Monday, 4 August – Douglas Daly

It was another short drive today to our next camp spot so we visited Adelaide River War Cemetery and Robin Falls along the way.

Adelaide River War Cemetery

The war cemetery is the resting place of hundreds of people killed in Darwin during the Japanese air raids of WWII. It is immaculately kept and includes a large memorial to the Darwin Post Office staff killed in one of air raids.

The falls proved to be a bit of a challenge with parking and the supposedly short walk turned out to be a good 20 minutes of rock hopping and rock sliding. In the end it was worth it to see a refreshing plunge pool perched part the way up a cliff face.

Robin Falls

The next day we had an outing to Butterfly Gorge that unfortunately is almost devoid of butterflies at present but it does feature a large swimming hole with a sandy beach on one side and a plunge pool up some rocks at the far end.

Access to Butterfly Gorge was 4WD only but that didn’t deter a young couple in a Hi Ace van who made it most of the way until getting stuck at the creek crossing. We spent some time extricating their van and told them to turn back and forget the gorge.

Butterfly Gorge

Intrepid Travellers At Butterfly Gorge

Rock Columns At Butterfly Gorge

One Stuck HiAce Van

The last visit of the day was to Douglas Hot Springs which are HOT. A short way from the hot spring bubbling out of the ground the hot spring water and cooler river water mix to provide a nice hot bath on a sandy river bottom. You get a sandy bottom also if you spend too long there.

Bougainvillea At Douglas Daly

Whistling Kites Perched Over The Douglas River

Blue Dragonfly At Douglas Hot Springs