Northern
Territory tourism is growing for a good reason.
One of the remotest,
hottest and sparcest populated areas of
Australia, Northern Territory has both wet tropics and dry desert
landscapes.
Farthest north are the
world-famous Kakadu
National Park, Katherine Gorge and the state's tropical
capital Darwin. In the south is the dry Red Centre with Alice
Springs, Ayers Rock, King's Canyon and MacDonnell's Ranges. In the
middle is Stuart Highway with Devil's Marbles, Daly Waters and some
lonely outback towns and roadhouses.
Northern Territory Tourism. By AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy
Five most popular things
to do in
Northern Territory
Along Barkly Highway - Northern Territory Tourism
Information
Northern Territory is the only state in Australia with a speed limit of
130km/h so enjoy your drive but do remember to fill your fuel tank
often enough. On one of my visits, I didn’t. I
left Mount Isa in Queensland
with a full tank, then forgot to fill it
up in Camooweal, and got to Barkley Homestead Roadhouse on what was
likely to be the l-a-s-t drop of fuel.
Campervan
Hire - Compare the
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It was a lonely desert road, I
was driving alone, it was
burning hot outside and my fuel light had been on for 60km. I started
expecting Barkley Roadhouse behind every corner at least 20km before I
got to it, so I was delighted to say the least when I finally saw it!
It was
an adventurous experience but nothing I'd recommend to
anyone.
Darwin sunset. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy
Darwin Travel Information - Northern Territory Tourism
Information
But let’s start with the capital of Northern Territory. Darwin is
different from all the other cities in Australia,
in that there are virtually no buildings here that would have been
built before 1974.
In the early hours of 25 December 1974, as the rest
of Australia was waking up to Christmas Day, a tropical cyclone
(hurricane) called Tracy hit the town, wiped out 90% of buildings and
killed 66 people. The whole town had to be rebuilt, and you can see it
today – Darwin
has got that seventies-look about it. But this
doesn't make the town boring - Darwin is one of the greatest cities to
visit in Australia. It is tropical and cosmopolitan, and it
is famous for its great sunsets and the colourful Mindil Beach Markets.
It is also one of the most multicultural cities in Australia, but
unlike others it has held on to its small-town feeling.
Kakadu NP. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy
Kakadu and Litchfield - Northern Territory Tourism
Information
Darwin is in the tropical Top End of Northern Territory, and there are
a few great tropical national parks around it. South of the town is Litchfield
National Park with its giant termite mounds and many
beautiful
waterfalls. East is the famous Kakadu – Australia’s largest
national park and one of the best ones in the Territory. Do not do
what I did here on my first visit: stayed in a caravan park in Jabiru
where you can order drinks to the pool, visited Yellow Waters the
following day to realise it was closed due to floods, and kept going.
You can easily spend weeks in Kakadu
National Park - camping, bushwalking, watching wildlife,
visiting
waterfalls and having cool dips in swimming holes.
Litchfield NP. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy
Katherine Australia - Northern Territory Tourism
Information
South of Kakadu National Park
is Katherine - a nice small town where
I happened to travel through on my very first trip around Australia,
when I went into the fuel station, and noticed some photos on the wall
- showing the station crew sitting on the roof of the building, with
flood waters and floating debris not far below their feet, and you
would think such events are
so
rare that it must have happened a very long time ago, but the sign said
the flood happened
on the Australia Day 1998 - exactly four years earlier. I realised it
was an
interesting time of the year to be up here, but I haven’t heard of
such big floods in Katherine since. The main
attraction in the area is the pretty Katherine Gorge
in Nitmiluk
National Park with its rugged rock walls,
formed 25 million years ago. Other better known attractions are Cutta
Cutta
Caves and the hot thermal swimming holes in Mataranka.
Katherine Gorge. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy
Along Stuart Highway - Northern Territory Tourism
Information
South from here is the most remote part of Northern Territory - the
real outback. As you drive south along the Stuart
Highway, the lush vegetation disappears,
the roadsides turn red, and the distances between places get longer.
Between Larrimah and Dunmarra
you’ll see a sign: Daly
Waters. It is only a few kilometres off the highway, and it's
worth
turning in. Further south, past a
few lonely roadhouses you’ll come to Threeways where Flinders Highway
that comes from Queensland
meets the Stuart Highway of Northern
Territory. South from Threeways is the small town Tennant Creek and the
famous
rock formations Devils Marbles. Further south are
more lonely roadhouses in Mungkarta, Wauchope, Wycliffe
Well,
Barrow Creek and Tea Tree, before you come to Alice
Springs.
Devils Marbles. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy
Alice Springs Australia - Northern Territory Tourism
Information
Alice, as the locals call it, is a surprisingly big place considering
its location. After you have driven thousands of kilometres past lonely
roadhouses along the Stuart
Highway, you don’t expect much, and as you
are still approaching the middle of the continent, in fact you think
things will only get smaller. But then you arrive in Alice
Springs, and there is a city with 25,000 people, cinemas,
large
supermarkets, and a great amount of
things to see and do.
The old Telegraph Station is an interesting place
to visit, but there are also the School of the Air and the Royal Flying
Doctors Service, and Australia's best reptile park.
West MacDonnells. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy
Northern Territory
Tourism - Visit
West MacDonnell Ranges
West MacDonnell National Park - Northern Territory Tourism
Information
Around Alice Springs are some of Australia’s best bushwalks and drives
through
some colourful landscapes with great rock formations, views and cooling
waterholes. West of Stuart
Highway are the magnificent West
MacDonnell Ranges. There are some great surprises here
like Standley Chasm, Ormiston
Gorge
and Glen Helen, which you can visit
whether you chose
to drive, or buskwalk the long Larapinta Trail.
Kings Canyon. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy
Finke Gorge and Kings Canyon - Northern Territory Tourism
Information
Further south, Larapinta Drive takes you to Hermannsburg and Finke
Gorge National Park with its gorgeous Palm Valley. South of
it is Watarrka
National Park
where you can stay at a resort and walk around the beautiful Kings
Canyon. You can get to Watarrka either via Merenee Loop Road that
starts in Hermannsburg, or Luritja Road and Lasseter Highway (that goes
to Uluru), which turns off Stuart Highway
further south.
Uluru Ayers Rock. Poster by AllPosters. Click on thumbnail to buy
Ayers Rock Australia - Northern Territory Tourism
Information
After the turnoff from Stuart Highway you still
have about 250km to drive to Uluru
Kata Tjuta National Park - and it's worth every kilometre. No
matter how many times you’ve
seen Uluru on posters and postcards, it
is amazing to
stand next to it and watch it changing colours in the sunset. Kata
Tjuta is fantastic too, and there are some nice
bushwalks
around both.
Kata Tjuta. Poster by AllPosters. Click on
thumbnail to
buy
East MacDonnells, Rainbow Valley and Chambers Pillar
East of Stuart Highway are the less visited but beautiful East
MacDonnell Ranges, Rainbow
Valley and Chambers Pillar Historical Reserve. It's worth
taking
time to discover the Red Centre of Northern Territory. It is
amazingly beautiful.
Rainbow Valley. Poster by AllPosters. Click
on thumbnail
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Here is a map of Northern Territory Australia,
where
I have tagged the places that I mentioned on this web page. You can
click on the tags to see what places they are, and double-click
anywhere on the map to zoom it in and see the places closer. Drag the
map to move around, and if you want to see the satellite image with
Google Earth, click on "Sat" in the top right hand corner.
Note:
This site uses
British English, which is the English we use in Australia. You will
find words like "traveller", "harbour" and "realise", and they are all
correct in the language used in Australia.
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