Litchfield National Park NT

Today we went on a bus tour from Darwin to Litchfield National Park. It took about 2 hours to get there from Darwin. Thankfully the coach is air conditioned! It's the wet season at present and it's extremely humid but still a glorious day.

First stop Wangi Falls. We were hoping to swim here but swimming is closed in the wet season due to the risk posed by crocodiles. The good thing about being here in the wet season is the falls have plenty of water. You can hear them as you approach then they come into view - spectacular! 

Next stop lunch- barramundi of course - with fresh salad and watermelon. Exactly what you feel like eating in this heat!

The next falls were the Tolmer falls. Viewing only from the top - quite inaccessible otherwise. The 5 minute walk was a challenge in the heat. There were no animals anywhere to be seen. They're all far too sensible to be out in this heat! We found out later it was 45℃!

Pretty ready to come back to the air conditioned coach. 😊

Finally we saw the termite mounds. According to the tour guide the termites will eat all the wood and leave the paint (!) causing devastation for the unwary home owner in these parts. 

Different termites build different types of mounds. The top one is a cathedral mound. The second one is built by magnetic termites and are always built facing north/south. This regulates the temperature of the mound and stops it overheating. Very clever, kind of like air conditioning!

The storm has been building but hasn't broken yet. We'll see if we make it back to the ship. 😉 Another great day out!

We missed the storm but apparently it broke over Darwin as we were on our way back. I went straight to the pool when we got back to the ship to cool off!