Litchfield vs Kakadu

As we were planning our trip we heard the saying Kakadont, Litchfield do" and that made us wonder.
We really enjoyed Kakadu and we wondered how much better Litchfield National Park must be?
And now we know!
It is a lovely area, there are lots of waterfalls and rockholes, lots of places you can swim. some short east walks and some history.
But - better than Kakadu? It's kind of like the proverbial apples vs oranges.
I think you need both!

Litchfield is small enough that you can base yourself in one spot and see pretty much all the highlights in a couple of days.
If you are short of time you can wizz around the most accessible places in a day.

We stayed at the National park campground at Wangi Falls although there are others more suitable for campervans, tents or only accessible by 4WD.
The falls at Wangi are close to the carpark and so it's a popular spot, plus the falls are pretty good and the swimming hole is enormous.

The campground was full to overflowing on the Saturday night with campervans parked in the day use spots and even a tent set up in the campground carpark.
But being a national park campground the sites are well spaced and we had a nice secluded little nook, although it was a bit tight getting out of it!

Tjaetaba Falls

Walker Creek

Wangi Falls

Tjaynera Falls

The ascades

Buley Rockhole

I love a nice bit of rusty old iron!
Here at Bamboo Creek tin mine ruins.

And here at Blyth Homestead

Where apparently hobbits lived!

Litchfield is also the home of the magnetic termite mounds which are oriented north-south as a heat-reducing tactic by them clever little critters.

Here are our daily visitors -

On the road to Darwin

After we left Kakadu we didn't want to get to Darwin too soon, so we made a little overnight stop at the Mary River - at the Mary River Wilderness Retreat.
Sure it's a caravan park of sorts but it was actually a nice place to stay.
There's a huge grassed area for unpowered camping (that's us) several shady powered sites and some nice-looking cabins on the side of the hill.
There's a restaurant with a nice deck, a swimming pool and wallabies.
It fronts the Mary River so is very popular with fisher-type people.

There are a couple of little walks and we rode our bikes around, a much better bike ride than a walk.
Along the river we heard several "SPLASHES" - possible crocs?

The next day we stopped off to have a look at the Adelaide River, just near the jumping croc cruises and at the exact spot where a fisherman was taken by a croc the next day!
We didn't feel inclined to go on a jumping croc cruise...
A bit further along we called in at The Window on the Wetlands, which is set on the only hill around and has great displays explaining the different aspects of wetlands and their importance.
You can sit up the top and have a cuppa - we did!

Another great place is Fogg Dam which had been recommended to us.
This was built a while ago to provide irrigation for rice growing, but it has turned into an amazing wetland.
We saw so many water birds there - ibis and spoonbills and egrets and others that I can never remember.
You can't walk across the dam due to croc danger, but you can drive and a guy said he saw a freshwater croc just next to the road - but we didn't.
Anyway it is a very pretty spot.

Then - heigh-ho! it's off to Darwin we go.......

There's more to Kakadu than water....

.....there are rocks.
And where there are rocks there is amazing rock art.
We're told that this rock art can be more than 20,000 years old! Seems incredible doesn't it?

We saw rock art at Nourlangie, Nanguluwurr near Jabiru and Ubirr in the very eastern side just near the border with Arnhenland.

One of the special things about aboriginal rock art is that because the paintings tell a story and are for the moment, they can be painted over by another story. Touching up someone else's painting is not allowed but putting your own picture over the top is OK.
So sometimes you can see the various layers of images and if you stare or gaze at the walls more images can pop out. Just like those 3D images that were popular a while back. (Except these aren't 3D)

 There are also rocks to walk around, climb on, and watch the sunset from.

Not just another sunset.

This was a very special sunset.

Yesterday we got up ultra-early for the sunrise cruise on Yellow Water at Kakadu and a handy little hint is that if when you buy one cruise you can get another one for just $25! "And would you like fries with that?"
I think they made us an offer we couldn't refuse.

It was different.
The birds seemed more active somehow.
We saw a lot of the same ones, or the same type (not sure if they were exactly the same ones)
We saw some different ones - including brolgas, forest kingfishers...
and we saw heaps of crocs!

Juvenile Nankeen Night Heron -

Egret, not sure if it's a Small, Intermediate or Large (those really are the names)

And then it was time to play Spot the Croc!

 

The late afternoon light on the lotus lillies was gorgeous.

Can you see him?

Beautiful Pied Heron.

There he is!

A very obliging pair of Sea Eagles.
We saw 2 pairs.

The pandanus is pretty too.

Look! There's one!

Darter drying its wings.

This one was huge!
The biggest one our tour guide had seen.
He was very obliging too - sitting in a nice sunny spot and opening his mouth on cue.

Then the sun set.

A magical morning

We listened to all the people who said "go on a Yellow Water cruise when you go to Kakadu" and despite not being morning people (well one of us isn't a morning person) we opted for the sunrise version.

 It was pretty special - the super moon setting on one side and the sun rising on the other.
A slight mist over the water.

And lots and lots of birds.
Seen here  -whistling ducks, magpie geese, Nankeen Night heron,

plus egrets, ibis and spoonbills - you'll just have to trust me on that.

 This is a jabiru, Australia's only stork.

 Lots and lots of whistling ducks - safety in numbers I guess,

because now it's time to Spot The Croc!

White breasted sea eagle - we actually saw 3.

Lotus. An asian import.

As the morning warmed up the crocs decide to do the same and come out onto the banks to bask.
These are saltwater or estuarine crocodiles which are the ones that will eat you if they are hungry.

So swimming in the billabongs and creeks is a big no-no here, there are plenty of signs to remind you.

We were so brainwashed by the whole no -swimming thing that when we went to Maguk the day before we didn't even think to take our cossies.
Of course there is a beautiful rock pool below the waterfall which has been cleared for swimming.

So, yes, we did go in in our undies and tshirts!

The creek below is very pretty but not recommended for swimming!