The Top End - Northern Territory

Ken has been working out and it is a good thing too,  he had to hold up one of the rocks at Devil's Marbles while I took a picture.

Good thing I had a big appetite.  A Daley Waters restuarant the Barra Burgers put the Big Mac to shame.

Flying Fox bats hang like grapes on the branches of the Gum trees at Katherine Gorge.

The view of Katherine Gorge from Pete's (or Bob's or Bill's ???) Lookout.  We opted for the hike instead of the cruise up the Katherine River.

A cute little joey was not ready to leave the pouch but he and mom smiled for the camera.

A Red-Collared Lorikeet...we love the birds down here.

At Edith Falls we took a walk along the creek taking the time for several swims in the plunge pools along the way.

The view from Bukbukluk Lookout of the savahnna gasslands in Kakadu NP.

Now that is a big cathedral termite mound.

A Magpie Goose calls out for its' mate in Kakadu NP.

Yellow Water cruise in Kakadu, this croc was incognito, waiting for a tasty treat.

The view of Arnhem Land in Kakadu NP.

White Lightning goes through the water no problem.  The wet season is just finishing and there is a lot of water laying around, in fact, a lot of the roads were still closed in Kakadu NP, even to 4x4s.

Adelaide River Jumping Crocs...these big guys can jump 2/3 of their body length out of the water!!!  Especially when there is food involved.

Ken checks out the prehistoric skeletons at the Darwin Museum and Cultural Art Centre.  Now that was a big goose!

The Thursday night Meindl Beach market, free entertainment...the fire man.  Lots of fun, food and fire.

Buley Water Rockhole, Litchfield NP.  Ken gets a great massage from the waterfall.  The water was clean, clear and about 26 degrees.

Kens' new favourite bird, a Northern Rosella.

Wangi Falls, Litchfield NP.  You'ld think we would have been pruned after the hours we spent in all the natural swimming plunge pools.  With all the heat and humidity here they were a welcome sight.

These little ants are a tasty bushtucker (aboriginal food) and the green bottom tastes like a burst of lemon lime.  How do we know this, you ask?  Ken has developed a taste for them.

It is all about the water up in the 'Top End'.  Waterfalls, hot springs, plunge pools, billabongs, and wetlands.  Lots of water means lots of birds and CROCS.   What are some of the highlights in the Top End?  Darwin, at the very top, is the largest city in the Northern Territory located just north of Kakadu NP, one of the most visited National Parks in Australia.  Litchfield National Park full of waterfalls and plunge pools.

1494 km from Alice Springs to Darwin, just over 500 km was back tracking up to Tennant Creek with the only stop at the Devils Marbles.  After that it was 'new road' with new sights starting with Daly Waters, a famous cattle watering stop where the drovers stayed when herding their cattle across the top, the last cattle drive being in 1987.  From there on we started to hit the water holes, Mataranka, with the natural Rainbow Hotsprings, Katherine Gorge in the Nitniluk NP,  a beautiful gorge full of water at this time of year but unfortunately with no swimming allowed in the river due to salties (crocs)...but they did have a great pool at the campground that felt real good after an afternoon of walking the gorge trails.  The rangers check the rivers for crocodiles after the wet season, it is only after they give the thumbs up that people are allowed in the water.  We were surprised that salties can actually live in fresh water and as far away from the ocean as 1000 km, freshies, however can't live in saltwater and (according to the locals) freshies will not attack humans, but...I don't want to test the theory!   A little farther north and in the same NP was Edith Falls, our first taste of swimming in water holes or plunge pools at the bottom of waterfalls.  Fantastic.

Continuing north, we turned off to Kakadu NP,  famous for its wetlands, birds and aboriginal culture.  We took a sunrise tour at Yellow Waters, on the South Alligator River, where we saw a lot of birds and crocs just waking up and the guide explained a little about the importance of the area to the aboriginals.  The highlight of Kakadu, for us, was the sunset at Ubirr, overlooking the Aboriginal Arnhem Land and the East Alligator River.  Breathtaking.

On the road to Darwin we stopped and did a tour on the Adelaide River...jumping crocs!  They feed the crocs chops on a line, training them to jump out of the water for food.  Actually kind of makes you think...training crocs to jump out of the water for food...at a boat full of people!  Hmmm!  Darwin was great, for a city.  We camped just 9 km out of town at a Discovery Park and drove into the centre.  The city was very easy to drive around in and we took in several of the parks, the Museum and Cultural Arts Centre, and even stayed downtown for the Meindl Beach thursday night market.

Darwin was the top of our Top End, the place where we turned around, we headed south to Litchfield NP.  We really enjoyed Litchfield!  Water!!!  Creeks and plunge pools...Buley Rockhole, Florence Falls, Tolmer Falls, Tjaetaba Falls, and Wangi Falls.  We spent two days going from one pool to the next and we were very thankful for the cool water (cool, not cold) as the humidity was high and the temperature was higher.

A 4x4 would have been good to have in Kakadu and Litchfield and even in The Red Centre, I think we would have got more out of those areas being able to go off the beaten track a bit more.  White Lightning is very comfy but not very tough and we have found this a little frustrating at times.  Another thing that is unfortunate is we had several instances of loud and inconsiderate campers in the park campgrounds...we are getting too old for that!  But overall campgrounds in Australia have great facilities and there are lots of them.

Finishing up The Top End we stopped in again at Edith Falls for a swim and continued on to Katherine to get ready for our journey across to Western Australia and to have one last dip in the Katherine Hot Springs (not really a thermal hot springs, but just water naturally warmed by the ground temperature-still great).

WA here we come!