The Top End: Day 5

Our final day of the tour arrived so quickly! Although it was the end, we went out with a bang. Today was a day of watering holes. We hiked and sampled at least five locations, but my count could be off.

The first one we visited was by far my favourite of the entire trip, and it was called Florence Falls. There were two waterfalls that had a decent flow to them, drowning out the rest of the world. They were sheltered not only by the escarpment, but also by the canopy of trees, making them shady and cool. Finally, the plunge pool was nice and deep, with only a few fish who mostly avoided our toes.

After Florence Falls, we started the hike up to Buley Rockhole. We stopped at a swimming area about half way there, and I decided to opt out of swimming this time. There were slippery rocks and minimal shade over the water, so I sat in the shade and read a few chapters of my book.

The group continued to Buley Rockhole, while our guide (bless her heart!) went to move the bus to the second parking lot so we didn’t have to hike the return trip. The swimming was great, there were numerous smaller pools to disperse among, some more shady/sunny/shallow/deep than others. I chose an area on the shady and deep end of the spectrum, and jumped right in. 

After, we drove to the Lost Cities. It is a series of sandstone rock formations created due to erosion over the years. All the columns and different formations just existing without any human influence blows my mind and makes me feel so lucky to be alive. 

We stopped at Greenant Creek for lunch, and had a smorgasbord of all the leftover bits and pieces from the previous days, and some additional dips and such. Our baguettes got soggy during our 4WD adventure to the Lost Cities, so we made do without them 😭. Our guide gave us the option to swim at Tjaetaba Falls, about a 30 minute hike from where we were, or to continue to Wangi Falls (pronounced Wong-eye), the larger and more touristy area. We chose to hike and swim at the smaller, more private falls. The hike up was so scenic, taking us through the monsoon forest closer to the creek, to the savanna woodlands as we gained elevation. 

I proceeded to make a very Kate move, and forgot my swim bottoms at the swimming spot. However, I had decided to leave a few minutes before everyone else to be able to take my time on the descent, and realized shortly into it, so I only had about 500 meters to backtrack. And luckily for me, our guide noticed them and was bringing them down with her, so I only ended up doubling back about 200 meters. 

We made a quick stop at Wangi Falls, and had enough time for a brief dip. Some of our group chose to take the path to the viewing platform instead. These falls were much more grand, and the plunge pool much larger. I swam with an edge of fear in my stomach, because a tourist had an encounter with a saltwater crocodile there in July. At the beginning of the dry season crocodile surveys are done to establish no crocodiles are in the area, but there are downstream waterways that the crocs can lurk in, waiting until later on to swim back upstream.  Besides, that crocodile was removed from the area so what did I have to worry about?

Before we knew it, it was time to make our way back to Darwin. We stopped to view some termite mounds more closely than the countless ones we had already seen in our travels. Our guide explained a number of termite facts to us:

• The ones that make mounds (Spinefex termites) are different species from the ones that live in trees (Arboreal termites). Spinefex is a type of grass that they eat.
• Each mound has a king and a queen, with the queen growing to 4 or 5 cm long.
• Three types of termites will be in a mound: workers, soldiers, and reproductive (that grow wings).
• Termite mounds grow 1 metre every ~10 years.
• There are cathedral termites and magnetic termites that make mounds. The magnetic termites’ mounds look akin to headstones, thin and broad. They are all oriented about 10° off the North-South magnetic axis of the earth, believed to help with thermoregulation of the mound.
• The reproductive termites will take flight after the first thunderstorm of the pre-monsoon season, finding a mate, dropping to the ground, losing their wings and starting a new mound. Apparently after this happens it 1) reeks to high heaven and 2) gives all the birds and bats and other critters a massive feast.
• Some species of termites build their mounds in flood plains. When it floods during the wet season, the soldiers seal off the mound so they don’t drown.

With that, we were back in Darwin, and off to our separate lives once more. My plan was to explore Darwin before flying back to Melbourne, so I had a much-needed a quiet evening. My AirBnB’s waterbed did the job, and I was out before 10.

See you soon,

– Kate