Our last day in the north…

Well today is our last day in the North before we turn south and begin our journey home. Was a slow start with at least three of the parents making the most of nowhere to be by enjoying a sleep in. Won’t say who, but I was up before 7am as always (why can’t I do that when I have to go to work???)

Just after our bacon and eggs breakfast we were discussing when we could facetime Shaun to wish him a Happy Birthday. I looked up the World clock to see what the time was in the UK… 2:20am…. perfect. Jess and I made a facetime call and waited to see what would happen… ring ring….ring ring…then all of a sudden connecting….. and there was Uncle Shaun – “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” was the greeting from all the kids.

They each took time to have a chat with Uncle Shaun telling them their favourite parts of the holiday. Got to love modern technology where we can be in a remote caravan park in the Outback and make a video call to my brother in London!! Lucky uncle Shaun got an early happy birthday before he had even been to bed!!!!

Anyway, birthday wishes and breakfast done, we had a shower, packed some lunch and set out to explore Litchfield National Park. I said to Mark we should head to the furthest waterfall then slowly make our way back up to any others we want to see. Of course we really only wanted the ones that didn’t need a massive trek in the heat to get to them, so the one I picked was a good one… you could 4WD all the way to the falls 🙂

Was as we left the dirt that our less adventurous explorers started to change their minds… 100m in and we had to cross a croc infested river!!! Excitedly (with a nervous wife beside me) I checked the depth, set the camera and plunged on in…

Mark waited until I was through to ensure it wasn’t too deep for his snorkeless car before following.

Without incident, we passed the river and continued on down the track. We passed the first turn off to a set of waterfalls, and that was where all the plans fell apart. The sign said “Snorkel recommended” along the next part of the track as there were some deeper rivers that needed to be crossed. I said let’s get to the river then we can decide, given it is the dry season and the rivers are certainly not at peak.

We stopped at a small water hole crossing to check the map, and this is where the less adventurous in the group made it clear they were not interested in continuing. I stopped a 4wd coming the other way to ask how deep the river was, “…about 750mm” he said “Shouldn’t be a problem I’ve already done it twice today, but the water was lapping the bonnet…” I noted that he didn’t have a snorkel!!

He indicated that he hadn’t attempted the second river crossing, so he wasn’t sure hoe deep it was. Mark, not willing to risk a drowned motor made the decision to return to the last waterfall we passed and stop for lunch. Ok I agreed, but not before I drove across the water hole and back. Unfortunately I set the camera to film the crossing, but had it on photo not video, so I missed the whole thing. Mark got a video from the bak though, so hopefully he will upload it.

Back down the road, we stopped at this waterfall which may have been spectacular, but we won’t know, as it was a 1.7km walk and no one was up for it in the heat. We had bite to eat, then agreed to head back onto the main road and visit the less adventurous Wangi falls that didn’t require a 4WD to get to.

Of course this required backtracking through the croc infested river. Mark took the lead this time, and i followed close behind. We were halfway through when we heard a big thump under the car. A submerged rock had appeared in the middle of the crossing. “…well that is what bash plates are for…” I said, but as we pulled up on the other bank, there was a loud scraping noise coming from under the car.

I quickly pulled up and jumped out for a look and to my dismay found one of my bash plates bent down and dragging on the road.

Crap! what do I do now???

Time for some bush mechanics as I crawled under the car in the blistering heat, Fi and Mark stood guard for other cars and crocs. Kate told all the kids that I had hit a crocodile in the river and it was stuck under the car, so I was removing it so we can have crocodile steaks for dinner!!! Took about an hour before I had the bent plate off and up on the roof rack… will require a fair bit of panel beating to fix that one!!

Very dirty and dusty from lying in the sand, we continued onto the Wangi falls for a swim and wash. These falls were fantastic, two streams falling down the rock face to a large pool below. With only freshwater crocs to worry about here, we all plunged in for a swim.

There were plenty of people swimming, so we were not too worried about the crocs, and the water was very refreshing, washing away the days sweat, dirt and dust.

We swam to the other side of the pool near the falls, and the kids and I climbed up the rocks to a rock pool. This rock pool was barely visible from below but was sunk about 2m deep into the cliff face. Was only a small pool, about 1.5m wide, but the kids and I had a ball swimming around and exploring it. I even helped Clare climb up for a swim as she was feeling left out… sucks being the youngest!!

Spent a couple of hours swimming before heading to the information centre right on closing time for a much needed ice-cream. Then it was all back in the car for the trek back to the caravan.

I attempted to panel beat my bash plate but discovered one of the bolts was rounded, so it will have to stay on the roof rack until I get home and have some decent tools to work with 🙁

Pack up day tomorrow as we hit the road once again. Not sure where we end up, will just have to see how we go. I wonder what Mark will pick for his special birthday dinner… will it be KFC, Maccas, or something different all together???