When I finished my internship in Sydney, my brother and my mother joined me in Australia for a month of pure travel (how lucky right?). At first, we wanted to go to Uluru. Since the flights were super expensive, we changed our minds for the national parks of the Northern Territory around Darwin.
This area of Australia is well known for being the “outback” of Australia. If you are looking for complete disorientation, then the Northern Territory is the place to go.
DAY 1 | DARWIN – (JABIRU) KAKADU
Our first day in the Northern Territory started at Darwin, where we had to spend the night since our flight from Sydney landed quite late.
We did not see much of Darwin, because we had to take our car early to start our adventure. I just had a little run around Parap, and then after a little breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the car rental at the airport.
At first, we were supposed to rent a 4WD. But once in the car, it was really too big for us, and we felt uncomfortable driving it. We took instead an SUV that was way easier to drive.
There we go, Kakadu! We had 250km to do to reach our hotel in Jabiru!
Honestly, it’s by far one of the easiest roads of my driving life. Just go straight forward!
We just stopped at Woolworths to buy all the necessary stuff for our stay in Kakadu, because we knew that we would not be able to find everything once there, without paying a fortune. Turned out we were right, so if you go to Kakadu, make sure you buy everything you need in the surrounds of Darwin!
Once in the park, we headed straight to the visitor center (Bowali) in order to buy our tickets for our stay (because yes, visiting Kakadu is not free, and you have to pay fees. You can check on the website to buy your passes in advance). The ranger gave us also a program of activities, that are mostly free with your park entrance.
After we arrived at our hotel (Anbinik, which is really good for the price), we had a beautiful sunset on Jabiru Lake, which was the perfect ending of this long day of driving.
DAY 2 | NOURLANGIE – YELLOW WATER
First day of exploration in the Kakadu! How exciting. With our entrance pass to the park, we had free guided visit tours with rangers. We decided to spend the morning at Nourlangie, a region of the Kakadu well known for its aboriginal rock art.
Once there, our guide started to explain a few things about this aboriginal land and how thanks to one indigenous, the park became part of the UNESCO world heritage.
This walk was pretty amazing, among the rock art and the lookout. Having the guide with us made us understand how important the beliefs of the aboriginal people at the time were.
After this first beautiful walk, we decided to go to Nawurlandja lookout. We had to climb a few rocks (but it’s really easy) to reach the top, but once there, we were simply breathless. If infinity was a landscape, I think it would be the view from this point. How wide the Kakadu is! I highly recommend this short walk.
Then, I motivated my family to do a second lookout walk, Mirrai, which was not as easy as the previous ones… and the point of view does not really worth it.. so maybe save your energy to do something else, except if you like climbing.
We decided to go have a look at the aboriginal cultural center. There are not many things to do, but you can buy a few aboriginal creations. After a small lunch in our car, away from the mosquitos, we headed to Yellow Water.
Yellow water is a river full of mud and crocodiles (not ideal for a bath). It’s called yellow because of the color of the flowers you can have during the wet season.
Know that you can do a cruise around yellow water to see all kinds of birds and alligators. We decided not to do it, because we already had a cruise plan later in Mary’s River. We only did a small walk on the bridges, which was quite nice, and where we spotted our very first crocodiles (with distance for sure).
Then, we went back to Jabiru, where we filled up our car with fuel and we bought a little dinner for later. We stopped at the Crocodile hotel because there was a « Croc-Tales » presented by a ranger. We had a lot of information about crocodiles, the fact that there are two principal species (saltwater and freshwater), how incredible hunter they are, how the rangers manage to know where they are. I found it really compelling.
DAY 3 | UBIRR – MARRAKAI
Last day in Kakadu! We still had some places to visit before the rest of our journey. We left our hotel early in the morning to go to Ubirr, famous for its rock arts, but also for the east alligator river.
We started with the famous ubirr walk, and again we could have a great point of view of the north part of the Kakadu.
Then, we headed to the little rainforest walk next to the east alligator river. Unfortunately, we could only do a short part of the walk, because it was closed for safety reasons (and we did not dare to not respect the instruction in this place).
We then went to the cahills crossing, very famous because the water covered the road, but is full of alligators at the same time (creepy, believe me, I would never drive on this road).
After a nice little picnic (next to a salty crocodile! Wow wow), we took the road to Marrakai, where we were spending our night.
The coroboree tavern was alright, the food is pretty cheap and I guess it’s very typical. The only thing was that our room was very smelly… not too good!
After a good greek salad, it was time to sleep, since the next day was going to start very early.
DAY 4 | MARY’S RIVER – LITCHFIELD
Our alarms rang at 5am… outch. It was really dark outside, and we had to wait for a shuttle at the tavern who was going to take us to do the sunrise cruise on Coroboree Billabong. It was quite chilly outside so we dressed up with warm clothes.
But it was really worth it. We started the cruise in the fog (which was making it even more beautiful paradoxically) and we kept on chasing birds and even crocodiles all along the cruise. As the sun was rising, the colors of the river started to appear. I let you admire the pictures.
After a little breakfast at the tavern (I highly recommend the muffins), we went to humpty doo for a short grocery break (we can not spend more than 4 days without Woolworths). We then reached out to the beautiful Litchfield national park and its Florence Falls.
Florence Falls are guaranteed without crocodiles (yay), so we could swim peacefully. The water was a bit cold to be honest, but it’s amazing to swim in such a place.
We then went to rockholes, a lot of nice little cascades with creeks, but more family-friendly. We did not stay long there.
After this big day, we went back to our hotel to have some rest. And we deserved it!
DAY 5 | LITCHFIELD
Last day in the Northern Territory! So sad, but still excited to have a bit of time left to discover.
We started the day by heading to Wangi Falls. It’s the most scenic place of the Litchfield National, and by the picture below you will easily understand why.
First, let me tell you one thing about these falls. During the « dry season », the pool is open to the public, and the crocodiles risk is very very low (but still it’s not impossible that you meet one).
Nonetheless, during the « wet season » some salty crocodiles (enormous and very harmful) are moving to this pool, so it’s closed the public. You can still have a look and make the walk around the falls, I believe it’s still worth it.
After that, we went to the site called « cascades » and I highly recommend the lower cascade walk. You feel like you are in Tarzan.
Since we were there, we made a little detour after that to see the abandoned Tin Mine. It’s just nice to see and to learn that both aboriginals and European were working for this mine.
Last stop of the day : Tolmer falls. After a short and easy walk, you will reach a deck where you will have an incredible view of the falls.
That was all for this last beautiful day, again full of amazing landscapes.
In Australia, there is nothing that compares to the Northern Territory. Your eyes will get lost in the immensity of all its beautiful national parks. You will even think that you will be playing a role in the Lion King. I’ve read in the news that the Aussie Government is looking to invest to develop tourism in this area. I believe there is great potential there. If you are looking for a total debasement, choose the Northern Territory. You might feel how small we are in this world.
OFF THE ROAD 