Magnetic Termites

For our first full day we headed to Litchfield National Park, a nice day trip from Darwin. I included these two pictures here of a roadside stop near the town of Batchelor because they represent pretty well the sort of "architecture" one finds in the area; rather casually built, with lots of corrugated metal and walls that don't quite reach the roof. We stopped here in the early morning on our way to the park to pick up some water and snacks, and when I hopped out of the car (in my shorts and t-shirt) I noticed a group of Aussies huddled around the front in fleece pullovers and long pants, clutching cups of steaming coffee. Now, I should point out that I am one of those desperately cold, always-freezing types who has a space heater in her office to combat the airconditioning and wears wool sweaters in May, but the weather this morning was pleasant... sunny and probably upper 60's. I went inside to buy our stuff, and the big burly guy, similarly overdressed, is saying to his friend, "Yeah, it was freezing last night! It got down to 15 degrees! (60 degrees Fahrenheit) Too bloody cold for me." It was all I could do not to giggle. At last, I have found a place where people (big macho Aussie male people!) are colder than me. This sentiment was repeated several times by the natives during our visit to the Top End, and it made me ridiculously happy every time.





These are magnetic termite mounds. The ground here is marshy, so the termites cannot retreat underground during the hot part of the day. Instead, they build their mounds in this wide-but-thin north/south configuration that lets them regulate their temperatures by migrating within the mound to the shady side, as needed. Litchfield has large graveyard-like colonies of them. They are pretty tall... the large one in the closeup is taller than a person.