Location: The Top End, Northern Territory

The Northern Territory is blessed with not one but two natural rock formations which, because the rocks there are shaped and arranged in a form that resembles stuctures built by lost civilisations centuries ago, have been called The Lost City.

Northern Lost City

The formation generally refered to as The Lost City is a natural formation found within Litchfield National Park to the south of the Northern Territory capital of Darwin. The Lost City was formed by thousands of years of wind and rain erosion whose walls, narrow passages and domes give the impression that they were man made. These complex freestanding sandstone block and pillar formations suggest the ruins of a long forgotten civilization of an amazing race.
Spread over an area the size of a small town, they look like the ruins of a city with a maze of narrow alleys. The sandstone rock is estimated to be over 500 million years old.  Some have said that its strange sandstome formations look like buildings, castles, animals, statues, people and aborigines playing their didgeridoo. Accessible is via an 8 to 10 km four-wheel-drive track that becomes more difficult as you approach the formation.
The approach road is single-lane and leads past numerous termite hills. The track into this section is extremely rocky and rough so don't race to get there and sometimes only accessible in the dry season. The Lost City can be access by horseback, trail bike, mountain bike or to the hardy bushwalker Only people experienced in handling 4WD vehicles should attempt the journey to the Lost City, and their vehicle will need plenty of ground clearance due to high rock ledges. The track is fairly easy going, but narrow and one-way for the most part; you'll need to watch for oncoming vehicles and be prepared to pull off the track to let them pass. Beyond the Lost City are weathered sandstone escarpments and black soil plains, dotted with fascinating magnetic termite mounds, contrast with patches of monsoonal rainforest. Other remote locations accessible on four-wheel drive tracks are Tjaynera Falls (Sandy Creek), the road to Blyth Homestead accessible on four-wheel drive tracks.

Southern Lost City

Cape Crawford is a remote locality situated at the northern extremity of the Abner Ranges 46km south of Borroloola and the Gulf of Carpentaria. The Abner Ranges are home to the impressive towering sandstone formations, covering an area of approximately 8 square km, known as the Lost City. These amazing natural skyscrapers were formed over 1.4 billion years ago, fashioned by years of erosion by what was once an inland sea. Helicopter flights which land in the Lost City give access to 4WD tours of the area and its abundant natural attractions.
Caranbirini Conservation Reserve, at the western extremity of the Bukalara Range, protects a sandstone escarpment, a semi-permanent waterhole and the eerie sandstone spires of the Lost City. The Gadanji people used the waterfall as a source of food — turtles, mussels and water lilies. There are two Aboriginal art sites at Lost City; sadly, the art is beginning to flake away, and under tribal law cannot be replaced or touched-up, so it has a limited life.
The Lost City is on a plateau amongst surprisingly hilly country. It is spread over about 10 square kilometres and is estimated to be 1.4 billion years old. At 600-700 million years old, Uluru is a relative newcomer! The whole area was once an inland sea. Water penetrated the rock and eroded it in a process called "pseudokarstic weathering", breaking it into columns up to 25m tall. They resemble skyscrapers which is the reason Lost City was given its name.
As the columns are 97 percent silica with just an outer crust holding them together, it is fortunate that the only way into the area is by helicopter. No doubt the condition of the columns would be in a deteriorated state should a road make them more accessible.
Cape Crawford Tourism has helicopter flights to the Lost City. The landing point is quite spectacular - it is in the centre of Classroom Rock, a natural amphitheatre. From it, visitors walk around the more eroded part of the city before entering a cave which goes right through the rock. When they emerge, they are on higher ground giving excellent views.