Monday was a
pretty quiet day, as we were without our cars.
Both cars were booked in for their 10,000km service. We had plenty of washing to do, sheets,
towels, doonas, and clothes, and also the van got a good clean out.
The boys had quite a bit of packing to do
with the vans, as we had been here for a week, so everything had come out. Having been camped under beautiful shady
trees, the roof of our van needed a good clean also as it was regularly visited
by the many birds that inhabit these trees and a mother possum and her baby. The solar panel in particular needed a very
good clean to make it efficient for us again.
Ian managed
to keep his car until lunchtime, so it was a quick trip to the local Woolworths
just down the road to stock up also on a few groceries as we were heading bush
for a few days.
Our car cost
us double what we expected as it had too much moisture in the brake fluid and
it had to drained and new fluid put in, it also needed new diff oil, and loose
bearing in the front wheels that needed to be tightened. Still the mechanics had been highly
recommended and it appeared they did a thorough job, and it was still a lot
cheaper that we would have paid elsewhere.
I had a
follow up Chiropractor appointment this afternoon also from my x-rays that were
taken on the Friday. There was nothing
new, it showed up my injury, which has been an ongoing issue, but it was good
to have a slight adjustment, which just built on the adjustment I had had on
the Friday. My back was pretty out of
align when I had visited him on the Friday.
Tuesday
morning we took off early as we were heading to Litchfield National Park. We had tossed up whether we should go to
Berry Springs, but were advised it was a one star attraction compared to the
five star attraction of Litchfield National Park, so in the end we decided to
head straight to Litchfield.
On our way into Litchfield National Park we stopped off in at the Termite Mounds. Some of these were amazing..... Huge, it is hard to beleive that such little ants can build such big nests.
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| Cathedral Termite Mound |
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| Checking out the size of it..... |
These termite mounds are found right across the northern Australia. These termites build some of the most spectacular of all termite mounds,
reminiscent of the elaborate architecture of medieval cathedrals.
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| Standing besides another one of the large Cathedral Termite Mounds in Litchefield NP |
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| They are amazing... so large and tall... |
We also got to see the Magnetic Termite mounds which are also in this area...Boardwalks take you close to 2m high, thin Magnetic Termite Mounds which
are aligned north-south and the giant 4 meter high Cathedral Termite
Mounds.
Built by termites, they are amazing architectural feats complete with
arches, tunnels, chimneys, insulation and nursery chambers. The mounds
are aligned north to south to minimise the exposure to the sun.
To me they almost looked like headstone in a cemetery. How they know to align north-south is quite amazing to me...
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| Magnetic termite mounds look like headstone in a cemetery to me. |
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| One of the magnetic termite mounds up close |
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| Magnetic termite mound with a large cathedral termite mound in the background. |
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| Steve checking out the magnetic termite mounds in Litchfield NP. |
We arrived
at Wangi Falls campground in Litchfield around lunchtime and were fortunate to get two of the only
remaining sites left in the Wangi Falls campground. We were on sites 8 and 10. We were pretty impressed with the camping
ground. Cost was $6.60 per person per
night, and the campground had water, and really good amenities, hot and cold
showers, and flushing toilets. In fact,
the amenities were a lot better than some of the caravan parks we had stayed in
that were charging $30 to $40 a night.
The only drawback were the insects that night for the first couple of
nights.
Once we had
set up and had a bite to eat for lunch, we got dressed for a swim and then
headed out to visit “The Lost City”. It
was a 10km 4WD track to get to this place.
The track really wasn’t too back, in fact we really didn’t need to
engage the vehicle into 4WD at all. You
did need a 4WD though for the height clearance.
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| It was a 4WD track into the Lost City. - the road was pretty good though.. |
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| Amazing rock formations |
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| Steve exploring the Lost City |
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| Add caption |
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| Amazing rock formations |
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| Exploring the Lost City in Litchfield National Park... |
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| Add caption |
You could really use your imagination with some of these rocks, and we were doing just that... This next rock formation looked like a man with his arms cut off....
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| Armless Man |
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| His sitting dog... |
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| Man and beast... |
The Lost
City was quite amazing, only about 500mtr circuit walk around the rock
formations, but you were also able to wander in and around the different towers
of rock. Very interesting and we spent
some time here photographing and just being in awe of such beauty.
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| Kathy relaxing for a few minutes in a bit of shade... |
The drive in and out of the "Lost City" was relatively pretty with lots of wildflowers out, and the rich reds, contrasted with the lush greens and the vibrant blue skies. Such a beautiful picture.
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| Plenty of wild flowers blooming |
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| Turkey bush |
From the
Lost City, we had planned to go and have a look at Tolmer Falls, but by the
time we got back to the highway it was 5pm, so we decided just to head back to
Wangi Falls and have a swim at the falls, as it was still pretty hot, and we
were keen to cool off.
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| Wangi Falls in Litchfield NP. |
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| Cooling off... |
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| Beautiful crystal clear water, and cold waterfalls... |
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| This was to be the first of many swims here.. |
The water to
cool to get into but it was quite refreshing once in and we spent the next hour
and a half just cooling down in the water.
There were lots of others enjoying a cool evening dip as well, and we
got talking to some really interesting folk who had now been on the road for a
good three years
.
We ended up
having a late dinner, as we were cooking a chicken roast for dinner
tonight. It was a relaxing night where
we just sat out under the stars chatting.
It ended up
being a relatively early night, as there was no way you could have a light on
in the van without these horrid stinging little long insects getting in. They were small enough to get through the fly
mesh and would head to any bright light, so we had the blue lights on in the
van until we were ready to crawl into bed.
No power, no air con, so every window and vent had to be opened for ventilation. Even the 12-volt fan was resurrected to help
keep us cool enough to sleep.
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