caligirl56

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!

longhorn55

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.

caligirl56

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!

crellston

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

caligirl56

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)!