Darwin and Litchfield NP 5 - 20 June

Darwin – hmmm!! Darwin means rest, maintenance, shopping and BUNNINGS!!!! I’m afraid this episode will probably be a bit boring.

After the excitement of Kakadu our stay in Darwin was somewhat sedate. We decided on the Big 4 at Berrimah which is about 15 minutes drive out of the CBD. A nice park with lots of trees and 3 pools, although the pools were nothing much to write home about. Mundane stuff for the first few days, washing etc and a trip to the information centre to check out the main attractions of Darwin. We booked a trip by boat to the Tiwi Islands for the following Wednesday.

Friday night, after dinner, we went to the Palmerston Market which was mainly food stalls!!!!!! Saturday Stephen disappeared for most of the day as it was Bunnings Day. He eventually arrived home with numerous hardware items including a ladder. Now one would have thought that he had had his fill of ladders for this lifetime, but I was wrong. He then had to buy a multitude of bibs and bobs to attach the ladder to the back of the van. This kept him busy for a couple of days while I spent my time reading and visiting the pool. The weather was very warm and quite humid with nights spent with the aircon on and not much else.

Sunday night we went to the Mindil Market. More food stalls and lots of people. We arrived home about 9pm and were joined for a drink by James and Niamh (for the plebians this is pronounced Neve), a young Irish couple who were camping next to us. These two proved to be the bad Irish people as we went to bed at 2.30am after several bottles of red. They were a very bad influence and earned us a bad name amongst the neighbours. Its amazing how those old grey nomads can hold a grudge and point every time you walk past.

After a late start on Monday we visited the East Point Military Museum where we paid $12 each for our entry only to realise less than 5 minutes after entering that we had already been there on our previous trip to Darwin. Let’s just say that we weren’t too sharp that day.

Tuesday night we met with Justine Rogers for dinner. It was great to catch up with her and hear all about what she has been up to. As I write this Justine will be back visiting her mum and dad in Melbourne with several pairs of track pants and many jumpers on. Kay’s heating bill will also jump quite substantially during her stay no doubt.

Wednesday we were up at the crack of dawn to catch the ferry across to the Tiwi Islands – Bathurst and Melville, a two hour trip. We were taken from the boat to the shore on a flat bottomed barge and met with our local guide. The morning was spent moving around the island and learning about the Tiwi culture. Let’s just say if you are going to be born on these islands it would be better that you are a boy and not a girl. Brothers do not speak to or make eye contact with their sisters at all and if they wish to communicate with each other it is done through a third person – mother or father usually. As uncles and aunts are considered parents, this non verbal contact applies to female cousins also. They were very family orientated and seemed to not need much to be happy. It is a very Catholic culture and the second religion is AFL football. Our guide was very happy to talk about anything to do with football.

While in Darwin we discovered Casurina shopping centre and spent a pleasant morning at the museum where they had a very good exhibition on Cyclone Tracey. Janet and Rob caught up with us at some stage which of course meant nibbles and drinks on a number of evenings. Saturday night we joined most of Darwin at the Marrara Oval to watch the Bulldogs wallop Port Adelaide. It was interesting to go to the footy with our shorts, singlets and thongs on. Other than that, reading, swimming, maintenance, shopping and rest. Oh yes, most importantly we both had haircuts and a colour for me which I guess fits into the 'maintenance' category, don’t want to end up looking like a grey nomad!! Stephen’s attempt at humour with the hairdresser backfired completely. When she asked how he would like his hair cut he replied that she should only cut the grey hairs. Her sharp retort was “So you want your head shaved”. The conversation practically ceased at this point.

On Monday 15 June we left Darwin and intended to go to Litchfield National Park. However we stopped at the shops to buy some food and when we returned to the car to put the purchases in the car fridge we discovered that it wasn’t working. Great!! We decide to instead go to Berry Springs which is about 25 kms down the road in case we needed to come back into Darwin for major fridge repairs. We have had Berry Springs jammed down our throats by Chris and Di Ridsdale who obviously had a very nice time when they visited. As we emerged from the car we were greeted by the buzz of the mosquito swarms that immediately attacked not only me, who they love, but also Stephen. By the time we had the verandah up on the caravan we had been bitten on all exposed skin. Stephen discovered the problem with the fridge was a blown fuse (we seem to be having a problem with the fuse god since we left home). A replacement fuse was easily purchased in Berry Springs and promptly fixed. We spent the afternoon at the hot springs, which I must admit were very nice, but the rest of the day inside the van hiding from the insects swarming around the caravan door. Next morning we were out of there but unfortunately we were covered in bites resulting in much discomfort and scratching for the next few days. Can someone please explain to me how you get bites on the bum when said bum is neatly covered by shorts????

Tuesday we drove into Litchfield and found a lovely little caravan park about 4 kms past Wangi Falls. After setting up, and deciding that we really liked it there, we drove to Wangi for a refreshing swim and a bit of a lay around on the grass – see we really are getting the hang of this holiday. Wednesday Stephen was itching for a walk so we drove to Florence Falls then walked to Buley rock pools and back. Buley is a beaut little spot with a waterfall that has a series of rock pools you can either sit or swim in. The 90 minute walk proved to be about 30 minutes so not too taxing at all. On the way back we 4x4’d into the Lost City which is a little similar to the Devil’s Marbles, rocks precariously balanced on top of other rocks which gives the impression of a relic of a long, lost city. Stephen went into hunter and gatherer mode when we got home and came back with lots of wood for the fire we could finally light. We spent the next few evenings sitting around the fire and watching the stars which were brilliant.

Woke up Thursday with a head cold, no not the swine. Walkers Creek walk was the morning’s exercise. A series of camping spots along the creek with their very own swimming holes, however in order to enjoy them you need to hike in with your gear. It was a very pleasant walk to the end of the creek and back. We followed this up with a walk to see Tolmer Falls which turned out to be the most spectacular of all the falls in Litchfield. All this walking made us very hot so we went for a swim at Wangi, however we decided we would do the climb to the top of the falls before our swim. I wish we hadn’t because it was quite unspectacular and very steep. The water was quite refreshing (cold) at Wangi which we really appreciated after all the walking and climbing as we were very hot by that stage.

A late start on Friday and another walk to a lovely plunge pool above Green Ant Creek. We were all alone there for sometime but then, of course, the Germans arrived and our peace was over.

Saturday we packed up and drove to Katherine where we will spend two days before heading to the west, just in time for the school holidays!!

Photos @
http://picasaweb.google.com.au/stephen.hede/DarwinAndLitchfieldNP?authkey=Gv1sRgCK2_3-rE7_HylwE#