Litchfield and Kakadu

I love camping, though admittedly I haven’t gone but a handful of times in the past ten years. It’s fun, it’s memorable, and it’s even better when there’s indoor plumbing within walking distance.

The first three days of my tour consisted of a camping trip to Litchfield and Kakadu National Parks. It was hot, humid, and there were spiders and flies. And yet, not only did I survive, I saw some of the most amazing waterfalls and went on some of the most memorable hikes of my young life! And by “hike,” I’m not talking about a breezy jaunt on a gravel path; I’m talking about climbs over boulders, through gorges, and past “Danger: Crocodiles” signs. I sweat more in three days than I my poor memory can recall ever sweating before, and I proudly gave up on modern conveniences without having much time to get around to missing them.

I met several more friends on our tour, most notably Rieneke from Holland, Julie from Belgium, Nell from England, and Christina from Austria, all of whom are about my age and traveling alone through Australia. After only a few hours, I felt like I was on a camping trip with old friends!

We slept in two-person tents each night, so my new friend Rieneke and I shared a tent for all three nights. Now, to anyone who knows me and is reading this, it will come as no surprise that I have zero love for spiders. So after finding a great big spider in our tent and realizing that I wasn’t the only one screaming and running outside in terror, I knew that I’d found a kindred spirit in Rieneke. From then on, it became a ritual to perform thorough nightly flashlight checks in our tents. I’m so glad I have Rieneke to be a big ol’ wimp alongside me!!!

Here are some pictures from the trip:

After learning about the iconic Australian termite mounds the first day, we stopped at Buley Rockhole for a swim. So refreshing!

The next waterfall we saw was Florence Falls, first from a lookout and then for a swim after walking down to the plunge pool.

Last stop of the first day was a wildlife spotting cruise on Mary River.

The second day, we swam in Barramundi Gorge (Maguk).

In the afternoon, we hiked to a lookout at Ubirr, where we saw and learned about Aboriginal cave paintings along the way.

Day three was mostly a travel day, but we made it to two waterfalls, Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls. Jim Jim only flows during the wet season, but since it wasn’t flowing, we were able to go right up to the plunge pool and swim with the freshwater crocodiles! (Don’t panic, mom, I still have my arms. And at least one leg…)

I did wonder what happened to this tourist…

Stay tuned for the next leg of my trip, driving through the Outback on Stuart Highway to Alice Springs!