Northern Territory - May 2013

Our first stop in NT was Katherine. We visited the hot springs which were more like a tepid bath and the following day we went to Nitmiluk National Park and Katherine Gorge. Apparently there are 13 gorges in the 180,000 hectare park, but all I know is that we took about 4 hours to cover a 10km walk/rock scramble. The views from the top were well worth the effort.

 Next stop – Litchfield National Park. Here we visited Florence Falls and walked down for a swim in the rock pool below,

Then onto Tolmer Falls where we could only go as far as the lookout as the caves are home to Orange Leaf Nosed bats and Ghost Bats,

And finally, Wangi Falls. Here we had a swim in the rock pool and tried to hold onto the rocks below the main waterfall. What a head massage - the force was incredible!

I also managed to take some shots of the local wildlife during a post lunch walk:

The female Golden Orb spider (bigger than my hand with a body of 5cm!). You can just spot the male in the top left hand corner (body of 5mm) as he’s not been eaten yet!

A butterfly stopped for a rest

And two dragon flies taking a breather

Next stop – Darwin. It wasn’t officially settled until 1869 and grew as gold mining increased. Darwin became a key military base for the Allies during World War II and suffered lots of damage and casualties from the Japanese air attacks in 1942. We visited the Military Museum which was very insightful. The city has an average year-round temperature of 32C, although at times it has felt hotter especially with the high humidity to boot. It has been great being back in civilisation for a few days. We’ve been out for meals, the cinema and visited the sunset markets at Mindil Beach and listened to live music. There’re some nice beaches and bays here too. Being on a caravan park means having power and the ability to run the air conditioning – this is definitely needed when the temperature is still 30C at bed time.

Next stop – jumping crocodiles and Kakadu National Park