Living it Up in Litchfield

After visiting the termite mounds in Litchfield National Park, we checked out the lookout platform over Tolmer Falls. You can't go to the bottom of this waterfall, because colonies of rare bats live down there. It's one of the tallest waterfalls in the park, and though the water volume wasn't large while we were there, the height of it made it quite impressive.

Can you spot the swimmers under the waterfall?

Next, we stopped by Wangi Falls. There were tons of huge spiders in the plants along the banks of the plunge pool, so Zack took lots of pictures of those (he's obsessed with spiders). Wangi Falls is a popular swimming spot; many people from Darwin take day trips here to cool off.

These Aboriginal girls talked to us for a little while. They were very interested in where we were from and why we were in Australia. I asked them if they had ever seen crocodiles in this swimming area. They nonchalantly replied, "Of course, but just freshwater ones," and they didn't seem to be worried about it at all!

There aren't many food options in the park, but we found a place called Litchfield Safari Camp where we could get some dinner. It was a family-run operation. The Australian bloke showed us our options on the whiteboard out front, his wife cooked our burgers out back, and his daughter and son helped run the "camp." We felt like total tourists, especially as I snapped pictures of these kangaroos while we waited for our food.

Our last Northern Territory sunset.

Our original plan was to camp back at Wangi Falls, but the heat was so intolerable that we knew we wouldn't get any sleep. Sweat was literally dripping off of our faces. Plus, we didn't have any sleeping bags or pillows (the rental car company was supposed to supply them along with the tent but didn't), and we were tired of sleeping on our clothes. So we drove and found a cute little place to stay for the night, and on our steps, we saw this cool green tree frog. Actually, there were several huge toads around the grounds.

There's one other story about camping that I forgot to mention back in the Kakadu posts, but I want to remember it, so I'll put it here. We had set up our tent at an area called Mardugal after doing the Yellow Water crocodile cruise. There were various signs about crocs in the area (though you see those pretty much everywhere in the Northern Territory), and we were literally the only ones at the campground (low season). So we were lying in the tent, trying to get comfortable and get to sleep on top of our clothes and in the heat, when we suddenly heard noises. Not just normal noises...noises of something moving. Something (or someone!) was taking a few steps, stopping, and then taking some more steps. I promise that this wasn't just the breeze or regular camping noises; trust me-we camp a lot, and I know! So Zack and I, who if you'll remember had just seen over a dozen deadly crocodiles a few hours earlier, started panicking a little bit. Here we were in the middle of a deserted campground and something was definitely out there. So Zack, who I think had watched too many YouTube croc videos, decided we needed to get into the car to protect ourselves. Unfortunately, the noise was coming from the direction of the car. This meant we had to make a run for it! So we made our plan: Zack would unzip the tent, and we'd both make a mad dash for the driver's side door and jump in as soon as he got it unlocked. And that's what we did! I ended up on his lap, as there was no way I was going to run around to the other side of the car and get in that way-that's where the noise was! Then there was the dilemma of getting our tent into the car and getting out of there, as we knew neither of us would sleep well after hearing whatever we heard. So we backed the station wagon right up to the tent with the lights on, Zack quickly jumped out and shoved the whole thing into the trunk, and we drove off to the much more populated (and therefore safer!) Gagudju Lodge campground for a decent night's sleep. Well, as decent as can be had when sleeping on the hard ground in 85+ degree temperatures. I actually ended up moving to the backseat of the car for the early morning hours, because my back and hips hurt so much. Anyway, we'll never know what we heard out there in the wilderness...it could have been a wallaby or a big bird or even just a frog hopping around. But we like to think we escaped certain death from a crocodile dragging us off never to be heard from again!

Biking Bonanza

Remember this post about my bike getting stolen? Well, I'm not sure I ever mentioned that I found the same red bike for sale on eBay a few weeks later. It's not an uncommon bike here, because it's made by Reid Cycles, an Australian company, but I did think for a second that it might actually be mine being resold by the thief (it wasn't). Anyway, so I have a red bike again, and on Sunday, Zack and I did a loooooong ride with Kristy and Nigel along the Yarra River. Kristy has the same bike as me, but hers is white.

After several kilometers of riding, we arrived at our destination, Fairfield Park Boathouse & Tea Gardens. This riverfront restaurant was extremely popular and crowded on this sunny Sunday, and we had to wait a long time for our food. In the meanwhile, we enjoyed sipping on spiders, which is what Australians call floats. You know, like root beer floats...soda with ice cream in it. We had a raspberry soda one, and it was delicious. 

This place really is a boathouse, and you can rent canoes and kayaks here to paddle around in the river. The whole area is very scenic with tall eucalyptus trees, a bridge, and ducks swimming around. I wish there had been a koala in one of the trees; that would have made the place perfect!

After lunch, Kristy shared her fairy floss, which is what Australians call cotton candy. If you're a longtime reader, you may remember that from the post about Zack's birthday last year. Anyway, we sat along the river and soaked up the sun for awhile (Zack even took a little nap!) before hopping back on our bikes for the long ride home. We got a bit lost for awhile and couldn't seem to find the path back to the river, but we eventually made it and biked home to collapse on the couch for the rest of the evening. We sure slept well that night. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon spent with friends, though it hurt a bit to bike to the store the next day!

Sipping on spiders-ignore the rogue piece of hair in my face!

Saturday Morning Spider

On Saturday morning, Zack got up to go on a bike ride. The problem was, there was a spider web on the frame of his bike. After some searching, he found the spider INSIDE of one of his biking gloves. After some research, we determined that it was a brown huntsman spider, so maybe it was friends with the green one that I killed the other day.

So then we needed to figure out how to get the little bugger out of the glove. Shaking it didn't work; he wouldn't come out. So I suggested we drown him out. We put his glove in the sink and started filling it with water, and sure enough, out floated the spider!

Here's a picture of Zack smashing the spider with a wooden spoon. Notice the tongs in his other hand; he used those to carry the glove over to the sink. It was a fun morning researching the spider types, getting it out of the glove, and freaking ourselves out.


After biking, Zack and I spent a lazy afternoon watching (and napping during parts of) the AFL Grand Final. This is basically the Super Bowl of footy. There's no halftime show, but Meatloaf was part of the pre-game festivities, and he was HORRIBLE! I'm not just talking "oh he doesn't sound that good live" type of horrible. I'm talking "he must be drunk or on drugs or both" type of horrible. I don't think he hit a single right note, he shook in strange ways, and he even threatened the audience with, "I wanna hear some singing, or I'm gonna kick your a**." Classy. And apparently he was paid $500,000 or more for this disaster of a performance. Ridonkulous. Anyway, the Geelong Cats beat the Collingwood Magpies, and that's the end of the footy season. I guess cricket starts next? I'd better start trying to figure out the rules to that game now.

If you'd like to torture yourself with a replay of the Meatloaf performance, you can check out this Youtube video. Don't say I didn't warn you! (If you only have a moment to waste, start at about the 5:45 minute mark and catch the end of a song you might recognize.)

Random Stuff on a Rainy Day

I found this spider on the wall above our bed the other day. It was super tiny, about the size of a fingernail, so I wasn't scared or anything. But you hear about all sorts of deadly spiders in Australia, so I researched what kind it is...turns out it's a green huntsman spider (not dangerous).

Vanilla slice is a popular dessert at all of the cake shops on Acland Street, so I decided to make a batch at home yesterday. It's basically puff pastry sheets with a custard layer. The strawberries are my own touch. It was quite yummy if I do say so myself (and I do).

Yesterday was the wettest day in Melbourne in over fifty years! There was thunder and lightning, and this picture of a rainbow is not from yesterday, because once the rain started, it never stopped. This was taken from our balcony last week. I'm not sure if you can see it from this picture, but there was actually a faint double rainbow. No, it was not a "full on double rainbow all the way across the sky." If you didn't catch that reference, go visit Youtube sometime. Hilarious.

So yeah, today looks like another gray, cloudy day, and the sideways rain just started up again. Fun. I guess I'll go do laundry now. Oh, you wanted another sunset picture? Okay, if you insist!