We are swimming our way around the top end of Australia and it seems that “swimmability” has become a chief indicator of a great spot to visit. There are a few others too; good 4WD tracks; lack of people (ie no tourists except us) and lots of birds.
Litchfield seems to win the peoples’ choice awards, but how did it rate for us?
We visited it hot on the heels of finishing Kakadu, so it was a tough act to follow. It had some pluses and minuses which probably means that on average it was okay.
We arrived on a Sunday and found a nice campsite in the 2WD camp at Florence Falls. As far as campsites go, Litchfield really had its act together; spacious, clean and decent amenities.
But it was as busy as hell. We walked to the lookout at Florence Falls and the plunge pool was crazy busy. From the carpark it also had 135 steps, which was never going work for Mum. We checked out Buley Rock Holes which was even more crowded. People were streaming up and down the paths so we didn’t end up going any further.
Finally we drove to Wangi Falls which was a much easier proposition for Mum to get into, although she decided not to swim. The waterfall was still running but the water smelled a bit weedy and we had to share the pool with a lot of other people. There was a resident bat colony that seemed happy with their location.
The next morning we walked into Florence Falls around 7.00am. The water was refreshing (aka chilly) but we had the whole plunge pool to ourselves. We also discovered that the track out of the 4WD campsite to the pool was much more accessible, so we were able to take Mum in the following morning. We saw a keelback snake on the path on the way in; that was a bit of thrill!
We drove the 4WD track into the Lost City and enjoyed walking around and climbing over towers of rock. Mum also negotiated some of the track.
We drove Reynolds River 4WD Track which was a bit of fun and took a few hours. The scenery was varied and we came across a little wetland with a couple of Jabirus. We visited the ruins of the old Blyth Homestead and hiked in to Tjaynera (Sandy Creek) Falls for a lovely swim. Big tick for that swim.
The fearsome Reynolds River crossing turned out to be not so deep, although it was still quite a long crossing. We also hiked to Surprise Creek Falls but there was no water fallling and we thought things were starting to look a little stagnant, so we elected not to swim.
Prousts Crossing towards the end of the drive gave us the biggest challenge although the creek itself was not the problem. After the water was a jump up which was significantly eroded. I was the designated driver for the day and it is fair to say that both car and driver were at their limit. It took four runs to finally get up the embankment and included some wheel spinning, locked diff and bumping and sideways action. We were pretty happy to get up, as the prospect of retracing our steps on the track in the dark wasn’t that appealing.
We discovered the lovely swimming holes along Walker Creek, enjoyed the view from the platform overlooking Tolmer Falls and also managed an early swim at Buley the morning we left, sharing the rock holes with just a couple of other people.
While there was more we could have done, we left feeling as if we’d done enough and drove back to Darwin to take Mum to the airport for her return to Adelaide.
Touring in a tin can 