We were 50/50 on doing a night or two in and around Litchfield to explore the park when we were planning the trip – but it’s only an hour and a half drive from Darwin, so we decided to do it all in one day. That meant a little bit of driving today, but it was a brilliant day.
We came along the Litchfield Park Rd from the north and really enjoyed the drive into the park. Our first stop was at Tolmer Falls. As well as a stunning lookout and viewing platform, there’s a really nice 1.6km loop walk down to Tolmer Creek, and then around to the falls. Again, it was just such different bush and landscape to everything else we’ve visited before – I know it seems obvious, but it’s been really enjoyable to see how each National Park area has its own unique landscape and plant life. As we came around to the end of the loop, we headed to the lookout and the viewing platform. The outlook down to the south-west from the viewing platform was quite stunning – so very flat!
15 minutes down the road was Florence Falls, where we spent the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon. We all got into our swimmers and took the walk down 135 steps to the base of Florence Falls – and it was absolutely stunning! There’s a beautiful plunge pool at the base of the falls, and it’s a very popular spot to swim. Being a Sunday, that was certainly adding to the visitor numbers as well. But it wasn’t overwhelmingly busy – we still found a spot to put our stuff, and then we headed for the water. Thankfully, the water was nowhere near as cold as Leliyn (Edith Falls) (from day 47) – it was still quite cool, but really refreshing. And it was great having the falls within closer reach this time – we all swam over to the base of the falls and had fun around them. Not only is that really, really hard work because of the current that the water generates, but you really don’t understand the sheer volume of water falling from above onto your head! But we made it there, and grabbed a few snaps with the waterproof disposable camera again (can’t wait to see those photos!). After a good 90 minutes or so just enjoying the water, and Debbie, Eliza and Daniel taking one last swim out to the base of the falls, we all jumped out and had some lunch we’d brought down with us. We then started the trek back up the stairs to the carpark – it was quite a steep climb out and a decent walk – probably at least 15-20 mins worth.
The last stop in Litchfield National Park was only another 10 minutes or so up the road – the Termite Mounds. It was only a short stop, but still really remarkable to see. We’d been spotting these termite mounds up and down the Stuart Highway for the last few weeks, so we were keen to see some of them up close and hopefully learn a bit more about them. We got to see a few amazing examples of the mounds – some made by the magnetic termites (who create their mounds facing north-south), and some made by cathedral termites (who made grand, cathedral-style mounds). Unfortunately there wasn’t really any information talking about how the termites create these mounds, or how long they take to build. It was still super fascinating to stop off and see briefly though.
On the way back home, we decided to keep the swimming theme alive today and drop into Berry Springs. We’d been intending to do this another day while we were in Darwin, but with changing a few things around, it had been left a bit on its own and at risk of being missed. But given how much the kids have adored swimming during this holiday, and especially enjoyed different natural thermal springs, we decided to include it in today’s adventures. Sunday is clearly a very busy day for the Berry Springs Nature Park – we got there at about 3:30pm, and it was still really packed. As you head into the park from the carpark, there’s a few really beautiful expanses of grass and picnic tables in between heaps of trees – it would definitely make a great setting for a Sunday family picnic, which is what a lot of people were clearly doing. And then just a bit further on, behind a really thick boundary of trees, is the incredible waters of Berry Springs. The main pool is huge, and really deep – and surprisingly it was actually quite cool in the water. But when we swam upstream (fighting the current a little bit), we realised that the warm thermal water was coming down from further upstream, and so there was an upper pool that was really warm with that water. Again, the kids just adored it, and could’ve stayed in there until the sun went down. Eventually, at about 5pm, we decided we really needed to get going back to Darwin.
Tonight we had some takeaway from the brilliantly named Frying Nemo. Fairly expensive as far as fish & chips goes – but it was enjoyable. I had been keen to have a crocodile burger at some point up here in the NT – and tonight was my night. It was… interesting! Not sure if it’s the croc flavour, or just how this place flavoured the patty that made it a little bit interesting. The kids had some crocodile & lemon myrtle spring rolls with their fish & chips – Daniel loved it, the other two weren’t quite as sold!
Still a couple more days here in Darwin to go yet, with a few good things to look forward to ahead.
