From desert to rainforest ⛈️

Back on to the much greener road and into Nitmuluk National Park. We've found that we've arrived at the Top End during the wet season, which means it's super hot, super humid, and there are spectacular thunderstorms every day. There are downfalls to this, such as lots of areas being closed due to flooding, you can't walk 10 meters without needing to drink a litre of water, and there can be sudden terrential rain at any moment. However, waterfalls are at their most spectacular and we keep having places to ourselves as it's the quiet season for tourism.

We visited Katherine Gorge, where we walked up to a view point to look along to the river. Not far from the visitors centre we found a nest of a Great Bowerbird  which are so cool. The male creates this woven structure then decorates the entrance with items all of the same colour to attract a mate, and it is really quite impressive. 

Afterwards we cooled off in the hot springs in Katherine, the thermal pools have a constant temperature of 25 - 30°C and are a beautiful blue colour. We'd not long done a wash and hung all our stuff on the washing line at the campsite when a downpour arrived, but the perks of there not being many people around meant it didn't matter if we took over the camp kitchen. 

Next day we visited Edith Falls, where we started a loop walk only to get half way round to find we had to turn back as the route was flooded where you needed to cross the river. So back the way we came and to the falls the other way, where we found our first crocodile warning. We carried on north to reach Litchfield National Park, stopping at the Magnetic termite mounds before reaching our campsite. There are loads of huge termite mounds all up the Stuart Highway in this area, they're pretty impressive but do creep me out a bit. 

The next day was a waterfall day! We visited Florence Falls, Tolmer Falls, and Wangi Falls. You can swim in Florence Falls all year round, I'm not sure why as there are crocodile warnings everywhere else, so there were a lot of people there when everywhere else was basically deserted. 

At Wangi Falls there is this handy guide to tell you how to spot the difference between a freshwater and saltwater Crocodiles, its important because the the freshwater ones are pretty chill compared to the saltwater ones which will attack you. (Top picture is saltwater, bottom is freshwater). 

After another night in the Litchfield National Park, which was mosquito heavy, we headed into Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory. We spent the afternoon at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory which we ended up not having enough time to see all of. It has a great section about cyclone Tracey which obliterated the city in 1974 and a model of a huge crocodile called sweetheart which terrorised fishermen back in the 70's. 

We began the next day at the East Point Reserve, however soon found that some of the Mangrove boardwalk was underwater due to high tide, so would have to come back later. We headed over to the Botanic Gardens instead for a walk about and then headed into the city. We had a quick look around the city centre but it's only small compared to some of the other cities in Australia, then had a dip in the sea at the recreational lagoon they've created in the harbour ensuring its crocodile free. We returned to the mangrove walk in the afternoon, and I'm glad we did as there were loads of crabs and bird life. 

We've already moved on from Darwin into Kakadu National Park but as this post is already getting a bit long I'll start my next one with our adventures there. I'll also do a post of some of Matts photos of the wildlife we've seen across the whole trip. Australia has animals everywhere but the insect and bird life up in the Northern Territory is crazy, especially at the moment during the wet season.

Lots of love, 

Lisa and Matt 💕