We reluctantly left Edith Falls and returned to Katherine to have the car checked out. While John hung around the mechanic’s, I spent the time soaking in the hot springs again. Once the car was fixed, we took off for a night at Pine Creek on our way to Litchfield National Park.

We booked into the Lazy Lizard Caravan Park, charged up our devices, caught up with our washing, swam in the pool then had a drink at the lovely tavern which is attached to the camping ground.

The next morning we left for Batchelor where we booked into the caravan park situated at the start of Lichfield. Once again, it was a lovely park with a nice pool and the added feature of feeding the wild birds morning and night.

There is so much to see at Litchfield but Penny at the campsite gave us a terrific map and recommended four places to visit that did not entail a long hike as the weather had been in the high 30 degrees for the last week or two. We had booked in for two nights and decided to chill out for the afternoon. We made the most of the pool and read before wandering over to the local pub for dinner. John had a lovely barra laksa! We managed to escape before the karaoke started although we could hear the patrons belting out tunes from our van.

The next morning we went to check out the Termite Mounds, Buley Rock Pools, Florence Falls and Wangi Falls.

Some termite mounds were massive, others were spread out looking like cemeteries. I learned that the termites build their mounds facing north to keep them cool, so they all face the same way!

Buley Rock Pools was lovely and easy to access from the car park. It was a series of small waterfalls leading into rockpools which were lovely to swim in.

From here we drove the short distance to Florence Falls. This wasn’t quite so easy to access. There was a choice of climbing down 135 steps or following a path. We chose to go down the steps and come back on the path- a good choice as the path was easy and a beautiful, shady walk. Anyway, both led to another beautiful waterfall and gorge.

After a swim and a walk back along the path, we went to find Wangi Falls where we knew there was a cafe. Access to the cafe and the Falls was very easy so after a chicken, cheese and mango toastie washed down with an iced coffee, we walked down to the gorge. This was probably our favourite of the day. We swam to the waterfall which was wonderfully refreshing. In fact a goanna was sunbathing on a rock next to the waterfall and wasn’t interested in moving. We stayed for quite some time floating on our noodles and just enjoying the sheer ambience of the gorge. It was just lovely and so peaceful.

We had such a lovely morning. Although it was only lunchtime, we were happy to head back to the caravan for a lazy afternoon.

The following morning, we left Batchelor for Darwin.