Litchfield National Park (Australia Part 7)

From Kakadu National Park we drove west and made a stop in the former mining town of Pine Creek. The former mining area is now flooded and the town seemed quite deserted to us. We visited an exhibition of old equipment used in the mine. We only encountered two other tourists in the town...

We stayed at a small motel in the town of Batchelor, which seemed equally abandoned like the former gold rush town. The main attraction of Batchelor is a castle - a small replica of Karlstejn Castle in the Czech Republic...

We didn't encounter anyone on the streets - you had to go to the pub. It was quite busy there, and it was the only place where you could eat at the moment, as the rainy season had already started and, for example, the restaurant in our hotel was closed.

Rum Jungle Tavern

The next day we drove to Litchfield National Park, which covers 1400 square meters of lush tropical vegetation. Shortly after the entrance, we encountered a lizard about one meter long by the roadside.

We took short hikes to various waterfalls, of which there are several in the park.

At the base of the waterfalls, there is usually a pool where you can also swim, which was used by many visitors. After each rainy season, rangers make sure that no estuarine crocodiles, which are dangerous to humans, have been dragged into the pool. Then the swimming spots are cleared for use. Freshwater crocodiles can already be found in the swimming areas, but they are actually harmless to humans. Nevertheless, we decided not to take a swim in the not even cool water...

But it wasn't just people who dared to jump into the pools:

On the way to Cascade Waterfalls, we saw many spider webs along the banks. Their residents were probably hoping for insects wanting to fly to the water...