Litchfield National Park Part 2

We woke this morning to the crowing of roosters! The park has some resident chickens & roosters, the kids thought they were cool. Maurice even did the crowing noise & they would do it back - the chicken whisperer!! 

After having breakfast we packed our gear & headed off for another day of adventure! Our first stop was at Tolmer Falls. There was a great lookout & a walk that we did there.

So after our walk there we made our way to the Blyth Homestead. This was a 4WD track into the homestead so we did a couple of creek crossings too!

Once there at the homestead we got to have a real good look around. This was an outstation to the Sergeant Family. They had 14 children all up & the oldest 10 or so were the ones that worked there the most with Dad & Mum checking in on them from time to time! One of the childrens names was Maurice who they called Max, so of course we thought that was rather cool! There was an amazing family album there that you could go through with the history & stories all inside. It took me about 20minutes or so to get right through it, but very interesting & they did it so tough back then!

And see the name on this one for their 7th child, Esther. I love this family, they chose really great names for all of their children. There was a Harry, Alexander, Susie & I can't remember the rest but I loved them all!

 So, we spent a bit of time here & on our way out we decided to take the rest of the track to Tjaynera Falls & Sandy Creek. We had to then make a decision about whether or not to make the kids do the 1.7km track to the hidden falls. It was a grade 3 walking track, so for our 3 (but esp. the 2 youngest) it was going to be pretty intense. We made the decision to go and after about 35minutes we had made it! Trent did have to put Felicity on his shoulders in a few sections as the rocks were a little hard for her to climb & Maurice got by holding my hand. This is what we found & we were so pleased that we did it! 

This one is actually me & the kids over beside the waterfalls, you can kind of make out our arms waving! Our good camera isn't working for some reason so the iphone doesn't quite go the distance! 

We spent about an hour & a half here, it was magic! There was only 1 other family there in the whole time we were there. We didn't want to leave but had to as there were still things to see. This was Felicity as we were trying to get her dressed to make the long walk back!

So cute! These are for the 21st photo board. We eventually got her dressed & made our way back along the track & finally got back to the car!

Our next stop was at Wangi Falls. First we had a late & well deserved lunch at the cafe there. After a big feed we were ready to go again. 

 We spent about another hour and a half at this place swimming too! Trent, Pheobe & I enjoyed looking below at all the fish swimming below us! This was after I got over that feeling of 'What will I see & do I actually want to see what is below!' Some pretty big fish we set our eyes on & even Felicity gave it a go & managed to see a few. Maurice had lots of fun jumping off the rocks into the water! We also met some older couples from Banno & Ocean Grove that were travelling together. They gave us a few hints & tips & advice about where we are heading next, so that was lovely of them.

Took this one just before I got in & we all swam over to the two falls. It was really great fun & so glad that we have been able to do it together.

        This is Flick after her big day!

And this is Pheobe feeling rather pleased with herself after the big day!

And finally we made our way back to the caravan but not before getting these few pics!

And this ends our time at Litchfield, it was great! Everyone should experience this place & its beauty! 

Litchfield National Park

After a very busy & full day in Katherine it was time to pack up & head to Litchfield National Park. Our first stop was about 202km's away at Adelaide River. There was a market going on so we stopped to check it out. Not much there really but we did pick up a map about Litchfield ans spoke to a couple of locals about where to stay & what to do etc...

 We decided to take a look at the War Cemetery, very interesting place & a peaceful one too.

After getting the kids a fruit snack for in the car we headed out to te town on Batchelor where we were told to visit the info centre but there was no one there! It was a little shipping container all decked out with maps & signs & posters on the walls, it had brochures on places to stay & things to do, but not a soul to be found. With that we made our way to the Litchfield Tourist Park where we planned to stay with the van for the next 2 nights. 

We unhooked, made some lunch & then set off for a look around. The first place we checked out was the Termite Mounds. These were pretty awsome & we found out that they make 2 sorts of mounds & that there is a level within the mounds that each termite lives depending on its age etc... 

Next we headed out to the Buley Rockhole. This was a rather busy place & there were plenty of people having a swim. I guess because its not all that far to walk from the car park & they are easily accessible. Here are a couple of shots.

After having a very refreshing dip here we moved on to the Florence Falls. These are probably the most photographed falls in the park & the ones most see on the ad's etc... These are also easily accessed but only by either walking down about 430 stairs (& remember you have to walk back up them too!) or you can take the 1.1km walk along the creek & through the bush.

 We chose to have a look at the falls from the viewing platform, then we walked down the stairs & around to where you can get into the swimming hole. There were so many people here that it was almost hard to move! After watching it all & seeing how many people were there we decided not to have a swim & take the walk along the creek back to the car. It was a good walk & the smells coming from the bush were lovely. We saw some small fish swimming in the creek, it was nice. 

And this pretty much ended our day. We did drive quickly to the other end of Litchfield to see what we were up for & wether or not we should take our van for our 2nd night there to the other park (incase it was better than where we were already staying!).

When we got back to our van Trent cooked yet another yummy roast & we were all showered & tucked in for the night by about 9pm after a long & eventful day.

I am going to leave this post here for now & then do a second post about Litchfield as there are so many things to write & tell you all about & im not sure how the downloading of photos will go if I put it all on the one! So keep your eyes open for the 2nd installment!

Katherine

Hi all!

Its been a few days now but we have of course been very busy & I will do my best to fill you in on the past 4 days.

So we last left off when we had just arrived in Katherine. We made our plan & decided to take a cruise up Katherine Gorge. This was going to be the best way for us to see as much as we could with all our 3 little people. It was fantastic!  Ranger Karen, your office is amazing & very beautiful. The kids had a lovely time & we even got to see some fresh water crocs! Here are a few of the many pics that we took from our trip in the gorge.

Some Aboriginal paintings up on the rock

                   The Family pic!

Maurice just after he had a quick dip in the water! He said it was FREEZING!

   One of the fresh water crocs we saw.

So it was a wonderful trip & something we will never forget. There is a lot of interesting stories that come out of this place & I would say to all those that ever get the chance - go visit!

After the cruise we had some lunch at the cafe there & then headed back into Katherine. We decided to check out the Hot Springs in Katherine but I think we were spoilt at Mataranka so we didn't spend all that much time there. The kids then made us get into the pool at the Caravan park. After that we had our showers & then went grocery shopping in Katherine. The worst Woolworths we have ever been into, but it had all we needed. We had a late dinner & then crashed after a really big day.