20 August - Leliyn (Edith Falls), Nitmulik National Park

20 August 2016 – 183 573

Leliyn (Edith Falls), Nitmulik National Park

This morning we got up early and headed to Leliyn (Edith Falls) to walk and swim. 
https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/find-a-park/find-a-park-to-visit/nitmiluk-national-park We walked to Sweetwater Pool for our first swim, the walk to this was steep and rocky initially and then flattened out and wound its way through various types of vegetation.  This ranged from open grasslands – which were very itchy on the legs – to quite dense forests of narrow trunked trees.  There were areas with large numbers of tall orange-flowered grevilleas that were very popular with the birds.  We passed a number of small waterfalls between Longhole and Sweetwater Pool. Near Longhole we saw the tracks of a freshwater crocodile going from the sandbank into the water.  Sweetwater Pool was a large pool which was fairly warm.  After this, we walked back to the main path and went to Leliyn Lookout.  We then continued on to the upper rock pool for another swim.  The water here was colder and varied from very shallow (slithering over rocks on your belly, as they were too slippery to walk on) to very deep.  At the upper rock pools we had a chat to a ranger about the park.  We then walked on to Bemang lookout – this looks over a massive pool and waterfall with a large cave cut into the gorge below and behind the waterfall, there is no path down to swim in this pool, presumably there are breeding grounds or nesting sites in the cave system.  A beautiful pool and waterfall to look at.  We continued back to the base of Leliyn (Edith Falls) and had a look at the main pool before heading home.  All up we walked 11.3km, with actual walking time of just under 4 hours, plus breaks for swimming and food.