Butterfly Springs and the Lost Cities of the Limmen National Park - Part 1

The Limmen National Park was proclaimed in July 2012, so it's just celebrated its 2nd birthday.  It's in one of the most remote parts of Australia, in eastern Northern Territory.  After our relaxing 2 days at Lorella Springs Station, we were back onto the corrugated access road and an hour later re-joined the Nathan River Road heading north.  Another hour and a half and we pulled into Butterfly Springs campsite.  The main reason for staying here is so we can visit the Southern Lost City and the Western Lost City.  The road is what we expected - travel at about 50-60kph maximum, sometimes dropping down to 30kph and slower still over the many creek crossings.

After we set up camp,we drove back the 23km to the Southern Lost City carpark.  There's a well marked trail to follow for the 2.5km walk around and between the giant sandstone pillars.

The guide information says the walk takes about 1.5 hours.  I think the time estimate depends on how often you stop to take photos.

We stopped often!!!!








The walk took us between the pillars, formed about 1.5billion years ago, to the top of the escarpment where we had magnificent views of the  surrounding countryside.

Then it was back down through more pillars and back to the car.  We took the full 1.5 hours, and managed to drink all of our water too.

Back to Butterfly Springs and it was time for a swim in the crystal clear waters.  A bit cooler than the water at Lorella Springs it was "brisk and refreshing".  The hardest part was immersing - once we were wet the water was lovely.

Nature's swimming holes are magnificent.  We swam among the fish and watched a large water monitor basking in the sun.  At this time of year the waterfall which feeds the pool is just a trickle.

After our swim we walked to the nearby overhang to see how Butterfly Spring got its name.  There are thousands of butterflies just hanging out on the rock face - wonderful!