4 - Australia

I'd like to say we didn't experience jet-lag, but I'd be lying!!  We both woke up at about 2AM Darwin time.  That's 12:30PM at home!  (We're 13.5 hours difference from east coast US - weird that they do the extra 1/2 hour!)

Managed to snooze a bit and we were off into downtown Darwin early to pick up some groceries and to get  SIM cards for our phones.  The provider here is Telstra (the best coverage).   That was simple - we'll see how far 6GB goes for us!

Had breakfast at a nice little diner - they are proud of their coffee!  It's good and they make it so artsy.

We were on the road to our next stop by 11AM - Litchfield National Park.   I purposely planned a short day since I assumed we'd be "slow" getting started.   Just 70 miles driving today.  (116KM).

Interesting - the speed limit on the two lane roads is 130 KPH - or 81MPH!!!  Really strange to  be going that fast on the "wrong" side of the road!!

We checked in at our "hotel" - Litchfield Tourist Park on our way.   I had reserved the "Stockman's Cabin".   Neat and clean - very basic.  Not much choice here anyway!

It's all metal - you'll see later that is a good thing since the landscape apparently burns often!

Basic but fine!  Dropped off our supplies since the car get's extremely hot once the a/c is turned off!   Would hate for those bottles of Australian Cabernet to get too warm!

Back on the road by 2PM for some exploring in the park.  It's a fairly small park, so we'll try to hit the high spots today.  We have to be off the roads by 6-6:30PM according to our rental car contract since the chance of an "animal encounter" after dusk is extremely high!

First stop in the park was a quick one - the "Magnetic Termite Mounds" -  there is a variety of termite that builds their mounds in alignment with magnetic north.  It helps them with cooling the mounds in the tremendous heat.  A little hard to see since it was a bit hazy - but it looks eerily like a graveyard!

Up close - the mound is active (and over 50 yrs old) - you could see termites crawlig in the small holes.

Next up, we went to a couple of popular spots - Florence Falls - amazing oasis in the middle of parched dry land.

Beautiful spring fed creek -

Duane and I took a dip in the pool just blow the falls - amazing clear water.  A bit "brisk"!!!!

I couldn't believe how clear the water was!!    Hmmm - think that foot hasn't seen the sun lately!

Stopped at several other spots along the way -  nice pathways and easy walks on the trails.  Again - it feels like a jungle within the area close to the creeks.

This is a "plunge pool" at Buley Rockholes.  The pool is very deep and crystal clear.

The "rockholes" are just a series of deep pools, each with a little waterfall.  Lovely!

And we saw our first kangaroos!!  (they may be wallabees, not really sure).  Not great photos - but I was lucky that I had my camera close since they are quick!

Stopped by Tolmer falls for a quick walk.  Very peaceful.

And our last stop was Wangi Falls.

We did at couple of mile loop to the top of  the falls and back.  Spotted neat wildlife along the way - several cool birds - but my camera just doesn't cooperate with long shots of birds!

Right along the pathway were some feral pigs.  We heard their "grunts" before we saw them.  Stayed well clear in case the Momma pig decided we were a threat.

That's about it for the day....an early night in the cabin since we're still not 100% acclimated to the new time zone!