Through Litchfield Park

Litchfield National Park is about 100km south of Darwin, directly on the way back to Katherine, where I will need to take the main highway into Western Australia, then on to Broome when I am ready to go.

Being Sunday, there's lots of traffic out of Darwin, heading south, as it turns out, some of them are also going to Litchfield. At the turn-off towards Batchelor I exit, lots of smoke up ahead, confirming small-fire burnings at this time. There are also many Crocodile flowers blooming along the road, called by Aboriginal People by that name, as that indicates the time of year that Crocodiles lay their eggs.

The smoke is getting heavier as I am getting closer to Batchelor. On the outskirts of town there is a rather large brushfire, well alight and as the local Fireies are on site with their trucks, someone must have thought this could turn into something much bigger. I take a picture and drive on.

Fire outside Batchelor

I follow the sign to Litchfield Park on a road meandering its way through the park. The speed limit is 80kmh which suits me just fine as I pass through lots of brush, some swampland on my left and further along lots of Termite mounds, many of them in the 3-4m range.


Quite astounding how these mounds can vary so much in size, from the rather small knee-high or even less, to the giant ones that seem to appear only in certain areas. The sign, pointing right says, "Florence Falls" and "Buley Rockholes". I follow the turn-off to first have a look at the Rockholes and find the place already 'invaded' by lots of people trying to stay cool on a warm day. It’s a great location with water cascading down and through a series of natural pools - its all a bit noisy, with kids screaming and lots of splashing about so I decide to drive on to Florence Falls.

The cascades at the Rock Holes

By this time its well and truly warm, walking from my van through the bush on a track which leads to a viewing platform revealing a great panorama of a waterfall with a large pool at the bottom, again, quite a few people have gone down there to have a bit of fun in the water. I decide, its too warm, or rather hot to descend and afterwards mount all those stairs again.

Florence Falls

Next stop is called "Tolmer Falls" just a few kms down the road. They are quite spectacular, with water plunging down into a deep and narrow gorge. No way down this time (just got lucky - no decision necessary). Meet a young German with his English girlfriend and have a bit of a chat. They are going on to Perth, sell their van and then fly back to Europe.

Tollmer Falls

Last stop on my list is "Wangi Falls" where there is also a campsite I am planning to stay the night in. More winding road, steep climbs and declines, turn right to the Falls. The parking area is chock-full and I have to be a bit inventive to park my vehicle. The shop there sells me a very nice icecream for $4.50, but what the hell, its good and they had to bring it in for about 70km. I enjoy the icecream, walking down through the park among a large crowd of Japanese tourists. Wangi Falls is also spectacular. There are actually 2 Falls dropping into a small lake, with me standing on its shore looking up. Wow! Worth coming for. Its really amazing to see all this water flowing from a landscape that appears to be dry as toast.

Wangi Falls

Its time to check out the camping facilities and I drive ashort way up the road to look for vacant sites. It’s a typical bush setting, lots of trees in between parking bays, but, alas, she is full up. What now? Its nearly 2.00pm and I am just under 300km from Katherine and figure I can do it in about 3 hours to get there. Its about 75km to get out of the Park and back to Batchelor. Another 14km to the main highway. I arrive at Katherine right on 5.00pm.