Last Day in Litchfield

We woke up to our final day in the Northern Territory after a great night's sleep in our cute little hut. We still had things to see in Litchfield National Park before driving back to Darwin.

Buley Rockhole is an awesome place in the park. It's a series of waterfalls and naturally created rock pools. You have hundreds of personal little pools to choose from, and we had fun climbing around in many of them.

Playing in Buley Rockhole.

See the tiny termite mound?

After playing around for awhile, we walked the path to Florence Falls. It was a pleasant walk with informational signs and rainforest-type plants along the way.

Overlook of Florence Falls

We did our last waterfall swim in the Northern Territory here in Florence Falls. There were several other people there (you can drive to it as well), but it wasn't overly crowded. Can you spot Zack's head in this picture?

Zack of course wasn't content with just swimming and relaxing; he had to do a jump.

There were tons of fish underwater. These might be barramundi; I'm not sure. I do know I ate barramundi a few times on this trip-yum!

We enjoyed swimming under the waterfall for awhile before heading back toward Buley Rockhole and our station wagon. We had to go drop off our car in Darwin and catch our flight home.

Our final waterfall swim!

Flying out of Darwin.

Our trip to the Northern Territory was amazing, and we packed a lot into five days. The Yellow Water crocodile cruise and our hike to Edith Falls were probably my favorite parts of the trip, but I have lots of awesome memories. If you're interested in seeing the "real" Australia, and you love outdoor adventures, I would highly recommend a trip to this part of the country. But be prepared for lots of driving...these national parks are big, and they're not right next to each other! Anyway, that's the last of my posts about this trip, so now I can hopefully catch up with posts about lots of other things we've been doing lately.

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!

Tons of Termite Mounds

It looks like a strange type of graveyard, right?

One of our first stops upon arriving in Litchfield National Park on our Northern Territory trip was an area where you could see tons of termite mounds. We had already seen several in Kakadu National Park and while driving all around the Northern Territory, but we hadn't seen so many in one place before. These structures are pretty fascinating. Termites feed on grass and plant debris found in areas that are flooded during the wet season, so they have to live above ground in the mounds. Inside the mounds are complex tunnels, arches, chimneys, insulation, etc.

The compass termite is responsible for making the magnetic termite mounds. These mounds are all aligned in a north-south orientation, with the broad faces aimed east and west. This acts as a temperature control mechanism, allowing the least possible surface area to be exposed to the sun. Our guide on the Kakadu tour told us that the temperature only fluctuates 0.2 degrees within the mound!

Below is a picture of a cathedral mound made by woodland termites. Some of these were massive! In the Kakadu post, I am standing next to one, so you can get an idea of the height. These mounds are made of chewed wood, mud, and feces (yum). If humans made a similar structure, it would be over a kilometer high!

Who knew that termites did something besides eat wood and cause problems?!

December 1 Down Under

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How does one spend a Saturday in Australia? Well, here's a little glimpse of how we spent our Saturday, December 1st, which is the first day of summer.

First, Zack and I walked to a nearby restaurant for brunch. Afterward, I stopped by the South Melbourne Market for some fresh fruits, vegetables, and our favorite Tasmanian salmon.

On the walk home, I checked out the monthly Bank Street Market, where I found these colorful flowers.

The weather was perfect, so Zack and I biked down to the beach and drank some ciders on the sand.

Zack jammed on his guitar for awhile, and at one point, he even had a little girl on the path above us accompanying him on the "drums." She was actually quite good at keeping the beat!




















I enjoyed catching up on some reading...

...and found the people watching to be quite interesting. I have no idea why this guy was collecting all these sticks. And you should be glad I spared you the front view. Did I ever mention that Speedos are called budgie smugglers in Australia? I will not elaborate on the reasons!










We met up with our friends Todd and Alena for dinner at a Turkish restaurant near the market. After a huge, authentic meal (Zack's Turkish coffee and gross Turkish delight are pictured here), we headed to a local bar for a drink and to play some cards to end the night. It's nice to have friends from Chicago who know how to play euchre!

So I'd say that was a pretty good start to our summer, eh?

Edith Falls Fun

Besides Katherine Gorge, the other main attraction in Nitmiluk National Park is Edith Falls. This was one of my favorite places on our Northern Territory trip. You can swim in the easily accessible pool (that's Edith Falls in the far background) just a short walk from the parking lot, but the real treat comes when you do the Leliyn Loop walk.







The hike gives you great views of the water and vast landscape below.

Then you get a glimpse of the awesomeness that awaits you.

We had these upper pools all to ourselves! It was amazing. And no, there are no crocodiles up in this area of the park!

Zack did some bouldering...





















...while I enjoyed playing in the water.

After an hour or so of enjoying our own private waterfall and rock pools, we continued our hike and got more beautiful views of where we had been.











You sure do feel like you are in the "real" Australia in the Northern Territory. It's pretty darn cool. Well, actually it's pretty darn hot, but you know what I mean! This is my last post about Nitmiluk; my next post will take you to Litchfield National Park (the third and final park of our trip).

Yes, I am a dork who owns an Australian swimsuit. It was $15 and works well for pictures in these settings. Don't judge!

Aboriginal Art in Nitmiluk

In Katherine Gorge, you can park your kayak and get out on the banks of the first gorge and see lots of Aboriginal rock art. I liked it because although you knew the general area in which to find it, nothing was labeled. You had to look at all of the rock faces, under ledges, etc. and see what you could find for yourself. Then you get to figure out what it is. It was kind of like a treasure hunt in which you'd find more and more the longer you looked, and I'm sure I missed tons of it. Anyway, this is just a picture post with some of my favorite rock art I found. Enjoy!

Platypus, I think?

I like the handprints.

Under a ledge.

Another hidden one under a ledge.

These were really high up on the rock face. I'm not sure how they did it.

This one was huge and took up a whole rock face. Awesome!

Kayaking Katherine Gorge

After leaving Kakadu National Park, Zack and I headed to Katherine Gorge, also known as Nitmiluk National Park. We spent a full day kayaking, hoping to get as far as the fifth gorge, but the low water levels prevented us from getting past the third one. No worries though; we still had plenty of fun and adventure along the way!

There were cool birds along the shore...

Bugs on the rocks (note the spider below the dragonfly) and snakes in the caves to steer clear of...

Harmless Banded Tree Snake-also known as a Night Tiger.

Flies to avoid while walking along the banks of the river (we grew to love our head nets)...















And lots of beautiful views...

But the craziest thing of all happened on our way back to the drop-off point. We had been kayaking along the edge of the shore all day, reading these signs about crocodiles nesting and avoiding certain areas. I knew that there were no saltwater crocodiles in Katherine Gorge, and those are the dangerous ones that will attack and kill you (the type we saw in Kakadu). But freshwater ones live in Nitmiluk, and they can become aggressive if cornered or threatened.

Well, we had just started to kayak into a small cave (like we had when we found the snake pictured above), when we suddenly heard what sounded like a mix between a loud hiss and a growl. Zack paddled us backward quickly; I thought it was a snake for a second. But it was a crocodile!!! That's right, we almost cornered a freshwater crocodile in a cave while we were sitting just inches above the water in a kayak all alone out in the middle of the gorge! It had reared its head up a bit, so its body was kind of slanted while it eyed us. It was pretty big! We stayed at a distance and tried to get a few pictures and a video, but you can see they didn't turn out so well. Anyway, it was wild, and we've been recreating the sound it made ever since! 

Katherine Gorge itself wasn't that impressive compared to some Colorado or Utah scenery we've experienced (I know I sound like a snob, but it's true), but the kayaking was a nice way to spend a hot day, and the crocodile encounter made it worth the trip! Oh yeah, and there was some more cool aboriginal art to see, but that'll be in tomorrow's post...