northern territory: nitmiluk national park, leliyn falls

Also known as Edith Falls, Leliyn is a beautiful spot. There are a few bush walks from the campground ($25/n for the family) and we chose to take the kids on the 1.6km loop to the Upper Pool and back down the other side. We also left our camera behind so there are no photos of the gorgeous rock pools. 

On our second day B got through some school work before heading to the huge lower pool. It wasn't as warm as the springs though! 

B has taken to whittling again and made this neat spear. The hammock was a good spot to read the afternoon away with a new book. 

Initially we thought we'd stay a night but ended up staying three at Leliyn. The grounds are pleasant with actual real green grass! Fellow travellers will understand our excitement as we had somewhere the kids could run and Little A could practice his walking. We were pleased to not be packing, unpacking and racing off. 

Little A is cutting a good set of (five or more) teeth at the moment and whilst we've noticed he's a slightly more demanding version of his usual happy-go-lucky self, he's coping pretty well with the pain. After thirteen months he's finally going to have some teeth to gnaw with!

northern territory: litchfield national park

You can enter Litchfield from the north nearer to Darwin or the south through Batchelor (formally known at Rum Jungle). A little shout out to my uncle here. His sister, my mother, used to threaten to take him to Rum Jungle and leave him there. It's not as bad and scary as you might think Uncle. (I'm hoping I've allayed his childhood fears.)

Wangi Wangi Falls is the national park run campground but we pulled in to the last site at 11am. Once again, if you want a site, you've got to think and act like a grey nomad. Pack your van and head off at 5am to ensure a site. 

Wangi Wangi Falls is accessible from the campground and day carpark. We happened to be there over the Darwin long weekend and watched as cars circled the campground in the hope of scoring a site. Sadly many campers also took the opportunity to light their own campfires despite warnings not to do so. 

We swam at Wangi a few times over the weekend and met a lovely ex-Darwin family with grown up children who had travelled extensively through Australia when their kids were young. They are now grown up and fondly reminisce about those times. They were visiting Wangi and, more significantly, Giants Pocket because it was a place their son wanted to see again. It's not nearly as big as he remembers. 

We hope that when our children think back on the adventures we've shared together they also think fondly of them. 

Florence Falls walk includes about 130 stairs right down to the bottom of the falls. It was a beautiful beit challenging walk but there were barely any complaints from the little people. P did come a cropper and landed on her back after slipping from a large rock. She was as brave as could be but it gave her and I a shock.  

One morning before breakfast the kids and I did the walk from Wangi Wangi up to the lookout at the top. We loved looking out through the treetops and J and the kids repeated the whole loop later in the day.