Checking out the gardens at the Butterfly Resort

Delicious poached pear with macadamia and orange, just one of the

devine creations for desert at the Butterfly Resort.

Off road in Litchfield National Park

Swimming at Wangi Falls, Litchfield National Park

Blyth Family Homestead [tin shack] Litchfield National Park

Sunday 22nd of August saw us up and packed and on the road again to a place called Batchelor, just outside the Litchfield National Park. We have been trying to stay in Big 4 caravan parks because we think they have the best facility for kids and we also chose this big 4 because it offered ensuite sites. Well wasn't I in heaven when we pulled up at this park, not only was there the best bathroom I have seen so far but also my own personal washing machine.......oh bliss, I was to my hearts content and not have to walk back and forward between laundry and caravan for have the day waiting for machine to finish, then empty and hang on line, then wait for it to dry then go back again to collect, which is fine if the laundry is close but a bit of a pain when its across the other side of the park!!!!!! I had a load on before the caravan was even set up!!!!!!

We did a bit of a scout about for somewhere to have dinner and we came upon The Batchelor Butterfly Resort, what a delight. First let me tell you there is nothing much in Batchelor itself, it is the gateway to the Litchfield National Park, but as for the town itself, not much going for it!!!

Except for the heavenly Butterfly resort, here you can come and stay in little cabins surrounded by beautiful gardens and be pampered by massage and relaxed by beautiful music and oils and swim in the little "bali" pool and eat delicious foods........ok I feel I am getting abit caught up in the Butterfly Resort and its food, but it was good. We had dinner there two nights and breakfast as well, I would have gone back a third night but Andrew wanted to try the pub!!!! So when we wern't at the Butterfly resort we were out exploring the National Park, the first day we went to the Historic Bamboo Creek Tin Mine where the remains of this mine is. It was interesting but also very hot, how they got the macheriney and equipment to these remote places is beyond me, the heat and the flies and dust are just too overwhelming to be have to be thinking of work of any sort. When we finished looking there we went for a swim at a beautiful spot called Wangi Falls, the Falls are about 10ks from the tin mines so its not like the

miners could just go and jump in to cool down on a hot day, but that is just what we did. The kids really enjoyed the waterfalls and swimming holes for a change from the cholrined swimming pools. These water holes are teeming with fish and the water is as clear as crystal, Courtney swims around and around under water checking out all the fish and would love to catch one, not to eat, just to look at. Around all these water holes are hikes and walks, we have done many of these to check out the natural flora and forna. At these falls there were many, many trees full of flying foxes.

Next we had to put the car into 4 wheel drive and drive through a couple of river beds to get to the Historic Blyth house ruins, this was a family of 14 children and the parents who lived in the middle of no where but lived very comfortably during the depression because they were self sufficient, they ran beef, grew fruit and veges, milked cows for milk, butter and cream. The house however was a tin shack with a dirt floor, my my these people did it hard.

Next day we went back into the national park to finish off the last couple of things we needed to see, the Lost City, a decayed basalt plain, which left the appearance of a deserted city, then onto a couple more Waterfalls and swimming holes where the children had great fun swimming again.

Wednesday saw us packing up and leaving the fabulous ensuite shower and washing machine behind to head to Darwin. I am especially looking forward to this leg of the journey because Karen is coming from Timor and we are flying mum up for a week in Darwin.