Litchfield National Park

Florence Falls

On the way to Darwin we visited Litchfield National Park to see one of the benefits of a big wet season they get up here. Falls, falls and more falls to see and no two falls were the same. There was so much crystal clear, croc free water to enjoy and cool us down. We had a wonderful time doing a lot of the walks around this park and swimming every hole we could to cool down.
Buley rock holes was a great swimming spot, although very popular we managed to find a not too crowded spot to swim. We did the walk from Buley to Florence Falls and saw some more swimming holes on the way. Then we arrived at the top of Florence falls, it is a massive drop and spectacular to see, we swam in one of the more secluded swimming holes above the falls.



Crowd at Buley Rock Hole



But we found a spot to swim















Having seen a ranger we asked him about the Sandy Creek 4wd track and lucky for us it was just opened that afternoon so we were the second tourist vehicle to travel to Sandy Creek and camp for the season. It was a top little campground and the falls were the most spectacular in the park in our opinion. The walk along the creek to the falls was beautiful featuring many nice cascades and swimming holes to try out.

Sandy Creek Falls

Our camp at Sandy Creek

The girls enjoyed climbing up, around and thru the rock formations of the lost city. And also discovering Blyth Homestead and learning about the way of life for the Blyth family with their 12 children and the hardship they endured during the years they mined for tin in this area. There was another larger old tin mine in the park which showed the girls more about how the tin was mined and processed. They collected their pieces of tin from the ground to bring home.
 

The lost city



Blyth Homestead



Old tin mine

 
Another walk we did was the cascades walk which was magic, nice and cool walking along the crystal clear creek to the falls. Above the falls were cascades and swimming holes to enjoy. We spent a few hours here swimming and the girls both enjoyed jumping off the falls into the deep hole below. Kate surprised us when she started doing summersaults.


Jumping at the cascades waterfall



Kate's summersault action



 



We have seen so many wonderful places in Litchfield now it was time to head to the big city of Darwin. On the way we found a field of termite mounds to camp by and were joined by Roxford and Allie who are a couple who we met on a walk at Lawn Hill and were lucky enough to see them again before we entered Litchfield. We enjoyed their company for the night and Allie spoilt the girls.



Camping at the termite mounds



It was Sunday morning and we were keen to go to the Mindal Beach markets in Darwin so we packed up camp relatively early. Driving past Berry Springs on the way, we could not resist stopping for a swim. It was a great surprise when we felt the springs and they were warm, an early morning bath!!! Darrin, Roxford and the girls enjoyed snorkelling and finding all sorts of treasure in the springs.

Berry Springs