Another very blue sunny sky greeted us this morning and before long the temperature was steadily climbing. We set out for the Litchfield National Park a distance of about 60 kms away from our caravan park. The drive was not what we had expected. It was disappointing in that we just saw much of the same vegetation we had seen before, scrubby trees and undergrowth but every now and then we would see some bushes that were flowering a pretty pink/purple flower. Obviously, a native tree that we do not recognise. Scattered termite mounds throughout the bushes again varying in size and appearance. We stopped at a particular termite mound for a photo shoot. This mound is a Cathedral Termite Mound home to a colony of grass eating Cathedral termites. Also in this area was a paddock full of other termite mounds all facing North/South so that the sides of the mounds are facing East/West so as to have a constant temperature during the early morning and late afternoon sun. Every live termite mound has a Queen and millions of workers. They only eat grass and enter the mound from the bottom and secrete at the top. A live termite mound has little fingers across the top. The Queen can live for 30-40 years and the colony dies five years after the Queen dies.
We then continued our drive to the Wangi Falls where we had a morning swim in the beautiful pool with the water cascading down in several places. A swim to the waterfall was difficult as we got closer the force of the cascading water created a current that pushed you further away. After the swim we walked to the lookout to view the waterfall from a distance.
A short break for coffee and a snack before continuing on to the Buley Rockhole where we had our picnic lunch. The Rockhole is a series of waterfalls and rock pools at different levels and we enjoyed our time there in the water with a great number of other sightseers. It was a very beautiful setting with the pools being surrounded by trees and flowering bushes.
After our drive today we are more than happy with our location at the Batchelor Caravan Park as the camp sites in the national park did not offer any shade and the facilities were very basic.
Tomorrow we return to view another part but, at this stage, we feel the Park does not meet our expectations and has been over-promoted. Apart from the beautiful falls, rock pools and monsoon forests near the creeks, the rest of the area is rather disappointing.
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| The park entrance. |
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| This Mound is well over 5 meters and could be 50 years old. |
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| Hundreds of mounds in this field look like gravestones. |
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| An active mound. - note the fingers at the top. The east and west sides maximise temperature control. |
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| The inside of the termite mound is like a beehive or a wasp nest. |
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| The Wangi Falls Lookout. |
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| The monsoon forest surround the Falls. |
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| Information on the Buley Rockhole. |
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| Jude and Wendy cooling off in one of the pools. |
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| A deep rock hole at the cascading waterfall base. |
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| The waterfalls and rock holes are spring fed. |
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