Litchfield national park in the Top End: Range-perfect for EV tripping

Much to our shame, neither I nor Co-Pilot knew of Litchfield National Park until a Territorian electric vehicle fellow-traveler saved us from missing out on this glorious region of Northern Territory, which deserves to be on every EV road-tripper’s bucket-list.

Litchfield’s easily accessible and perfectly pristine waterfalls running into Hollywood-film-worthy water holes are a big tourist drawcard.

In late August, just past the peak point of tourist traffic in NT, however, crowds are not overwhelming. The view is wildly enticing as you plunge into the crystal clear Wangi waterhole – while secure in the knowledge that your car is parked just a couple of hundred metres away.

Litchfield is memorably quirky – you might even say ‘totally bats’! Tolmer Gorge hosts thousands of Orange Horseshoe Bats and just off Wangi Falls, in the monsoon forrest, ‘endangered’ Ghost Bats hang upside down, screeching in the dappled light – perhaps trying to draw attention to the plight of the planet.

Even more fascinating are the Litchfield white ants. Our way through northern Western Australia had been lined with termite mounds of various shapes, sizes and colours. But Litchfield is uniquely endowed with these distant cousins of the cockroach, as the ranger informs us, at a talk at the world’s one and only Magnetic Termite Mounds Viewing Platform!

Called ‘magnetic termites’ or the ‘Bushman’s compass’, these astounding architects who have been building here for several million years, are still befuddling human scientists by constructing their mounds with a precise north-south orientation!

And if you are more into the arts, you just have to see the magnificent creations of the Cathedral Termites.

Getting There

As Highway 1 runs into Northern Territory from Western Australia (WA stories here), the gestalt change is palpable.

Immediately, the speed limit rises to 130 km/hour, having been 110 all the way in WA. The road surface has more visible damage and there is an unfamiliar road sign, which turns out to be a ‘temporary road hazzard’ warning.

There are an awful lot of these along the 180 km road from the WA border to Timber Creek – our first stop and first EV charge in Northern Territory.

There are no fast chargers between Kununurra in WA and Katherine in the NT, a distance of over 500 kms. The stop at Timber Creek Caravan Park is probably the best option for an EV coming in from the West and heading to Litchfield.

If you book a room for the night, you can charge your car on a caravan socket, without any additional cost. The compound gates are locked at night, providing a sense of security.

But for an EV we would probably not have stopped at Timber Creek, which turns out to be a particularly charming introduction to NT’s small town accommodation, with its own croc-feeding hour each evening, and a rowdy bar, firmly separated from the dining room for reasons that become obvious as the evening becomes more ‘spirited’.

The higher speed limit in NT is not welcome from our point of view. Through WA’s Pilbara and Kimberley regions, faced with undependable fast chargers, and trying to make the most of each charge, we have got into the habit of leaving at dawn, driving at a leisurely pace until the volume of traffic increases, making lower than normal speeds untenable.

So, Day 2 in NT, we leave before 6 – a time to meander, enjoying and watching out for the marsupials which are smaller and more plentiful here. With the sun in my eye, even at 80 km an hour, I manage to surprise a couple of large pheasants.

It is not till nearly 9 that I see the first truck coming up behind us. But by now, it feels safe to pick up speed, as the marsupials have mostly disappeared back under the foliage and our range anxiety is soothed by the closeness to Katherine where a DC charger, our first in NT, awaits.

I have to confess, it is fun to drive at 130 km/hr (even a tad more when overtaking), but only if you don’t mind running over a small lizard or hitting a tiny bird. Speed kills, even when it does not kill a human.

Accessible

From Katherine onwards, charging is a breeze. There is a fast charger again at Adelaide River, which is only about 50 kms from the entry to Litchfield National Park. So, the 530 kms from Timber Creek to Litchfield is a pretty chilled drive.

Banyan Tree Resort (it used to be called Caravan Park) feels like something out of 1980’s Ubud. If you book a room you can charge your car at a caravan site for $20 a night.

There are several other accommodation options close by, where charging on powered sites should be possible – though like everywhere else some of these places are more accommodating of EVs than others.

Still, I left Litchfield with some regret. We missed seeing the Lost City, which you can only reach with a 4WD. Nor did we have the time to hike the Table Top hiking trail, which takes 5 days, connects the four main water holes in the park, and sounds absolutely divine.

But for all else in Litchfield Park, EVie (our trusty Kona Electric) was the perfect machine. You can enjoy Litchfield National Park in your EV with absolutely no cause for ‘range’/‘charger’/any-other anxiety the popular media currently attributes to EV driving.

This article was originally published on Reading The Road. Reproduced with permission. See her other articles and similar stories in our Road Trips section.