About Florence Falls
Florence Falls was probably our favourite waterfall in Litchfield National Park.
What made this waterfall stand out to Julie and I was its multi-tiered, multi-segmented shape with a crocodile-free swimming hole that was perfect for lingering about and cooling off.
In addition to its characteristics, we were able to enjoy the view of the falls from an overlook near its top as well as from its cool and shady base.
We weren’t alone in our sentiments towards the falls because it was very popular as many other people were sharing the experience with us during our visits.
In fact, this waterfall seemed to gain in popularity since our first visit in June 2006 when we saw many more people here in June 2022.
Anyways, Florence Creek was said to tumble possibly 30-40m in total (though admittedly, I’m just guessing here).
The main drops were said to be about 20-25m tall, but there was an upper tier that we could easily see from the upper lookout.
The creek was rare in that it was said to be year-round so the falls themselves were also permanent.
According to the signs here, this was possible because the porous rocks of the tabletop plateaus here absorb Wet Season rains, then they percolate as springs during the Dry Season.
Plus, Florence Creek was isolated enough that there wasn’t as much of a threat of saltwater and freshwater crocodiles.
That’s why you see people swimming around the falls in the photos on this page whereas none of our photos for the other main waterfalls in Litchfield National Park had people swimming around them.
Experiencing Florence Falls
Our visit began with a short 200m walk from the car park (see directions below) to a wheelchair-accessible overlook of the entire context of the falls and gorge (see photo at the top of this page).
There was an interpretive sign informing us of how the falls was year-round as well as some of the wildlife to be found here.
Then, we continued along the trail, which proceeded towards a series of steps descending steeply from the tabletop plateau into the shady depths of the gorge.
I recalled that it didn’t take long for us to make it to the bottom where we then crossed a footbridge over Florence Creek before continuing on the trail the rest of the way to the base of Florence Falls.
At the end of the trail, there was an entrance to the large plunge pool fronting the falls, which lots of people took advantage of to swim and cool off from the Top End’s typically hot and muggy weather.
However, trying to view and photograph the falls wasn’t satisfactory from here so we scrambled a short distance over rocks (trying to keep our feet dry) until we got frontal views of Florence Falls.
We definitely had to use caution on the stream crossings because some parts were pretty deep while some of the rocky steps were both slippery and uneven (so trekking poles definitely helped with the balance).
When we had our fill of the falls, it was all uphill on the way back, which included all the steps that we had descended earlier.
The total amount of time we spent away from the car on each of our visits here was around an hour, including all the hiking and picture taking.
Termite Mounds
In addition to Florence Falls, a short drive east of the turnoff for the falls was the intriguing Termite Mounds, which was well-signposted.
Now we had witnessed several termite mounds throughout much of Northern Australia, but for some reason, there was a very high concentration of them at this one spot.
In fact, quite a few of the termite mounds seemed to be facing a certain direction so some people even refer to these formations as “magnetic termite mounds”.
Moreover, some of the individual mounds were so big that they were easily three or four times taller than us.
Authorities
Florence Falls resides in Litchfield National Park near Batchelor in the Northern Territory. It is administered by the Northern Territory Government. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website.
Florence Falls is located in the heart of Litchfield National Park roughly a little over 30 minutes drive west of Batchelor.
From Batchelor, we drove the main road (Litchfield Park Road) about 35km to the well-signed turnoff for both the Buley Rockhole and Florence Falls.
From there, we then drove the remaining 4.5km or so to the car park for Florence Falls, where there was a car park.
The track began right at the northern end of the car park.
Note that there was a separate turnoff for the Buley Rockhole in that final stretch to Florence Falls, and we have a separate write-up for that other experience, which you can read about here.
For geographical context, Batchelor was 97km (over an hour drive) south of Darwin, 145km (about 90 minutes drive) northwest of Pine Creek, and about 237km (2.5 hours drive) northwest of Katherine.
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Right to left sweep from the overlook of the falls with a slow pan up alongside the falls
Right to left sweep from the mouth of the plunge pool before the falls while fixated on the falls from a couple of different zooms towards the end
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Florence Falls June 17, 2010 9:03 pm - Was there in July 2009. Went to Florence Falls with the Litchfield Dreams tour. This was one of our stops. It is a beautiful place and it my own little piece of heaven. We swam across and sat under the waterfall. Great stop to cool off during the hot Aussie weather. Don't miss it, once… ...Read MoreVisitor Reviews of this Waterfall:
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