Today would see us travelling only 250km N to Batchelor and from there we head into Litchfield NP.
We are now slowing down and travelling much shorter distances to our next campsite.
We decided to head for Buley Rockpools camping area at Litchfield as this was the one Ruth liked best from the feedback on the "Wiki Camps" site that we are using most of the time on this trip. We were not disappointed - as we secured a site for 3 nights just a short 5mimute walk to the Rockpools.
We loved this campsite and our stay here as we were able to scrounge up plenty of free firewood from other vacant sites on the day we moved in and we had a campfire every night - camp oven one night and BBQ on my little barbie with hot coals on the other nights - under an awesome display of stars and quietness.
The daytime hours we spent spotting and trying to name the many birds around the site and swimming at the Rockpools and just hanging around the campsite reading.
There are many rockpools here along Florence Creek. This is the very bottom one - with gorgeous sunlight streaming into it.
This is their very top pool- where we spent our last afternoon at Buley Rockpools.
In between the top and bottom pools there are about another 8 pools scattered down the creek - each had a deep pool where you could not standup and generally shallow rock shelves as well before the creek spilt over into the next pool.
There are also these cute little frogs here - but we did not see any of themselves they are very tiny - making them very hard to spot.
Here is a cute "Little kingfisher" that we spent ages trying to get a photo of. There were a few of these around our campsite every afternoon.
We did see a lot of other bird life that we were able to identify from the bird book (well at least we think we identified them correctly).
We saw Partridge Pigeons, Black Kites, Great Bowerbirds (one of the males had a bower nest he was building just near our campsite - he had lots of white trinkets scattered about the front of the nest to attract the lady bower birds), Yellow-Faced Honeyeaters, Noisy Friarbirds, Northern Rosellas, - but we did not get any photos of them. The bloody things just won't stay still for you.
One morning we walked the 5km round trip, along the creek, to Florence Fallsand had a swim in the plunge pool at the base of the falls. Along the the creek on the way to the falls there are many other shaded swimming holes as well.
The view of Florence Falls from the lookout - -
--- and the view from the plunge pool level. It was a devine, shady spot and the swim was fantastic. I should mention that whilst the water was "very refreshing" in all the swimming holes - it was crystal clear and not too cold.
I think you would be safe in presuming that we loved it here at Buley Rockpools - and this campsite will be one of our favourites from the trip I am sure.
One day at the Rockpools a Water Monitor decided to slip into the pool (probably to feed on the fish in the pool) - he wasn't that big really - about 80cm long - but he did clear the pool for a bit whilst he was swimming and diving down for a feed.
He seemed quite unperturbed by people being there - but everyone did give up the pool to him - so he enjoyed it all to himself. He then just crawled out and "flattened" himself on a sunny rock for a while. Sadly I did not take the camera with me that day - so no photos of him!!
I forgot to mention earlier in the trip I had run over one of these Water Monitors out along the road - near Katherine I think. Tried to miss him but did not succeed as I had to beware of the oncoming traffic.
We also took a drive to Wangi Falls and Tolmer Falls one day - in Litchfield NP as well.
Wangi Falłs --
Wangi Falls is also another campground and popular swimming hole
We checked out the campground at Wangi Falls but decided we liked it better where we were at Buley Rockpools.
Another day we drive back into Batchelor and had a coffee and wander around the local Butterfly Farm. We enjoyed the chat with Chris the guy who owns this place - it's a B&B with family and couples cabins on site and a lovely cafe / restaurant - it's like a little oasis in the heat of the day with lots of waterfalls scattered about the site. He is gradually building up the business and loves what he has created here. You should have seen the veggie garden he has - can only imagine that the food here would be very fresh with lots sourced from this massive garden.
We also chatted here with a local guy who moved here and bought 30 acres about 10 years ago. Said he moved here because it is the "last frontier of freedom in Australia" where you can still go an camp pretty much anywhere and find unknown little gems of wilderness with springs. He also loves the storms the electrical storms they get here in the build up to the wet season. Friendly and nice guy.
The Butterfly Farm was very nice and he also had bunnies and goats we fed with carrot sticks.
We gave up our daily healthy living salad wrap for lunch today - and had hot chips and gravy for lunch - my god they were good!!
As we re-enter Litchfield NP on our way back to camp we stop at the "Termite Mounds" just off the road into the park. Termite mounds are something you see everywhere up here - but the Magnetic Termite mounds are more prevalent the further north you go and they like the wetland areas.
There is a whole field of them at this tourist stop - it looks like a cemetery -as they look like a mass of tombstones
The Magnetic Termite mounds are very thin and orientate N-S to create a cooler environment for the termites to live in.
This one reminds be of "Bart" from the Simpsons.
Tomorrow we plan to head up the back road out of Litchfield NP to Berry Springs - our destination the Tumbling Waters Caravan Park that has come highly recommended by Cindy and Neil. From here we plan to day trip to Darwin.
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