Let The Party Continue......

After a big day yesterday, we started today a little slower. Ian arrived (from his apartment in Palmerston - after having done a early morning run) before we had even had breakfast or got out of our pj's. With a couple of coffees we set off to explore Litchfield National Park for the day.

The road into Litchfield was a dirt road and a little bumpy, albeit quite picturesque. Given we couldn't see all that Litchfield had to offer in a day we chose 3 main spots to visit. The first being Wangi Falls. At Wangi there is a camping ground (which we will stay at, at a later date) and main carpark, with a short paved path to the beautiful Wangi Falls. It was still cool and no-one was ready to go in for a swim, not even Zach, so we set off on the Wangi Loop walking track, which took us through a rain forest area where bats hung in the trees, up to the top of the falls, across the top and down the other side, by which stage most of us were ready for a swim. Nick was the first in, followed by Zach, Paul and Ian. Abbey convinced Ian to carry her across to where Nick was on the other side, while Jerry was still contemplating the crocodile sign at the entrance to the falls. Me.... Well it wasn't warm enough to even consider getting in.

By the time everyone had got out of the water and dressed, it was lunch time. We enjoyed a picnic at the picnic grounds at Wangi Falls. Abbey and Freya were sitting on the ground sharing their sandwiches when a whistling kite came swooping down with pinpoint accuracy and grabbed it out of Abbeys hands, slightly grazing her fingers. It all happened so fast we wondered if it really had happened.

While we were at Wangi Falls I asked a tour guide if "The Lost City" was accessible without a 4wd. "nope" he replied "not worth going to in my opinion, just sand and rocks". We headed back to the cars and thought we'd make our own decision when we got to the turn off.

Well the territory has been through some places she probably shouldn't have, and even Nick was hesitant about taking her down the 10km 4wd track down to The Lost City, so Ian suggested we all (10 of us) pile into his Pajero hire car (cause hire cars can go anywhere and carry heaps of people).

Part way down the single file track we all agreed that the territory probably would have struggled through the sandy rutted track. The tour guide was right, it was just sand and rocks, but the formations the rocks made were amazing. You really did feel like you were in a lost city, some of the rocks forming doorways, others forming pillars, tunnels and caves. It was a great place to let your imagination run wild, Freya thinking hide and seek was fun, while Zach loved climbing to the top of the rocks with Uncle Jerry. Nick thought he was made of muscle holding a rock above him, while Matt loved finding caves and tunnels. An easy walk meandered it's way though the rock formations back to the car park. The tour guide was wrong on one point, we all thought it WAS worth visiting.

Our final spot to visit at Litchfield is the Magnetic Termite Mounds. These termite mounds face North / south in order to minimize the suns heat during the day. It is quite an amazing sight, with no trees around them, just a clearing of these termite mounds.

We headed back to Berry Springs, enjoyed a delicious dinner together followed by another night around a fire.

Let The Party Continue......

After a big day yesterday, we started today a little slower. Ian arrived (from his apartment in Palmerston - after having done a early morning run) before we had even had breakfast or got out of our pj's. With a couple of coffees we set off to explore Litchfield National Park for the day.

The road into Litchfield was a dirt road and a little bumpy, albeit quite picturesque. Given we couldn't see all that Litchfield had to offer in a day we chose 3 main spots to visit. The first being Wangi Falls. At Wangi there is a camping ground (which we will stay at, at a later date) and main carpark, with a short paved path to the beautiful Wangi Falls. It was still cool and no-one was ready to go in for a swim, not even Zach, so we set off on the Wangi Loop walking track, which took us through a rain forest area where bats hung in the trees, up to the top of the falls, across the top and down the other side, by which stage most of us were ready for a swim. Nick was the first in, followed by Zach, Paul and Ian. Abbey convinced Ian to carry her across to where Nick was on the other side, while Jerry was still contemplating the crocodile sign at the entrance to the falls. Me.... Well it wasn't warm enough to even consider getting in.

By the time everyone had got out of the water and dressed, it was lunch time. We enjoyed a picnic at the picnic grounds at Wangi Falls. Abbey and Freya were sitting on the ground sharing their sandwiches when a whistling kite came swooping down with pinpoint accuracy and grabbed it out of Abbeys hands, slightly grazing her fingers. It all happened so fast we wondered if it really had happened.

While we were at Wangi Falls I asked a tour guide if "The Lost City" was accessible without a 4wd. "nope" he replied "not worth going to in my opinion, just sand and rocks". We headed back to the cars and thought we'd make our own decision when we got to the turn off.

Well the territory has been through some places she probably shouldn't have, and even Nick was hesitant about taking her down the 10km 4wd track down to The Lost City, so Ian suggested we all (10 of us) pile into his Pajero hire car (cause hire cars can go anywhere and carry heaps of people).

Part way down the single file track we all agreed that the territory probably would have struggled through the sandy rutted track. The tour guide was right, it was just sand and rocks, but the formations the rocks made were amazing. You really did feel like you were in a lost city, some of the rocks forming doorways, others forming pillars, tunnels and caves. It was a great place to let your imagination run wild, Freya thinking hide and seek was fun, while Zach loved climbing to the top of the rocks with Uncle Jerry. Nick thought he was made of muscle holding a rock above him, while Matt loved finding caves and tunnels. An easy walk meandered it's way though the rock formations back to the car park. The tour guide was wrong on one point, we all thought it WAS worth visiting.

Our final spot to visit at Litchfield is the Magnetic Termite Mounds. These termite mounds face North / south in order to minimize the suns heat during the day. It is quite an amazing sight, with no trees around them, just a clearing of these termite mounds.

We headed back to Berry Springs, enjoyed a delicious dinner together followed by another night around a fire.

Let The After Party Begin......

With Paul, Freya, Ian and Jerry visiting from interstate I thought about places we could explore for the remaining couple of days they were staying with us.

So the itinerary for Day 1 of the after party was as follows:

• Egg and Bacon Breakfast and strong coffee

• Swim at Berry Springs

• Jumping Crocodile Tour

• Window on the Wetlands visit

By the time we had cooked and eaten breakfast and had numerous cups of coffee it was almost 11am before we set off to Berry Springs, probably a bit later than we had anticipated.

At Berry Springs we enjoyed floating down from pool to pool, joking about the possibility of crocs in the water. Down at the lower pool the boys (big and small) found a rock they could bomb and dive from, splashing, and belly whacking into the water, removing any sense of tranquility and peacefulness for the surrounding swimmers. Time seemed to fly by and before we knew it, it was 1:30pm. We hurriedly dried ourselves before packing into the 2 cars to head to the jumping croc tour an hour away. Off we raced, driving through the town of Humpty Doo before reaching the Adelaide River, turning down a dirt track through farm and wet lands, wondering how high a croc can jump out of the water.

We arrive at The Spectacular Jumping Croc Tour, greeted by an enormous (maybe 6 metres long by 2 metres wide) model crocodile, which we were to later told, was a life size replica. I think most of us (except Zach of course) were a bit skeptical about the accuracy of the actual size. The tour office was nothing more than a corrugated open tin shed, with a few tables and chairs, and about 6 tanks with snakes in them. One of the bonus' of booking with "spectacular" is being able to hold a snake before the tour - not sure what this has to do with crocs, but the kids thought this was a great bonus being able to hold an olive python.

Time to board the boat. We head down a ramp, spotting a large croc sunning itself on the opposite bank, and head into a large boat, only to be guided through to a smaller boat. We take our seats and captain Pete runs through the rules with a very dry wit, emphasising never to lean out the boat because "crocs can see you before you see them". We putt slowly down the river quickly spotting crocs on the bank and swimming on the water. As Pete runs through his commentary, telling us the differences between fresh water and saltwater (well actually esturine crocs to be more accurate) crocs, and the fallacies that "salties" live only in salt water, he pauses and adds "They're everywhere you know" at frequent intervals. This line would become our mantra whenever we went near a river, spring or waterholes.

After putting along for about 15 minutes the first piece of meat was put on the hook (the hook is attached to what looks like a broom handle), and as if on cue a croc suddenly appears sizing up it's meal. The croc floats, then disappears briefly, it's head slowly reappearing, then suddenly it leaps out of the water, exposing itself down to it's lower legs, and with an almost deafening snap of it's jaws attacks the piece of meat. Of course, the tour operator didn't let the croc get the meat on it's first attempt, making it work for it's free feed. Well that certainly impressed us all, leaving Zach speechless. Time to go find another croc to feed. In all we saw 4 or 5 crocs being fed, sometimes being enticed up onto the bank to show us just how large they are, one of them bumping our boat a few times, glaring up at us as if we would be his next feed, not the small piece of meat on offer. It was a chilling thought, wondering just how many crocs inhabit this area alone. We were shown a dead croc floating upside down due to a fight with another croc, it's long white belly a sight not often seen.

As we made our way back we watched as the tour guide whistled then threw a small piece of meat in the air, a whistling kite sweeping past, grabbing the meat in it's tallons with absolute accuracy. Matt spotted a jabiru wading in the shallows, which promptly flew off as we approached.

Once back on dry land, still chanting the "they're everywhere" motto we headed over to Window on The Wetlands, a information centre with a diorama set up showing the wet / dry seasons, the animals which inhabit here and the history of the area as well as a viewing platform overlooking the plains, wetlands and farmland.

After a full day of exploring we headed back to camp and enjoyed a BBQ tea together along with Pete & Jo & Mark & Lauren. Later enjoying a chat around the fire before heading off to bed in readiness for another full day tomorrow.