DAY 55 CHILLING OUT AT WANGI FALLS…

It has been so hot here the last couple of days, that all you feel like doing is sitting in the drink (water).  Well today, we have chosen to do that.  We are not going anywhere, we are just going to chill out at Wangi Falls.  

Steve, Kathy and Ian got up early and did the Wangi Loop Walk. 

Early morning walk..

It was a relatively easy walk, with some steep steps on the ascent and descent.  The first part of the walk was on a boardwalk through some lovely rainforest terrain, mainly palms at the start with a flying fox colony. These were not as visible as the ones at Katherine Gorge as they were high up in the canopy.  

The dirt path slowly rose through the rainforest, which had a mix of buttress trees along with palms and eucalypts.  This part of the walk was well shaded, nice, and cool, and it followed a small spring fed stream.  They even managed to see some black wild pigs, and quickly kept moving.  They didn’t want to encounter these guys along the way.  They even forgot to take a photo they were so intend of getting away from them whilst they were foraging the forest floor near the stream. 

Flights of steps

There were then several flights of stairs that lead up to a forest canopy view.   

lovely little stream which fed the fall...

Enjoying his early morning walk

The path climbed to a more opened level walk across to the stream feeding the falls, which supported several different smaller fish to Steve’s surprise.  (being at the top of a waterfall) This was where the walk got quite hot, as it was very humid and you were out in the full sun.  I think they all got quite a sweat up.

 

They continued on and met another small stream, where a 39km walk began (no way were they doing that one) apparently there was a warning sign there that told them if they were not prepared to not go past this point.  Of course, Steve had to do it, but only to get a photograph of the stream.  

The walk continued level for about another 100mts before a steep descent.   There were a few nice panoramas of the vistas of the campground and countryside, which was uneventful, compared to other places we have been.  

Panoramic view of the campsite

About half way down, they saw this water coming out of a bare rock face, about as much water as if you had two hoses tied together gushing out.. 

Water gushing out of the rock

 

The water was warmer than the main pool and very drinkable.  The whole reminded Steve of Moses striking the rock and water gushing forth.   The walk ended on the opposite side of the pool area.  

By the time they got back to the vans, their clothes were very moist from perspiration, and they were keen to change into togs and head back to the falls to just cool out. 

We ended up down at the water at around 10.30am and we just sat in the water until almost 2pm before hopping out.  

We met lots of really interesting people, with good advice on places to stay and places to see as we headed across to the West Coast of Australia. 

One couple we met, Geoff and Robyn, were farmers from Horsham in Victoria, and we spent probably a couple of hours chatting to them, about all sorts of things, from holidays, travel abroad, farming, bees, rigs etc.  They were just really lovely interesting folk.  They were staying in a camper trailer, and had bought their towels and gear down to the shade of the Falls Park, as it was too hot around their trailer.  They had planned to spend the whole day down there.  

We headed back to our van around 2pm, to be met by Ian and Kathy who were just heading back to the kiosk to have an ice cream, so they got us to go back with them and join them. 

We bought our ice creams, sat, and enjoyed them on the deck at the kiosk, before heading back to our van to have a very late lunch of cheese and crackers. 

By 4pm we were back down in the water at Wangi Falls again,  this time with googles, flippers, pool noodles and the Go Pro, as  Steve wanted to photograph some of the fish he had seen swimming around in the waterhole.  Kathy and I also braved it and swam out underneath the falls.  All for a photo shot of course.

 

It was after 6.30pm by the time we climbed out of the water and headed back to our van for dinner.  A quick BBQ tonight, and thankfully the insects were not as bad as they had been the previously two nights.  There was also a bit of a cool breeze tonight, which made things a whole lot more pleasant.  

We have had an amazing three days at Litchfield, and I will be sad to leave in the morning…..