| The Top End, Northern Territory |
The Explorer's Way: a drive connecting Adelaide with Darwin, that follows the route of John McDouall Stuart, a famous Australian explorer who was the first to traverse the continent in 1862.
Arnham Land: Mysterious and beautiful, Arnhem Land is a vast area more than four times the size of Kakadu National Park. Inhabited by about 18,000 Aboriginal people and largely untouched by tourism development, the home of the world's oldest living culture has only recently become accessible to a tightly restricted number of visitors.
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Jumping Crocodiles: a must-do activitity if you want to see crocdiles in the wild is the Jumping Crocodile cruise on the Adelaide River near Humpty Doo. Here, the crocodiles know the cruise boats and certain ones are only too happy to leap out of the water and be fed. To see these giant creatures in their natural habitat, yet so close you could almost reach out and touch them, is a truly unforgettable experience.
The Lost City, Limmen National Park
Roper Bar and Gulf Track: if you have a 4WD the opportunities to experience solitude in the Northern Territory wilderness is not far away. Roper Bar is in a part of Australia toward the Gulf of Carpentaria, that is extremely remote and, in the main, uninhabited.
East Arnhem Land: described as one of the last winderness areas on earth, the region is scenic with long white sandey beaches, azure waters and green vegetation. Gove Peninsula, a vast tract of land of nearly 100,000 sq km of land, is one of Australia's last strongholds of traditional Aboriginal culture. Today its Aboriginal people live a unique lifestyle blending the laest in western technology with timeless traditions. Qantas operates daily jet flights from Darwin and Cairns with Airnorth flying from darwin 6 days a week. It is also possible to drive to Nhulunbuy from Katherine during the dry season June to October.
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Charlie the Buffalo, from the movie Crocodile Dundee, presides over the proceedings at the bar of the Adelaide River Inn
Adelaide River: Though only a very small community, Adelaide River is well worth stopping at to break a road journey between Katherine and Darwin. Adelaide River Inn is home of Charlie the Buffalo, from the movie Crocodile Dundee. The Adelaide River War Cemetery is the third largest war cemetery in Australia.
The Savannah Way: one of Australia's ultimate adventure drives, traversing the top end of Australia and linking Cairns in Tropical North Queensland with the historic pearling town of Broome in Western Australia, via the natural wonders of Australia's far north. Some sections of the road are suitable for 4-wheel drive vehicles only, but others are sealed, making it possible for anyone with a motor vehicle to complete sections of the drive.
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| Visiting The Region: The Facts |
How to get there: by road: drive north from Adelaide to Darwin via the Stuart Highway. Alteratively, the Top End can be approached via The Savannah Way. From Kununurra in the Kimberly reion of Western Australia, travel east via Victoria Highway to Katherine. From Normanton, Qld. on the Gulf of Carpentaria travel west via Borroloola and Daly Waters.
By air: Daily flights operate from all Australian capital cities to Darwin.
By rail: Darwin is linked to Adelaide and the rest of Australia's capital cities via The Ghan. Two services per week operate in each direction from May to November. Outside of these months, there is one service per week in each direction.
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The Best Time To Visit: The Top End has a tropical climate with distinct wet and Dry Seasons. The Wet Season is associated with tropical cyclones and monsoon rains. The majority of rainfall occurs between December and March when thunderstorms are common and humidity is regularly over 70 per cent.
The Dry Season, from April/May until September/October, yields pleasant weather that is similar to summer in the southern states with low humdity, the almost monotonously constant (around 30 degrees) warm and pleasantly sunny days. For this reason, the Dry Season is also the peak tourist season.
The Wet Season is hot and humid with high rainfall. The tropical cyclones, choppy seas, endless days of rain and high humidity levels associated with the Wet Season would indicate that the Wet is not the time to visit the Top End, but there are actually two sides to this picture. The Wet Season brings forth the lush scenic beauty, raging waterfalls, an abundance of barramundi for those who love fishing, low prices all round and a lack of crowds at popular tourist haunts.
So there is a side to the Tropical North that you will never see if you are not there during the Wet Season, but there is a price to pay - heat, humidity, rain and the possibility of cyclonic weather. September to December, whilst not being particularly wet, are nonetheless very humid and quite unbearable, so it is best to stay away during those months too if you find humidity unbearable.
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