As we rounded a corner, we were told to look right and we would see the gates to the first uranium mine in Australia - Rum Jungle, which was operated by the British and US governments to extract uranium ore for their nuclear programs from 1954 - 1971. Like other nuclear related sites in Australia, governments have never properly cleaned up the site which included significant aboriginal cultural sites. About $50 million was spent on remediation between 1981 and 1986, but some estimates calculate that proper remediation of this site would cost over $300 million.
We then went to the termite mounds. Now, there are termite mounds everywhere along the roads, small ones, big ones, we’ve passed a lot. However, there are 22 species of termites in the Northern Territory that produce mounds, and some mounds are different. Firstly we saw an enormous cathedral termite mound (we have passed others of a similar size - they are pretty common).
Then we walked down the boardwalk to the magnetic termite mounds. I hadn’t seen any like this! They are all aligned north south.
You can see some other termite mounds in various sizes in the bush behind.
There are two main types of palms here - sand palms
and another type that I’m calling spiral palms.
Then we went to Florence Falls, where you could swim from the top,
or go down 135 steps to the plunge pool.
There’s a kilometre long rainforest walk that we also followed.
Next we visited the Tolmer Falls,
where we had a view of the Tabletop Plateau which is the basis for the park.
The final waterfall we visited were the Wangi falls, where everyone could swim again.
On the way back to Darwin we stopped at Strauss Airfield, one of many airstrips created during WWII so that planes weren’t concentrated in one place, where the Japanese could destroy them all at once.
And lastly, here is a road train. They’re mostly three trailers, but there are a number with four. They’re very common here.
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