Litchfield National Park

Though it was a bit sad to close the door on our mini-vacation to Bali, it was a whole lot easier to do so knowing we were just returning to our normal vacation in Australia. The view of Darwin at dusk was lovely as we returned to the northern coast of Oz.

 

Before dawn the next morning, we boarded a small bus with 10 fellow travelers for the first of a series of three overland trips that, over the course of two weeks, will take us from Darwin straight down through the center of Australia to Adelaide. I like me some independent travel, but I have to admit, it's kind of fun to just pre-pay a lump sum, sit back, and let someone else worry about where we're going, what we're doing, how we're going to get there, what we're going to eat, and where it's coming from. A pretty relaxing way to travel (other than the repeated pre-dawn wake-ups, so as to make the most of our tour time, which I guess I can't argue with...).

Our first stop was Litchfield National Park, southwest of Darwin, where I learned a LOT about termites and termite mounds. These here are magnetic termite mounds, which are shaped like a pane of glass, with the flat wide sides oriented east/west, and the thin edges pointing north/south/up. This is a very resourceful method for heat regulation within the mounds, as they catch the softer a.m. and late afternoon sun to warm up quickly and then stay warmer longer into the evening, but are relatively protected from the brutally strong mid-day sun.

Then, there are cathedral termite mounds. The waffling surface of these is another way of regulating heat.

And then there are arboreal termite mounds, which are obviously formed around trees. In these, the termites actually hollow out the tree, and that is how the Aboriginal music instrument the didgeridoo is traditionally made--from a tree trunk hollowed out by termites.

More termite trivia:
- The mounds are actually made of termite poop, er, waste.
- That poop, er, waste is so hard and fireproof that a lot of the many WWII-era runways/landing strips in the Northern Territory are made at least in part from ground-up termite mounds.
- Ants and termites are mortal enemies, and ants always win the battle; ants will often conquer a group of termites, kick them out of their mound, and take over the mound as their new ant farm. Harsh!
There's much more, but I have to leave something for you to discover when YOU come visit Australia.

The other highlight of Litchfield was natural swimming holes. We enjoyed three of them, which were all variations on the same basic theme of waterfall, cool swimming bliss: