Half-lap Day 41: Litchfield National Park

I was woken up around 5am by an animal noise – I wandered out to find a possum standing frozen near our table, like he was pretending he wasn’t there. I couldn’t see what he’d been eating, but moved some stuff that might have been a problem, then went to the toilet after he ran up the tree. He came back while I was gone and we realised he’d found our bread tub which had a little hole in the bottom, he’d made the hole bigger and was eating the bread through the hole. We put the tub back in the car and went back to bed, I managed to get a bit more sleep, didn’t wake up until about 7.30. The kids were all up by then and got themselves some breakfast before Tony and I came out.

The kids played with their friends again – really lovely kids (from Tasmania) who are interesting to talk to. We pottered around and got ready and were off to the national park by around 9.30. This time we went to Wangi Falls, which I think are the most popular destination in the park. There is a kiosk here and we could have camped here as well. It was the Saturday of a long weekend so we expected the area to be more crowded than when we came out on Thursday, and there were a fair few cars in the carpark but finding a spot was easy. We wandered down to the area near the water and found a spot to put our towels and snorkels and then went closer to look at the view.

Wangi Falls was also two waterfalls spilling into a plunge pool – the falls were much much higher than Florence Falls and the pool was much much larger. It was beautiful. Tony, LiAM and Caitlin went straight in the water (there were stairs to get in here, rather than scrambling over the rocks like at Florence) and Millie and I walked a short way along a board walk to a viewing platform where we could see the falls easily without being in the way of people getting in the water.

Wangi Falls

We went back and joined the others in the water, and swam across a pebbly/rocky part of the pool to a sand bar in the middle. I couldn’t quite stand up all the way so Millie hung on to my back while I swam her over. Our Tasmanian friends were there too, and we could see the dad and one of the boys over at the base of one of the waterfalls, and Millie said she wanted to go into a little pool that was over there. I wasn’t sure what she meant so Tony and Catilin swam over to check it out. Tony came back and said it was a good place to go, and he swam back over with Millie on his back. LiAM and I went to shore to get our snorkels, then swam all the way over – it was over a fairly deep channel, and I held on to LiAM’s hand as we swam and we were both confident doing it that way (he wasn’t sure he could make it all the way on his own, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be OK with him on my back). Once we got to the base of the falls we climbed up the rocks a little way to join the others – it was a bit scary for me, climbing wet slippery rocks is not something I find easy, and I was also worried about the kids falling in the water. We made it up ok (it was an easy climb really) and there was a deep pool in the side of the cliff face, maybe a metre and a half in diameter, that we all slipped in to and lay back looking up at the waterfall. It was pretty special.

The pool we swam in is in the dark, round patch to the right of the falls, a little up from the base

We climbed out so that others could have a turn in the pool, and sat in the water at the base of the rocks for a while. LiAM, Caitlin and Tony wanted to swim to the other waterfall, so I took Millie back over to the sandbar. She sat on my back while I swam over, and I was a bit nervous about taking her, but with the snorkel it was pretty easy, I didn’t need to spend energy on keeping my head up, and she’s so light that the swimming was not a problem. Now that she can swim a bit, and tread water really well, it was easier too – if she did fall off she’d be able to keep herself afloat until I could grab her.

Back at the sandbar we hung out for a while, swimming around. Millie couldn’t quite stand up so I held her for a lot of the time. We chatted to a lady and watched the others over at the waterfall. After a while we swam back to shore – this time going through a little passage between plants to a different set of steps. It was a little scary as the water at the edge of the passage wasn’t so clear so I was thinking about crocodiles – freshwater crocs do live in these waters and I wasn’t keen to see one quite that close!

Millie and I walked back around to the viewing platform and spent ages looking at all the fish in the water, and across to the falls. The others joined us, and Millie said she wanted to walk up to the rainforest platform. We got our shoes and cameras etc and set off – it was SO cool (temperature wise) in the rainforest, it was hard to believe it was such a hot day. We saw lots and lots of black flying foxes, and the noise they were making was quite loud. It was cool to walk up through the levels of the rainforest and finish at a platform near the top of the trees. Our Tasmanian friends caught up with us at the platform, and some of them were continuing on the loop walk which went over the top of the falls – Millie said she wanted to go too! Caitlin really wanted to as well and LiAM doesn’t want to miss out on what others are seeing, so we all kept going. It was hot when we popped out into the sun, but a lot of the walk was in shade. There was no view of the falls from the walk, it did cross over the creek up the top and that was cool to see, really pretty and then fun to imagine the water spilling over those massive falls in a few more metres. The view across the national park from the top was pretty cool too, although a bit hazy because of all the burning off they are doing.

View from top of Wangi Falls

LiAM and Caitlin had gone ahead with their friends and I tried to catch up with them while Tony came at Millie’s pace – I ended up doing the whole walk by myself which was quite peaceful. It wasn’t a hard walk despite the height of the falls, and we were all glad that we’d decided to do it. Our friends left when we got back, and we all went in for one more swim to cool off before we left. A French guy sitting near us asked if he could use one of our masks for 5 minutes, and he took it out to help him take underwater photos for a while. We waited for him to come back in then we got out of the water and headed back to the car.

I wanted to eat our lunch at Buley Rockhole but everyone was hungry now so we made some sandwiches at the car, and then drove to the Rockhole. The carpark there was quite full but there were spots available. Buley Rockhole is a series of waterfalls and rockholes along the creek that flows over Florence Falls about 1km downstream. It was very cool to think of the water we were swimming in heading over the falls in a short time.

We came in at the Upper Rockholes (and saw our friends on the way out as we were going in). Caitlin had wanted to jump in to the water, and was thrilled to see people jumping in to the first rockhole we came to. She and LiAM went straight over to jump in, and Millie and I sat in the shallows near the top of a little waterfall while Millie finished another sandwich. Once she was done she went into the deeper part with Tony, then climbed out with Caitlin and had a go at jumping in. It took her a little while then she jumped and swam to Tony, and she ended up jumping several times and was quite confident swimming around in the pool, even swimming over to the little waterfall running in to the pool. LiAM and I lay in the downstream waterfall for a while, then started exploring the pool below it and then the next pool. It was deeper at the bottom of some cascades (not deep enough to jump, but deep enough to swim, and the water was very clear). I lay in the cascades (it was like being in a spa) and LiAM swam against the current to get to me, then let himself drift back across the pool, then did it again and again until the others joined us.

We all played there for a while, then walked, slithered and swam further downstream. We climbed over some rocks and got to a pool where a group of Tongan guys and girls had been jumping in – we figured if they could jump in and not hit the bottom then we should be fine. Caitlin jumped in straight away, and I wanted to jump but it was pretty high – maybe 1.5m? and it was pretty scary. I let Tony go in front of me, then Caitlin again, then some other girls and some of the Tongan guys. I helped Millie climb down to where she could play in the water just downstream of the deep pool. I stood on the edge and kept trying to jump then deciding to wait a bit longer. One of the Tongan guys noticed me and said ‘you can do it!’ Eventually, after letting lots of people go first, I stepped down to a slightly lower ledge and jumped from there. It was fun although a little scary. When I surfaced the Tongan guys all clapped for me.

Sitting on the edge of one of the deep pools

Caitlin jumped many times then we moved further downstream, again climbing down some of the waterfalls and getting out and walking around others. Right at the bottom were two deepish pools. The very bottom one had a large rock where people were climbing and jumping – this one seemed a bit more risky as the water wasn’t quite as deep and there were rocks (which could be seen) not far from the jumping area. Caitlin, LiAM and Tony jumped for a while, being careful to land in the right place. I found it a hard pool to swim in, the current was strong so trying to hold Millie meant I had to tread water pretty hard and I kicked underwater rocks, hard, twice. She and I moved up to the next pool which was a bit easier and the bottom was smoother. We swam over and sat on rocks with the waterfall washing over our backs and heads, it was very cool. The others came and jumped in to the pool where we were a few times, having ‘biggest splash’ competitions.

Looking down along the rock holes

Eventually we made our way back up the path to our stuff, then Tony and Caitlin went back to the middle pool for a few more jumps. Tony hurt his knee pushing off for his very last jump. I wanted to do one more jump so jumped in to the pool right at the top where Caitlin and Millie had first started. It wasn’t as high as the middle pool so I found it much easier. Caitlin did a few more, and we watched some German guys doing fancy jumps for a while, then we headed back to the car.

The top pool (with me in the water after jumping in)

On the way back we stopped to look at the magnetic termite mounds – they are all built in a north-south direction so that there is always one side in the shade. I hadn’t seen mounds like this before, and there were huge fields of them – so incredible. There were lots of the cathedral mounds as well, we’ve seen them all over the place but they are getting big up this far north. Millie was fascinated by the termite mounds and took a video of them and the information display with her ipod.

Millie and termite mounds

I drove home because Tony’s knee was too sore. The kids wanted a swim in the caravan park pool so we had a quick dip as it was nearly 7pm, which is when the pool closes. The kids had showers and I cooked some rice noodles which we had with mayonnaise and tuna, then we got ready for bed and read for a while before crashing.

Half-lap Day 31: Daly Waters -> Mataranka

I was awake often during the night. It was hot, and I was worrying about our dog at home (he’s having some issues with the chickens) and about crocodiles. I’ve never worried about or been scared of predators before, but this latest crocodile attack has freaked me out a little. I felt less worried when I woke up though, around sunrise. It was cool outside, but still warm enough for us to have all the windows open in the tent and not feel cold.

We packed up as quickly as we could, which included not getting out our saucepan tub so Caitlin didn’t have her usual baked beans on toast and I didn’t have my usual porridge – this made sense in terms of getting away more quickly, but it meant we were both a bit hungrier than usual all day, so next time we do that we need to also eat something with protein as a replacement. While we packed up the kids played with the 2 year old girl camped near us, and Millie’s 6yo friend came over to play while her mum packed. We were ready to go by 9.20, our earliest getaway so far. It was already pretty hot by the time we left.

On the way out we stopped at the Stuart Tree – Stuart the explorer came through here on his final and successful attempt to walk from the south of the continent to the north – crazy to think of those early explorers navigating this tough, hot terrain, with no idea of what lay before them. Apparently he stopped at the waterholes and named them Daly Waters, and carved his initials in a tree. The tree is still there – well, it’s a dead stump now, with a fence around it, and it was a bit sad looking really, but I like wandering around the area and thinking of Stuart and his team being there nearly 200 years ago. We stopped next at the airstrip – it was built in 1927 and was a leg in the plane journey from the east coast to England, so is Australia’s first international airport. It was also used in WWII as a launching place for planes to fly to Java.

We were back out on the highway before 10, driving with windows down and listening to Harry Potter. Because we’ve done 3 stops in a row of only 1 night, I haven’t been getting in to the trailer to pull out extra food, and our snack supplies in the car had run low. We only drove 160km but it was our hottest and most uncomfortable so far. We saw several dead cows on the side of the road, and the live cattle we saw were large and skinny, like the kind of cows I think of being bred in Africa.

We arrived at Jamulark Campground, in the Elsey National Park just near Mataranka. We found a campsite that looked like it would have good shade, and had a swing hanging from a tree nearby, then realised that under the dirt was bitumen so we wouldn’t be able to peg in the tent. We looked around for another site and moved the trailer, then decided that everyone was way too hot and cranky to eat or to set up, so we changed into swimmers and headed for the Thermal Pool.

The walk to the pool from the Homestead was lovely, through tall palm trees, and the pool looked amazing, blue and clear and cool in among the trees. There were quite a few people there, but the pool wasn’t really crowded. We went in at the first steps and it was very deep – Millie was a bit scared and a lady who was getting out offered Millie her noodle to float on, and told us her site number at the caravan park for us to return it later. We floated around and LiAM, Caitlin and I explored the full length of the pool, discovering it was shallower around the corner and it ended with a small waterfall flowing out into the creek beyond. There was quite a strong current, swimming back up to Tony and Millie took quite a lot of effort. We swam around for a while – the water was quite warm but very refreshing, then Millie had had enough, so she and I walked back to the car to get food. She was really quite unhappy and didn’t want to go back in to the pool. After we’d all had some nutella sandwiches and a drink of lemonade everyone felt better and went for another swim, even Millie. We chatted to a few people and floated on our backs – very cool to look up through the trees into the sky and clouds far above.

Millie’s friend was staying near the other springs so we thought we might head there later in the day. By the time we got out of the pool it was nearly 4pm and we tossed up whether to go straight to Bitter Springs, or go and set up the tent first, or some of us go to the springs and some to the tent – after much discussion we decided we were all too tired and hungry to go anywhere so we’d go back to the tent, set up, have something more to eat, then go to Bitter Springs.

It was cooler back at the campground than it had been, and setting up didn’t take too long, although the ground was so hard that we couldn’t get pegs in even though we were on dirt. The beds hold down the end of the tent and we attached guy ropes to trees, so the tent is stable even if it’s not exactly the right tension. We had some sandwiches then drove back to Bitter Springs, stopping for milk at the little supermarket on the way through and catching them just as they were closing up at 6pm. It was still light and there were still a few people in the springs, which were much more natural than the Mataranka ones. There were metal steps and platforms and no other modifications, the Mataranka pool has stone walls and places to sit in the water. The water was beautifully warm and it was also deep, although there was a rock where Millie could stand up. We swam for a little while and soon were the only people left. It was getting dark and even though I knew logically there were no crocodiles in this water, it started to feel extremely spooky and every ripple sounded like a crocodile. We had a real fright when someone swam around the corner from further down the creek! We got out and walked further down the path to another platform – normally the current can carry you from the first platform to this last one, we might come back in more daylight hours and try it out. We saw 2 turtles in the water, quite large, who swam away when we got close. Tony and Millie had one last swim then we headed back to the car before the mosquitoes got too bad.

The drive back was slow as there were so many wallabies by the side of the road. These wallabies are small, with really narrow heads, unlike any we’ve seen so far. We saw a frog sitting in the middle of the road, and thought we saw a cane toad crossing the road – later Tony and Caitlin saw a cane toad at the campground. We also saw some wild cattle. When we drove in during the afternoon we saw a dingo. We had soup and noodles back at the tent, and heard the wild donkeys braying in the bush around us.

We were all as tired as we’ve been on this trip so far I think, so after we ate we very quickly got into bed and read for a very brief time before crashing.

NSW Trip Day 8: Blue Mountains

We had a lovely relaxing morning at the cottage, reading and playing and taking our time to get ready – it was a relief not to be on a schedule to get out. Around lunch time we drove up to Katoomba and got some food for a picnic lunch, then went to Echo Point. By the time we got there everyone was tired and hungry so we ate straight away – and it was cloudy and raining on and off so we thought we might not get a great view. As we ate the cloud lifted a bit over the valley and we could see the escarpment on the other side, then by the time we finished and went down to the main lookout, the 3 Sisters were in view as well. I’ve seen them many many times and still find them impressive and beautiful. The kids liked them as well.

The Three Sisters

Lots of cool rock formations to sit on

We decided to walk down to the little bridge that goes across to the first of the 3 sisters. It was an easy walk down the path, with lots of intriguing rock shapes on the cliff next to us, so we stopped for lots of climbing and photo opportunities on the way. We reached the lookout that looks straight out to the sisters, which was cool, and from there we had to go down the first part of the giant stairway, which was steep. LiAM and I were a bit nervous, especially at the bits where the steps were so steep it looked like they disappeared over the edge of the cliff, so we all took it slowly, then LiAM relaxed and Millie got a bit scared – we made it to the bridge and LiAM and I were a bit hesitant, but we went across and it was cool to be standing there although the drops either side are significant and I was freaking out a bit when the kids were standing at the fence looking down. We stayed there long enough for a photo then headed back up. Millie found it hard going – the steps were high as well as steep and I didn’t feel confident having her in the sling while I climbed up – she made it nearly all the way by herself, I was very impressed. I put her in the sling for the last little bit once the drop off to the side felt less scary.

The steps down to the bridge

On the first of the 3 Sisters

Back up to Echo Point with a few more rock explorations on the way, then we bought some ice creams and ate them with a view of the valley. Everyone was exhausted by now so we headed back to the cottage for a quick rest and recharge, then went back to S’s house for the evening.

S’s girls had agreed to look after our kids (they are 16 and 19) so S, D, Tony and I went out to dinner – very exciting to go out with another couple. We went to the Bowling Club in Lawson for Chinese – tasty food and great company. The kids happily watched DVDs and made loom bracelets while we were gone. We stayed for a drink once we got back and looked at more photos of Canada – made me quite nostalgic for Canada myself, I’d love to visit again. It was another late night so once again home and straight to bed.