Around Oz with the Munchkins: Finding heaven in Litchfield’s waterholes

After any stretch of time in civilization, no matter how enjoyable, we are happy to be out bush again. The open spaces and simple, outside living are addictive. Indeed we are beginning to wonder how we will survive going back to Melbourne… But we’re not there yet… So, it was a short drive from Darwin into Litchfield National Park but having indulged in 10 extra games of ‘hide the poppets’, numerous photo-shoots, countless returns for forgotten belongings etc we had headed off late and hence rolled into Florence Falls campground at dusk. A beautiful spot and hooray, we had it all to ourselves. We had been warned that Litchfield’s close proximity to Darwin meant it was always crowded, so we felt lucky to have some peace and quiet.

It was so hot that our time in Litchfield was spent mainly in glorious waterholes. And if you are ever going to attempt to camp in ridiculously hot and humid weather, Litchfield is the place to do it. The waterholes are truly fabulous. The lure of life in Darwin became stronger for us as we imagined popping down to Buley Rockhole on the weekend and luxuriating in the natural hot tubs and scrambling over rocks in search of water monitors. Florence Falls, Buley Rockhole and Wangi Falls were highlights. A couple of times we walked before we swam, but mostly we just splashed and giggled and clambered and jumped off rocks into the cool depths.

At the campsite, the kids played footy with Brody, a mohawk-sporting 7 year old BMX champion from Alice Springs and we had an interesting chat to Brody's dad who is a prison officer in Alice. Brody reminded Bill of his childhood years in Alice - burning around with his mates on his BMX.

On one day we visited Batchelor for a few supplies and to download emails. We had been unable to tear ourselves away from Buley Rockhole in time to lunch before we went into town, so by the time we got there we were starving and so decided to go to the Batchelor Butterfly Park for a bite. The place was weird and deserted except for a bunch of bronzed and bikinied foreigners who were obviously working there and the loud-voiced owner of the place – who, despite a slightly obnoxious air, was interesting. Not only had he set-up and owned a butterfly park, he has also ridden the length of the UK and searched for the almost extinct Javan Rhinoceros… The food was ok, the butterflies were plentiful and the kids enjoyed feeding carrot to some very hot fluffy bunnies. Sash and Bill swam in the pool whilst Kate and Zara learnt Indonesian and the capital cities of the world (boring suggested curriculum has finally been disregarded and replaced with subjects of our whim) under the whirring fans.