"back way" into Litchfield
 

Has anyone driven the road from Darwin to Litchfield Natl. Park that enters from the west (near Wangi Falls I think)?

I know that it is partly unsealed, but our rental will be a 4WD. Still, if it is a "difficult" 4WD road, we would rather not take it.

How long does this route take? (I am assuming that the paved version, that goes through Batchelor takes about 1 1/2 hours).

Thanks!

Yes, we've done it twice in a sedan. It wasn't particularly hard in the sedan, so it should be a piece of cake in a 4WD. (We did it in July/August--wouldn't want to attempt it any other time.) We took it slowly in a couple of places and it was a bit of a bother when we were behind another vehicle and they kicked up a lot of dust. (But there's really very little traffic on the road.)
However, having said all this, I must remind you that there is a definite risk of having your windshield chipped or cracked by a piece of rock from the unsealed road.
Sorry, I don't recall how long the drive took.

longhorn,

Thanks for the answer!

I'm thinking that if the unsealed route were much longer than the sealed route, you would have noticed it--and certainly wouldn't have done it twice. We'll probably give it a try. It would be nice to see some different scenery on the way back!

Caligirl you need to check that your rental car is allowed on unsealed roads. We rented a Nissan 4WD drive assuming that we could go off road but found that it was not insured for off road as it was only a "soft" 4WD, otherwise we would have taken that route

crellston,
Thanks for the warning. I actually did check--and the 4WD can go anywhere in Litchfield and Kakadu EXCEPT to Jim Jim Falls. That must be an extra-rough road, I guess.

They will also allow us to drive at night--which is hard to find in the Northern Territory (although, we are going to try to keep night driving to a minimum)!