Litchfield NP

Jump ups, they are referred to.  In the broad, flat expanse are areas of land that arise up.  I am not sure if they have been lifted by previously folding, extrusion or?? of the earths crust or are in fact areas that haven't been eroded down to the level of the flats - the latter I think.  At any rate, Litchfield is described as an uplift with a large plateau dissected by rivers creating some great waterfalls and plunge pools (pools created by water plunging down in floods scooping out a pool).  They are great swimming holes - once the saltwater crocs (salties) are removed.  Along the creeks & rivers there is rainforest, which soon turns to scrub & euc as you get away from the water.  Some of the walks to the upper reaches pass through both types, and the walks can get quite rough in some places, especially the Cascades walk which follows the narrow river course over its many small cascades rather than one larger falls:  Two water monitors were seen in one of the small pools, a rarity according to the chap who happened to be there at the same time.  He does surveys to monitor the monitor lizards distribution as they are becoming scarce due to cane toads, which they eat and thus are poisoned.

I had a good swim in a couple of the plunge pools, certainly a popular activity of visitors & campers to the Park.  You can swim right under the waterfalls, against the current of course, so you don't stay there long before you wash down to calmer waters. 

There are also quite a few termite mounds in the area and would you guess - these termites eat grass.  There are magnetic termite mounds which are long & thin and face north to minimise the temp in the heat of the day while catching the sun early & late when it is cooler.  Then there are the huge cathedral termite mounds which are more round.  Don't know why they don't have to be long & thin facing north, but given these critters are small, blind, related more to cockroaches than ants and don't get out a lot, there are many unexplained issues with them. 

Tourist traffic is increasing.  On arrival at Litchfield, I planned to start at the far end at the Wangi Falls Campground, but it was full (it was only noon!) and numerous campers were circling around, hoping someone would move; they all looked very settled to me.  So I immediately set off for the Florence Falls Campground, where there were three spots left.  The spots were designated and quite large, so later in the day when I saw people circling and leaving, I stopped a family with a camper trailer and offered to share my spot, if they were happy.  They quickly accepted - "We've had a bad day" the chap said and very much appreciated the gesture.  They had two boys, about  & nine so there was a lot of activity and a fire both nights.  The third night I stayed at Wangi Falls and that evening there was a slideshow put on by Parks, which was very enjoyable.

Then on to Darwin.