NSW – Free camps, Donation camps, Showgrounds and Caravan Parks 2019
South Australia to Western Australia 2019
South Australia trip 2017/2018
Western Australia Coastal Trip 2018
Northern Territory – Free camps, Donation camps and Caravan Parks 2018/2019
Queensland Road Trip 2017/2018
Stay safe and happy travels.
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Happy Aussie Caravanning Lifestyle
Dixie and Graeme