Monday, I booked a tour of Litchfield National Park. It cost 86$ Australian, but it was entirely worth it. It was a bus load of older tourists (I was the youngest by at least 20 years in the closest case, far more in most others) and it was a lot of fun to talk with them along the way... One couple from Chicago, a bunch of folks from Perth, one from Melbourne.. One guy who'd been in the Aussie Air Force in WWII, and was coming back to Darwin to see what it was like today, since he'd been there when the Japanese bombed it in the war.
We started off driving to the Magnetic Termite mounds. Saw some brumby's on the way, much closer than they had been at Yellow Water, which was excellent. The story on the magnetic termites is this: They build tall, sail-ish shaped mounds, and they are always, ALWAYS oriented along magnetic north/south within 10 degrees. No one is quite sure why, but the theories involve temperature regulation (the 'mites hang out on the west side of the mound when the sun is rising/heating the east, and move to the east when it gets hot on the west). There were some Agile Wallabies (or maybe Antilepine, they were far off) hopping about, so that was cool too.
After the termites, we went to Florence Falls. It was pretty nice, two falls into a pretty shaded pool. Not much to really report on these, not magnificent/impressive on the scale of Jim Jim or Twin, but great anyway.
After that, we hit Wangi Falls (pronounced Juan-Guy), which was a prett double fall into a deep and crystal clear pool. Unfortunately closed for swimming because of (what else, really?) the crocs. However, there was an AWESOME Merten's Water Monitor wandering about the camp tables. Think: three foot long lizard, like a scaled down Komodo Dragon. I got some great pictures, including one of his tongue flicking out and one that looks zoomed but isn't at all.. I was two feet from his face when I took it (I went between him and the woods to get front views before he disappeared, and he turned towards me unexpectedly... not aggressive, just meandering along). Seeing that in the wild might alone have justified the cost of the trip to me...
We then ate at Monsoon Cafe, a buffet lunch provided by the tour company. After this, we headed on to Tolmer Falls. It was pretty nice, rather high up with some excellent views of the Arnhem Land Escarpment.
Finally, we ended up at Buley Rockholes, which is basically a stream going around a curve with some deep pools and small falls. Did a lot of swimming, jumping into the deeper holes and going against the current up to the falls. Sat on the falls, and got pushed off the the water and slippery rocks (for a total push/fall of 2 feet :p). That was a great end to the day. Got back to Darwin and headed to the Netcafe to inform all y'all of my doings recently...
Tomorrow classes resume, and then on Friday we ship out to Alice Springs. I may update from there, if not I will when we get to Sydney on July 7th. Thanks for all the comments! Also remember: unless you asked me specifically for some souvenir, I'm only really looking for immediate family etc since it'd get bulky/expensive otherwise... if you really want something and are willing to reimburse, leave a comment (specific as possible) and I'll see what I can do. Catcha later,
-Pat