Viator Viator Travel Blog

Editor’s Note: Dubai-based travel writers Terry Carter and Lara Dunston are currently back ‘home’ in Australia where they recently completed a 5-month road trip updating the Rough Guide to Australia and researching driving itineraries for a new book on Australia for Dorling Kindersley. Here’s the third in a series of posts from the couple from Down Under (click here to read their previous posts on Darwin and Kakadu).

Every year around May, as the spectacular storms of Banggerreng (the “knock ‘em down storm season”, as the local Aboriginals call it) start to become less frequent as the region moves into Yegge (the cooler but still humid season), the tourism machine of the Top End (the northern half of Australia’s Northern Territory) shifts into top gear.

Sab Lord of Lord's Safaris enjoying the views over Arnhem Land

The period marks the end of the wet season (October-April) and the National Park staff begin to grade recently impassable roads, clean up previously flooded camping sites, and remove new residents (saltwater crocodiles!) from the popular swimming holes. This tropical region teems with life: birds fill the once-again blue skies and reptiles slither across the lush new ground, while the waterfalls deafeningly dump the Wet season runoff into irresistibly pristine pools.

This is by far the best time to visit the Top End. So, where should you go?

Northern Territory Highlights: Kakadu National Park

Australia’s largest National Park at over 20,000 square kilometres, Kakadu is World-Heritage listed for both its natural and cultural values. The natural significance comes from its myriad ecosystems, from lush floodplains and swampy tidal flats to monsoon forests and rocky escarpments, all offering extraordinary vistas, and within these ecosystems, an extraordinary diversity of flora and fauna. The cultural importance comes from more than 40,000 years of continual inhabitancy by local Aboriginal tribes – with a bounty of stunning cave paintings, rock carvings and traditional practices innate to the area as evidence. Give yourself a week to cover it properly (check out tours to Kakadu over on the main Viator website) – what’s a week when the locals have lived here for over 40,000 years?

Northern Territory Highlights: Arnhem Land

Arnhem Land was designated an Aboriginal reserve in 1931, but unlike Kakadu has never embraced mass tourism and you can still only visit with a permit or with a slender number of tour operators who have the confidence of the local elders, such as the brilliant Lord’s Safaris, owned by Sab Lord, who showed us the land where he grew up. Sab went to school with the indigenous people and works with Aboriginal artists who lead some aspects of his tours. There is a daunting 91,000 square kilometres of wilderness here and thousands of rock art sites – most of them unrecorded – which give the area a palpable mystique. The rugged natural beauty is staggering as well and while you can purchase art here (the Injalak Arts and Crafts Centre is excellent), it’s the feel of this untamed land that will linger in your memory.

Arnhem Land tour with local guide & artist Thompson

Northern Territory Highlights: Litchfield National Park

The most accessible National Park from Darwin (it’s 100km south of the city), Litchfield is popular for its numerous waterfalls made from drops in a sandstone plateau called the Tabletop Range. Due to the fact that the main road through the park is sealed, the park gets its fair share of the Top End tourists – and finding a quiet sport to cool off can be difficult during the high season. But there is more to the park than running water. For starters, there are the intriguing magnetic termite mounds that resemble a graveyard full of tombstones, and the sandstone pillars of the Lost City, as well as nearby safari parks. (You can book Litchfield National Park tours from Darwin over on the main Viator site.)

Northern Territory Highlights: Tiwi Islands

Bathurst and Melville islands, 80km north of Darwin, are also known as the Tiwi Islands and are home to the Tiwi Aborigines who, in the past, had a hostile reception for any outsiders. Today you’ll get a warmer reception on Bathurst Island, along with a wonderful opportunity to experience an Aboriginal community on your tour (tours are the only way to visit). Learning about their history, culture and ‘bush tucker’, as well as meeting some Tiwi women at a morning tea, makes for an absolutely fascinating visit.

Northern Territory Highlights: Territory Wildlife Park

This outstanding wildlife park, 50km from Darwin, is somewhat underrated. The fact that visiting the park is a self-guided affair, along with the immersive Territorian habitats on offer (including wetlands, monsoon vine forest, and woodlands), make it worth at least half a day if you’re a nature lover. The nocturnal houses, aviaries and walk-through aquariums are excellent, as are the presentations, such as “Tucker Time at the Billabong” and “Birds of Prey”, which are both worth timing your visit around.

Birdlife at Territory Wildlife Park

Northern Territory Highlights: Fogg Dam Conservation Reserve

From epic failure has come success at this lush reserve, 65km east of Darwin. Fogg Dam was first established to irrigate an experimental rice project in the 1950s – the proceeds of which the local and migrating bird populations were grateful for as a supplement to their diet! As a result the rice project was abandoned but the dam remained. A drive here today is a treat for bird-spotters, with plenty of jacanas and egrets, and the omnipresent magpie geese. There are walks here too, some on boardwalks that you’re well advised not to veer from – the saltwater crocs love to supplement their diet too.

Northern Territory Highlights: Windows on the Wetlands

The Windows on the Wetlands visitor centre is around 60km from Darwin and is a good site to combine with a visit to the Fogg Dam Conservation Reserve. Situated on one of the highest points on the Adelaide River floodplain, the vantage point is called Beatrice Hill or ‘Ludawei’ to the indigenous Limilngan-Wulna people, the hill representing lulak or ‘turtle dreaming’. As well as outstanding views – you might spot wallabies, buffalo and feral pigs, especially early morning or late afternoon – the centre gives you a great introduction to the northern coastal wetlands via interactive displays.

Northern Territory Highlights: Jumping Crocodile Cruises

Termite Mounds, Australia's Top End

One of the most popular aspects of a Top End tour is a jumping crocodile cruise. While crocodiles can and will jump to get food (and we’ve seen them do it in the wild), we’re not so sure that encouraging them to jump at these extraordinary heights is such a great idea, but it certainly makes for a great spectacle.

Many people involved in the tourism business in the Top End have privately expressed concern about the dependence of the crocodiles on the daily meals, the breaking of their natural territorial urges, and the idea of teaching crocodiles that boats equal a good feed (you get the point), but the chance to get a photo of one of nature’s most powerful animals performing this astonishing feat tends to override most visitors’ ethical dilemma. (You can combine a visit to the Windows on the Wetlands center and the crocodile cruise on this tour.)

Northern Territory Highlights: Termite Mounds

The otherworldly termite mounds (enormous ant hills) are found all over the Top End, but one of the best places to see them is in the Litchfield National Park, just after the town of Batchelor. There are two types of mounds, the massive ‘cathedral’ mounds which can be up to 4m high and the ‘magnetic’ or ‘meridian; mounds. These unusual wedge-shaped mounds align in a North-South direction and are quite spookily grouped on plains and resemble tombstones. They’re quite a sight, especially with wallabies jumping through them at dusk or dawn.

Northern Territory Highlights: Adelaide River

Adelaide River played a significant role in WWII as a supply base and was consequently a target for Japanese bombers. Today the tiny hamlet with its handful of historic sites is a peaceful place – a place that invites reflection on the pointlessness of war – particularly at the perfectly manicured lawns of the town’s war cemetery where many air raid victims are buried. Friendly peacocks parade around the cemetery and the picnic grounds make for a relaxing stop if you’re driving south to Katherine and on to Alice Springs.

-Terry Carter and Lara Dunston

Planning a trip? Browse all of Viator’s Darwin tours & things to do, everything from Darwin day trips to Kakadu National Park tours.