Lithcfield

Tuesday

A tour to Lichfield National Park was on the cards today. We were picked up by the tour company and with another 18 people we travelled down to the Adelaide River to do a cruise and see just how many crocs we could find. They take this croc business seriously and we could only board the boat two at a time and had to wait til the previous two were on board before the next two could go ahead. They weren’t taking any risks to make sure the crocs didn’t identify the movements and vibrations with humans and food.  I can understand why as when we boarded, there were two big old crocs just lazing along the river bank about 75 metres away. We headed down the river and it wasn’t long before the crocs were coming from everywhere. They say for every croc you see, there are at least another 10 under the water that you don’t see. Doesn’t bear thinking about. The guide hung some meat and bones over the side and it wasn’t long before those big old crocs were just a few feet away. They jumped and thrashed about for the food but seemed to be just playing with it. They obviously weren’t starving but still we were definitely keeping our arms well and truly inside our small boat. We were on the river for about an hour and saw many crocs that came from all over to check out the boat (or food)

Lichfield was the next spot with a first place being Wangi Falls. This is a delightful grassy picnic area that has just reopened for the dry. There is a very large swimming hole that is formed by two huge waterfalls crashing into the pool. It is crystal clear and you can’t help but swim towards the waterfalls. One is far too big and hard to actually swim under but the other isn’t flowing as fast and you are able to sit on a rocky ledge underneath. Apart from the small fish and freshwater shrimp trying to give you a nibble it was really nice. We also had a nice picnic lunch here and were able to dry off ready for our next stop. This was Florence Falls but was only a photo stop of lovely set of cascades culminating in a high waterfall flowing into another rockpool. We didn’t stop for a swim here as it was much more difficult to get to the swimming hole. Off to Buley Rockpool for our last swim of the day. This is a series of about 8 cascades of different depths and lengths that you could just sit under the cascade or jump into a deep pool depending on which pool you chose to hop into. The tour was definitely the best way to see Litchfield. We headed back to Darwin – Fanny Bay to be exact – to have prawns, dips and champagne to watch the sun set over Fanny Bay. A delightful way to end the tour, chatting with our fellow tourists and scoffing local prawns watching another vivid red sunset.