2006/06 Australia trip - Wangi Falls, Litchfield |
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We drove back up Litchfield's park road to look at the termite mounds we’d seen on the way in. We’d been seeing termite mounds all the way from the Alice Springs area, but these in Litchfield were massive. The cathedral mounds can be twice my height, all created by little termites that feed on the grass in the forest. Some of these are elaborate enough to look like carvings in a cathedral. Others look like they were designed by the Mad King Ludwig of 
Termites. There are also the “magnetic mounds”. These look like a thick paving stone on its edge, lined up to get the sun on the big face in the morning but be cool in the afternoon, hence the term “magnetic”. There are also other smaller mounds that are built around the base of a tree, which is hollowed out by the termites. The hollow tree probably ends up as a didgeridoo sold to some tourist.
We went to Tolmer Falls, another ribbon of water, this time falling into a canyon. Like the last two places, it was on the tour bus circuit, so every few minutes a few dozen people would rush out to the overlook and then rush back to the bus. We left them to it, and hiked up the canyon wall and along Tolmer Creek, not a 
spectacular trail but a lot quieter, and busy with butterflies. The trail went though a stand of cycads, similar to those we had seen in Watarrka.
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Tolmer Falls (2.47) |
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Our last stop was at the famous Wangi Falls. The falls are justly famous, as two big waterfalls drop from the red quartzite rocks 
of the escarpment to a large pool surrounded by steaming jungle. The pool had been closed to swimming because of the high water level: I guess they can’t monitor for saltwater crocs when the water is that high. The trees around the pool were full of big black flying foxes, really large and quarrelsome bats. We had enough time to walk the trail up over the falls, hoping for some additional views of the falls, but all we got was a good walk.
The plan had been to drive the 4wd track along the Reynolds River down to a campground on the Daly River Road, but the track was closed, presumably because some parts were still under water. We ended up camping at Wangi. Our 
elderly (our age!) neighbours on one side went off to the bathrooms with their toothbrushes at 6pm, returned and turned the lights out and we didn’t see them again until 9 am next morning. On the other side was a couple from New Zealand. He was a retired dairy farmer, doing driving jobs to finance his trip around Australia. He said that the same weather system that gave us all that rain in NZ had caused a deep freeze in centralAustralia.