Oct

Travel In Australia Holiday – Our First Big Trip Itinerary And Adventure Part Three

In June 2000 we set off on our ‘First Big Trip’ travel in Australia holiday, we had been planning for about 12 months, full of excitement and anticipation the day had finally come that we left home on our first Aussie Adventure.

Our itinerary started from country Victoria travelling to Central Australia, Darwin, Kakadu and travelling south via Outback QLD and NSW all in 6 weeks and apsprox 10,000 kms.

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Part One Part Two

This is Part 3 of our ‘First Big Trip’ travelling from Tennant Creek, Mataranka, Katherine to Litchfield National Park.

Day 14 & 15 – We left Tennant Creek and drove to Mataranka which is only 100 kms south of Katherine. The start of the Top End, first thing we noticed is how much warmer it was compared to down south, swimming weather for Aussies that live down south, apparaently it was too cold for the locals.

The Mataranka thermal pools are best the known attraction, we camped within 2 minutes walk from the thermal pools, so we swam many times in the beautiful clear warm water which is set among Livistonia Palms.

We also went to the free barramundi feeding session at a nearby park. Using some bait the large barramundi are caught by the mouth with bare hands, quite extraordinary to see, everyone jumped when one was caught. Everyone must have been wishing they could throw a fising line in.

Day 16 & 17 – After many swims at Mataranka we moved onto Katherine on the way we stopped at Cutta Cutta Limestone Caves. We have been to a few different limestone caves. these where just as impressive.

We travelled further to Katherine and camped near Katherine Gorge in Nitmiluk National Park. We setup camp and looked around and drove around Katherine and did the usual shopping.

The next day we went on a cruise down the Katherine Gorge and some paddled in canoes. We were told the story of the Gorge as we cruised along and saw some of the local wildlife. The gorge is spectacular and worth a look if you get the chance.

What we found interesting in the buildings at Mataranka and at Katherine is they have measured marks on the walls showing how high the water levels get in the wet season. the water levels could be easily 2mtrs to 4mtrs above ground level.

Day 18 & 19 – Next morning we drove up the Stuart Highway a bit further to visit the beautiful Litchfield National Park. Our first stop was a giant termite mound towering way above our heads. Litchfield is well known for it’s beautiful waterfall and crystal clear swimming holes in which you can swim under the falls. The water falls are called Wangi Falls, Tolmer Falls, Florence Falls and the Buley Rockholes are cascades of water flowing down a creek.

When we arrived at Litchfield in the afternoon we went to Wangi Falls and then decided to find a campground, we soon found that nearly every where was packed out, obviously need to ge there early to get a decent camping site. We ended up on the worst place ever, the sign said for 4WD campers and no wonder is was just rocks, and to make it worse we had to pay for it. We left there as soon as we could the next morning and visited Florence Falls and Buley Rockholes and then drove to our next campsite at Berry Springs about 30 minutes from Darwin.