TWENTYSIXTH DAY – TUESDAY 3RD AUGUST
HAPPY 53rd BIRTHDAY GRAEME X X I actually cooked a farmers/bushies breakfast for my hubby on his birthday. We packed up camp and off we went to check out what Litchfield National Park had to offer – so far so good. We went just down the road to Florence Falls. We walked to the viewing platform which is a great view of the falls then we walked down the 137 steps and some to get to the bottom of the falls and the plunge pool – it was awesome. There were three waterfalls in one – beautiful. Then we came back up the 137 steps – saw a couple of rock wallabies on the way up to break it up a bit which helped. We then drove all around the park and discovered the Tabletop Swamp where the Melaleuca Trees grow and the lilies grow in the swamp. Then on to Tolmar Falls where we walked to a viewing platform which is a long way up – I’m not good with heights! But I looked and took photos of a very long water fall which falls into a big rock pool at the base and there were caves going into the rocks where rare bats – the Ghost bat and Orange Horseshoe bats live. We then continued on to Wangi Falls which is the most popular with the tourists. There were many people there already. We did a walk to the viewing platform and then on up the mountain to view bats hanging around in the trees above and there was a viewing platform up high in the trees – hey I went up and came down – wasn’t so bad. We then trekked back down the mountain, while I went to the viewing platform, Graeme went for a swim in the very big water hole. I was not confident in swimming in a big deep pool. I took photos of Graeme under the waterfall. We then went on to the Litchfield Cafe which was a bit average – no wonder it’s up for sale. It was surrounded by smoke from a bush fire nearby so we bought a few things and went. We continued our way round the attractions and went to Walker Creek. We went for a walk along the river and discovered it was a very beautiful place. We were only going to check it out but we wandered a lot further than we planned and ended up at a lovely rock pool where Graeme had a swim and I was the look-out as he had a nudie swim due to the fact we weren’t prepared. We walked back to the van and had some lunch – by this time it was 2.30 pm. It was also getting pretty hot by now even though the sky was filled with clouds. This was the last venue for the day so we travelled back to Buley Rockhole where Graeme had decided we should stay for another night. On the way back we gathered up some firewood off the side of the road which is encouraged by the way before getting back to our camp. We chose a spot, filled out the form and paid our money. I had a bit of a snooze as it was pretty hot and we had had a pretty full on day. About 6 pm we decided to go down to the rockpools for a swim. This time we took our torches. There were several other people there but they soon departed. We stayed there till it became too dark to see then walked back with torches in hand to our camp. When the fire that Graeme made was ready, he placed the foiled up vegies into the coals. We waited for awhile then he cooked the steaks in the frypan over the fire. Tea was ready and we ate. Graeme said his birthday was “good”.