The last day of my tour was a really great day and put itself up in my top experiences of this trip (on post of this to follow soon). We had an early leave as it was a two hour drive to Lichfield NP and we had to be back in Darwin for 5pm so people could catch flights.
Today was all about being a water baby. First stop of the day was the Buley Rockholes, a series of cascading pools that were deep enough to swim in, cool enough to cool you down but warm enough that you didn't want to get out. We spent an hour going from pool to pool, jumping in the deeper ones and sitting in the shallows. Because I hurt my knee the night before I found I had to get out sooner than the others or it started to sting and seize a little.
Next was Wangi Falls, pronounced won-guy, which before the Europeans drove the local indigenous out was a 'Woman's business' area which men could not visit. The story goes that the Rainbow Snake from the creation stories sleeps in the lake and women would swim here to get the spirit of their children, in other words swimming here would help you become pregnant. It continues that YukYuk, beautiful women with fishtails, or mermaids would protect the rainbow snake from men, being a women's business sight no men should go here and they would lure them into the water and drown them. Nick told us that since the first man swam in Wangi falls in the seventies there have been 80 reported cases of drowning. All male. Coincidence?
Probably my favourite of the three swimming holes we visited with a sandy bottom that got deeper and two waterfalls. I swam until I could swim no more and this is literal as my knee decided it wanted to seize again so I had to float on my back from the far end by the waterfall back to the shallows. Clearly the YukYuk were watching over me as I am still around.
Lastly we visited Florence Falls, a watering hole it appeared most if Darwin must go jot with how busy it was compared to the other two or maybe we had just beat the rush in the morning. Over run with people but still picturesque. On the way home we visited the termite mounds and Nick explained how they worked and what the termites did, he is apparently the 23rd leading expert on termites.
Then back to Darwin to find our own accommodation for the night, which in my case was a little stressful as the STA Rep had emailed me the wrong hostel but luckily Sarah helped me find it, and dinner before saying goodbye to some of my new friends. Here's hoping your enjoy your adventures and time back home guys, missing you all already.
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