***
Australia 2011
Day 11 - 8th August - Litchfield National Park (Part 3)
Next was Tolmer Falls.
Tolmer Falls
Tolmer Falls
Tolmer Falls Panorama 2
Forested area on other side
Falls rainbow
There was a 45 minute walk but by this time I was too nua to do it. Also one could see a lot from the path to the lookout point (and I'd been looking at enough rocks for diminishing marginal utility to hit pretty heavily).
There was a Chinese couple in their 60s or 70s from Dalian. Their daughter looked like she was in her late 20s and her husband was a white guy in his 50s or so, witha head of white hair. In Melbourne, she said she was from China and Melbourne (at first I thought it was some Chinese city). Perhaps because of that, she sensed my English was better than my Mandarin and switched to English. How nice of her. Then her father asked me if Singaporeans going to Malaysia needed a qian1 zheng4. I thought this meant a passport stamp, but it was actually a visa. So I gave the wrong answer. Oops.
We then proceeded to Buley Falls.
"If carpark is FULL then Buley is CROWDED. Please come back later"
The culture in Australia seemed to be to go headfirst into the lot, so I reversed in a few instances. Belabored literary analyses notwithstanding, I was just doing it
On the Buley Rockhole
Pond Life
Cavorting by the water. That woman is the one I referred to earlier, who swam in her bra.
Pool
People in pool
Backs lined up
"Nature's ۞۞۞۞۞ Spa"
With all the people frolicking in it, I doubt it's still "Good enough to bottle"
We then moved on to Florence Falls.
Coming to Australia with a hat, insect repellent and sunblock is very smart. I brought none of those things. Though moisturiser helped a bit.
I rolled down the car window to cool the car as we drove, and our road map flew out. Oops. However we knew there were lots of environmentally-conscious people behind us to clear up.
I saw a van with an ad for German-speaking tours.
Florence Falls sign
Florence Falls
Rapids, Pool
This is a great idea. All walks need previews so one can decide if they're worth doing!
Cavort cavort cavort cavort cavort
Tree climbing: one of the things you miss out on growing up in Singapore
Artistic pond shot
This is not a Water Boatman, so I'll just call it "pond bug"
You need to time your visits really well to catch many ranger activities
'Shakin Bacon' van
Hand-scrawled road sign for Gorky
No liquor AND no porn
Between this sign and Batchelor which itself had a "no liquor" sign, there was 50m or so of open space. One could sit down there and drink.
Fish eating themselves
Hidden tobacco
I don't know why they're so proud of their Iced Coffee
I then went to a store to buy "Passiona", a passionfruit soft drink. It wasn't very nice, fulfilling my rule of local soft drinks (they're usually not very nice). Incidentally I made sure not to visit the store with the nasty guy as I didn't want to be harassed again.
Besides not being very nice, there were weird particles floating in it. Perhaps a new form of life? The ingredients list didn't mention bits of fruit so they couldn't have been that. Anyway it was too acidic and acrid, and was slightly bitter, even, assaulting my buccal cavity.
It was better when less gassy, which it became with the car's vibrations as we travelled. I then understood why uncles added salt to their Coke.
Strangely, I was even more sian after my swim. I suppose it, the hike, the previous day's hike and the weather were taking their toll on me.
Unleaded petrol was $1.487/l and plus ulp $1.467/l. I'm not sure why someone would go for normal unleaded petrol.
There were some cars marked "Hertz". Maybe renters got discounts for doing their advertising for them.
Maybe the Top End had a lot of Germans because they like camping.