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Our next stop is to be Mataranka, however it's a long way from Darwin to Mataranka. Where to stay along the way? Of course Litchfield National Park!
I chose a Caravan Park in Berry Springs, the AAOK Lakes Resort, as we had been to Berry Springs before and both liked it. Unfortunately, we saw much better Caravan Parks closer in Litchfield National Park. Well that's the way it goes, you win some and lose some. Forgot to take pix of AAOK to show you, but to be honest, there's not too much to show. It's a bit old and run down, but at least we had penty of shade and the site was drive through which made it easy to set up.
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BERRY SPRINGS
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LITCHFIELD NATIONAL PARK
Our trip around Litchfield National Park was a long day out with plenty of walking and swimming in the billabongs.
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BATCHELOR
Batchelor is a quaint town full of parks and greenery with a little Information Centre and small shopping centre across the road.
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TERMITE MOUNDS
These were everywhere up the top end in the Territory. Some are huge! They are made from termite spit and poop.
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FLORENCE FALLS
This place was nice. We chose to walk down the 160 metal stairs to the plunge pool and walk back via the 1.1km shady track. Towards the end of that track it was full sun and uphill. That was hard yakka. However, along the way there was a lovely little butterfly spot amongst the palm trees. But as soon as I put the video on, they disappeared. Or was it hubby's fault by making a bit of noise that scared them away? Check out the video below.
It was beautiful swimming here. So peaceful even though we had to share it with a lot of people. I found a rock to stand on and was enjoying the view and waterfalls, when something decided to gnaw on my foot. Which made me high-tail it out of the water. Could have been a big fish with huge choppers....? Or maybe it was a freshy crayfish. I didn't wait around to find out lol.
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BULEY ROCKHOLE
I wasn't sure I was going to be able to walk in here after the exercise I had at Florence Falls. But it was only 500m round trip, so I braved it. Glad I did because Buley Rockhole is actually a series of rock holes with cascading waterfalls. So pretty and the water is nice a refreshing.
Only problem was that there was a lot of moss on the rock which made them slippery, so I just found the closest water ledge and sat down in about six inches of water and moved my butt over to a nice location with a small waterfall that I could use as a spa. That suited me perfectly. You can see my spot in the second photo.
Hubby of course had to find a deep waterhole and did a horse bombdive which I was not happy about. You never know what is under the water. I was scared for him. But he surfaced safely..... whew!
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WANGI FALLS
What a pleasant surprise this place was!
Just down the hill from the carpark was a huge waterhole with the falls at the back. I enjoyed this place so much that I swam out to the falls and had a water massage, then slowely swam back. It must have been about 500m there and back.
There was a couple that had obviously climbed up a bit of the rocks near the left hand waterfall and found a nice hole in the rocks. I zoomed in and managed to get a photo of them. See photo below.
There is a small cafe here for the usual drinks and ice-cream refreshments. Another popular spot with quite a few people.
I saw a couple of cute dragonflies here. They are obviously used to people and happily posed for a pic.
Last couple of pix are from a lookout just before Wangi Falls.
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BERRY SPRINGS TAVERN & NOONAMAH TAVERN
Both Taverns are well worth a visit. We enjoyed the food at Berry Springs Tavern, so much so that we forgot to take pix. I can totally recommend the Captain Morgan Mango Cocktail with plum chilli salt. It certainly had a kick and was delicious.
We ventured back to Noonamah for lunch and old times sake. Noonamah is where our Ranger mate Zig lived. See my Kakadu & Arnhem Land pages. The Tavern here has had a major uplift and aparently now is the home of frog racing and I see that they host a Rodeo here too.
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As we have been to Darwin & Kakadu before, I was on the hunt for something different to see. Waigit Beach.
At mentioned in my Darwin page, you can get the ferry from Cullen Bay for a day trip. And that is probably the best way to do it. You can get the ferry to Mandorah and then by the small private free bus to Cox Country Club. I would do this on the weekend as I am not sure that the Club is open during the week. When we went past it was closed.
First impression of Waigit Beach reminded us of some of the small seaside fishing towns on the Central Coast NSW. However the small airstrip just ouside of town and a couple of flash looking cars, coupled with houses with high fences made us a little nervous. This left us thinking how easy this place would be for drug importers.
A walk along the beach was nice though. The rocks here were so colourful. They reminded us of the Jasper deposits that we experienced in Marble Bar, Western Australia. We didn't have to worry about salt water crocks as the tide was way out.
Whew! 😬
I managed to get a few photos of the local houses + fences. And a public transport bus too that hubby was not sure why it was parked here....?
There was a huge tanker coming in and I raced along the jetty to get a pic. It was going quite fast. And the Sealink Ferry from Darwin was in too, so that was a nice coincidence.
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On the road back to Berry Springs we had to move over for a wide load.
Someone is moving house to Waigit Beach.
😎
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