Category: Northern Territory

Kings Canyon, Watarrka National Park, is located 450 kilometres south west of Alice Springs in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta region of the Northern Territory. The Park encompasses the western end of the George Gill Range and is home to a variety of unique native flora and fauna, including over 600 different plant species. Commercial accommodation can be found within the Park at the Kings Canyon Resort and Kings Creek Station. The area has also been home to Luritja Aboriginal people for the last 20,000 years. The word Watarrka refers to the umbrella bush that proliferates in this amazing landscape. Combined with an eerie collection of weathered rock formations known as the Lost City and a permanent waterhole veiled by palms and ferns known as the Garden of Eden, a visit to the incredible Kings Canyon is full of surprises. Kings Canyon has several accommodation options from campsites to luxury hotel units as well as a restaurant, cafe, bar, souvenir shop and fuel pumps.

The Tanami Desert, one of the most isolated and arid areas on earth, wasn’t truly explored until well into the twentieth-Century. It is as far from the beaten track as you’re likely to get and strictly the domain of the adventurous and well equipped four-wheel-driver. Located 643 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs is the beginning of the Tanami Track, the most adventurous and direct route through the desert between Alice Springs and the Kimberley region. Tilmouth Roadhouse is the first stop along the Track. You can experience life on a working cattle station at Tilmouth Well. This oasis on the edge of the Tanami Desert offers tours, recreation and accommodation in a serene outback setting. Beyond Tilmouth, Yuendumu and Rabbit Flat Roadhouse offer fuel stops and refreshment. One of the Tanami’s newest attractions is the Newhaven Reserve run by Birds Australia. The Reserve covers an area of 650,000 acres and is home to an abundant range of wildlife. Rare night parrots have been sighted several times. Another exciting stop is the ruins of the Old Granite Gold Min, found 60 kilometres south of Rabbit Flat Roadhouse, featuring the original 1930s buildings.

The historic township of Larrimah, located 250 kilometres south of Katherine, is a pleasant stop along the Stuart Highway. Its traditional owners are the Yangman Aboriginal people, whose descendants live today in the nearby community of Wubuluwan and in other communities around the region. The Yangaman people believe Dreaming tracks of the Storm Bird (a Channel Bill Cuckoo) helped create the surrounding landscape. John McDouall Stuart explored this area in the late 1800s but the township of Larrimah didn’t spring up until 1940, when Gorrie Airfield was constructed here to service the war effort. Prior to World War II, the now lost town of Birdum was located just south of Larrimah. Larrimah means ‘meeting place’ in the Yangaman language and the town enjoyed a brief post war boom as a railhead and service provider to surrounding cattle stations. A stop in Larrimah demands a visit to the local hotel that was built using materials from the dismantled Birdum Hotel. It houses the highest bar in the Northern Territory, and is immediately recognisable thanks to the Pink Panther sitting outside. Budget hotel rooms, caravan sites and camping sites, meals and beverages are available. For traditional country fare, drop in to Fran’s Devonshire Teahouse after exploring the Old Police Station Museum.

Croker Island lies where the Arafura Sea meets the Timor Sea to the east of Coburg Peninsula. About an hour’s flight from Darwin, it is Aboriginal-owned land and, as such, a permit from the Northern Land Council is required for all visitors. Many Aborigines acknowledge Croker Island as the birthplace of the Rainbow Serpent – one of the most important spiritual beings in tales of the Dreamtime. Its landscape is flat, covered with tropical rainforest and fringed by sandy beaches and coral reef. Birds such as brolga and jabiru are abundant, and anglers flock to try their luck with Croker’s many species of tropical fish. There is one general store on Croker Island, and supplies are flown in once a week from Darwin.

Berry Springs, a half-hour drive south of Darwin, has a general store, petrol station and camping and caravan facilities. The small settlement is most often visited by those wanting to explore the Territory Wildlife Park and the Berry Springs Nature Reserve. The Reserve protects a large part of the Berry Creek catchment. Berry Creek begins as a series of springs, forms a small creek then reaches Darwin Harbour through a mangrove lined estuary. The park is an attractive area close to Darwin for recreational activities. Enjoy a refreshing swim, relax in a cascading rock pool or sit down to a picnic lunch on the idyllic shore. If you swim with goggles you can see many small native fish and other aquatic life that live in the clear pools. The world acclaimed Territory Wildlife Park, nestled in 400 hectares of natural bushland, showcases the wildlife of northern Australia, which you can see up close and in their natural habitats.