Alex's Diary - Week 5 (first 3 days, rest to come...)

Day 29 – Wednesday – 30/5/2012 – Darwin to Litchfield National Park

I woke up and got dressed. I had breaky and then we packed up. It took a long time. We eventually hit the road to see nothing at all. We arrived and went to a caravan park with a mean owner who said “You drove past a stop sign and we too often have kids who run amuck so I won’t have you!” We went to the one down the road and they let us stay. We set up while getting drenched by the sprinklers! We drove down to Florance Falls and did a 1 kilometre walk down to them. They were beautiful. There was one dud fall and one beautiful one.  Dad took Lachie out a bit and then Lachie got out. I got guided over the rocks by Dad and then we swam into the middle of my first ever rock pool. I swam out further with Dad and Mum took photos! We swam out further and found a ledge on the side of the waterfalls! It was incredible! Mum took more photos and then we swam under the waterfall. It was so amazing! We swam back backwards and for the first bit it looked amazing. We could see the water gushing down the jagged rocks and it looked like it was going to fall on top of us! It was the best experience ever! We got back to the shore and took the 400m walk plus 135 steps upwards. We got in the car and drove back. I read for a bit. We had a dinner of hot dogs and watched photos of our trip. I had a go of the yo-yo and went to bed.

FACT: It is cooler inside a rainforest canopy than outside it. For example it was 30° C outside and 25°C inside.

Day 30 – Thursday 31/5/2012 – Litchfield National Park

I woke up and had breaky. We drove down to a lookout over Tolmer Falls. It was up so high that I looked down on the canopy! Tolmer Falls is home to colonies of rare and protected bats. The water would have been lovely to swim in but you couldn’t swim in it because of the bats.

We drove to Wangi Falls and walked down to them. There were 2 massive waterfalls falling into a big rock pool. I got in my cosies and we all got in. Mum not at first. We swam over to a rocky cliff face. We started climbing up it and jumped into the tiny rock pool filtered by a tiny trickle of waterfall that came down the rock face. I got our and swam around with Mum to the main waterfalls. I had to swim around to the side of it because the power of the waterfall was too strong to swim against.  We clung to rocky ledges and Dad took photos. I kicked off into the waterfall and its power pushed us a third of the way back! We swam back and got out. We walked back to the car and got into our sandshoes. We walked back to the pool and began a 1.2km hike. It was very board walk like and flat but when it got rocky it got very steep. Being up the top gave us a beautiful view over the country side, canopy and waterfalls. Going along the second boardwalk we got a spectacular view of the waterfall before it goes over the cliff. It even runs through a log! As we were going down Mum spotted a black snake! We finished the walk and jumped in the plunge pool again. I swam straight over to the rock pool side, climbed the ledge and jumped in. After a while I got out and climbed down. I jumped in and swam around to the other side to hop out. We got into the car and drove to Bulley rock holes. It is a bunch of rock holes connected by waterfalls. You could wade or swim. We chose to swim. We clambered up to the top and then went down to the bottom going through every pool and waterfall. We got dry and got back in the car and drove to the termite mounds. We saw the Cathedral Termite Mound which is over 5 metres tall and over 50 years old. Those termites have been pooping for a long time! We also saw the Magnetic Termite Mounds. They are very skinny and all face the same direction, north to south to minimize exposure to the sun and control temperature.

We came back, had dinner and went to bed.

FACT:  We saw two wild buffalo on our way back to camp.  Buffalo were introduced to the Northern Territory for farming however today they roam wild with not many proper buffalo farms.

Day 31 – Friday 1/6/2012 – Litchfield to Katherine

I woke up and had breaky. We packed up in the heat of a 34°C day. We hit the road to find the tiniest town in the Northern Territory with a population of about 3 people, 2 dogs and a snake! We arrived in Katherine and set up. I now have a new part time job of hammering in the pegs! I rode around the caravan park with Lachie for a bit. We decided to go to the hot springs. We rode down to them going down a 30° angle hill! I got into the spring and found it hot. I swam around to a waterfall where I dived in. I kept getting out and jumping in again. It felt weird swimming against the current. I was swimming heaps, heaps slower than normal because it kept pushing me back. We got out and rode back. It was fun riding down the hill but hard riding up it! I had a shower, dinner and went to bed.

FACT: Bachelor won the neatest and tidiest town 2 years in a row! They won it in 1995 and 1996. I think they only won it because there is nobody there to drop papers.