Northern Territory

 

14th day, Alice Springs - Darwin - Litchfield Park

Darwin landed withdraw immediately to the car at the Europcar counter (intermediate for 5 days, € 200 with vroomvroomvroom.au) and leave for Batchelor, gateway to the Litchfield Park.

The cool the last few days is just a memory ... the humidity and temperature have increased dramatically, you start sweating, but it is a warm, more than bearable, and then is this is the cool season ... Our accommodations last night is very crude, we have a small room at the Banyan Tree-(a camp site with some bungalows, € 93 with breakfast). The owners are a little 'strange but kind, and we are warned that the evening is a small free barbecue for all guests. Dinner under a huge banana-based sausage, beer, toast and grilled onions ... and folkloristic definitely Australian!

15th day, Litchfield Park - Katherine

Darwin landed withdraw immediately to the car at the Europcar counter (intermediate for 5 days, € 200 with vroomvroomvroom.au) and leave for Batchelor, gateway to the Litchfield Park.
The cool the last few days is just a memory ... the humidity and temperature have increased dramatically, you start sweating, but it is uaFacciamo breakfast on a bench outside the bar (sandwiches, juice and coffee) and are starting to discover the beautiful Litchfield, a park famous for four waterfalls that rush from the edges of a plateau between the rainforest. After a few km to us and a sign tells us that at Wangi Falls you can not swim because of the danger crocodiles.
Many areas of the park is during the rainy season are completely enclosed and crocodiles, limited in some areas during the dry season, are free to splash in the natural pools that form under the waterfalls.
On the way we make a stop at the Magnetic Termite: termitai are gigantic, high up to 3 meters, which seem a cluster of tombstones. We arrive at Wangi Falls, and discover that I have just been reopened, and it is possible to dive for a refreshing bath to the waterfall. There's a few people, but nobody ... and then I have to do to be guinea pig.
The water is very transparent and the environment is surrounded by a lush rainforest, a truly idyllic corner. Davidino, the fifone, for the moment it is to observe, is still shocked by the cartel, which indicated the danger crock, but you decide after seeing that the popes returned unharmed from a swim to the waterfall ...
Continuing in the park, we make a stop at the Tolmer Falls, which can be seen only from a vantage point. The waterfall flows into a natural swimming pool emerald colors, from a deep gorge surrounded by a thick bush of green vegetation.
Subsequent Florence Falls are equally impressive, with two waterfalls that are thrown into a clear pool surrounded by huge rocks, where some diving. But our last stop regenerating the mission at the BULEY Rockhole, where alternating with small waterfalls ponds create a truly relaxing natural whirlpool.
The park is open only during the dry season, from May to October. During the rest of the many roads are impassable and throughout the park are prohibited from approaching the waterfall. Best to avoid the weekend, days when the park is filled with many tourists who come from Darwin, which is just over an hour by car.
In the afternoon we continue our adventure in the Northern Territory and come up with Katherine, the largest nearby town, and there systems by the beautiful Knotts Crossing Resort, surrounded by tropical vegetation, with beautiful pools, cottages with kitchen and barbecue cook where grandiose grills. (€ 68 cottages with kitchen, online).
n hot as bearable, then this is the cool season is the ... Our accommodation this night is very crude, we have a small room at the Banyan Tree-(a camp site with some bungalows, € 93 with breakfast). The owners are a little 'strange but kind, and we are warned that the evening is a small free barbecue for all guests. Dinner under a huge banana-based sausage, beer, toast and grilled onions ... and folkloristic definitely Australian!

16th day, Katherine - Cooinda, Kakadu NP.

We arrived to Katherine of course to visit the most important attraction of the area: the Nitmiluk National Park, a deep canyon eroded dall'incontaminato Katherine River, which over the centuries have dug thirteen gorges separated by narrow rocky rapids.
To visit the park is necessary to participate in an excursion boat, which is wedged in the canyon between the impressive cliffs typical orange. The various tours available make it possible to visit two to four gorges, respectively, with navigation that last 2 (€ 30) or 4 hours (€ 40). At the end of each throat, you need to walk a short rocky section where navigation is impossible, then embark again later in the throat.
The river is not rare to meet the fresh water crocodiles, known as freshwater, reaching a maximum length of 3 meters, much less dangerous of wild estuarine crocodiles (saltwater), which are found in the waters of Kakadu.
Given the great demand during the summer, it is best to book the tour at the site www.nitmiluktours.com.au. The facilities of the park Visitor Center offers a presentation of the fauna of the park, the conformation of the territory and traditions of the Aboriginal population, the owner of the area for centuries.
Visitor Center depart from many walks but also challenging trekking lasting several days. As short as possible to achieve in half a panoramic breathtaking gorges, while Jatbula Trail is a 66 km route between the bush ending at Edith Falls, to be made in 5 days.
Another way to appreciate even more the unusual nature of the place, is to fly over the park with a short helicopter flights. The cheapest flight is offered by www.heli-musternt.com.au, which flies over the first 6 gorges in about 10 minutes (€ 45), a truly electrifying.
Returning to the town of Katherine, you can relax at the charming Katherine Hot Springs, natural source characterized by crystalline emerald water that flows at about 30 degrees, with a path surrounded by lush and tropical nature.
Again part boundless and semi Stuart Hwy, Darwin back in the direction, up to the junction that leads to Pine Creek to Kakadu Np. From the park to Jabiru, the landscape is almost identical, a wild, unspoiled and endless expanse of weeds and dry grass, which makes the rather monotonous landscape (and is thus virtually the entire park, except Ubirr). We reach the Gagudju carissimo Lodge Cooinda (€ 174 with breakfast), the only accommodation possible in this area of the park (an alternative would have been up to Jabiru and then go back the next day .... Too inconvenient, the distances are huge in Kakadu ). The resort is truly an oasis in the midst of the most authentic nature: from our cottage in 2 minutes walking you can reach the Yellow Water where you can spot the fearsome Saltwater, which particularly at sunset, offers evocative images and a really idyllic sense peace. Dinner in the restaurant of the resort, meals rather expensive, scarce and rather unsatisfactory.

17th day, Kakadu NP.

This morning, we planned one of the most famous attractions of Kakadu: the excursion boat on the Yellow River for two hours, which this year has increased greatly in price (booked in advance, € 42). The convenience of Gagudju is to be the starting point for excursions. A shuttle bus which leaves in front of the reception leads to the pier of departure.

The atmosphere is really charming and unspoilt, beautiful colors and breathtaking nature. The cruise is in my opinion, however, too slow, perhaps more suited to experts in birding enthusiasts, there is still a little 'too tiny to see (and certainly very rare) specimens of birds, and everyone looks at the leadership not just in the description so those who do not fully understands the English-Australian (pretty hard ...) you will soon feel a little 'bored. Also the heat is felt and not just when the boat stops (most often), the sun literally cooks.

The sightings are many, including large samples of estuarine crocodiles exceeding 6 / 7 meters, and here strangely, you stop to admire them for a few moments. In short, an experience definitely worth trying, with many positive aspects (the environment is truly amazing and fauna includes many species of the most valuable of the world), but also some negatives, including the price a little 'too inflated .



Following the tour, take your car and continue to Nourlangie Rock, an imposing and isolated rock that rises from the flat bush. From the parking lot from a nice trail (about half) that touches the main points of cultural interest and scenic destination that offers: first of all some natural galleries where you can admire the famous and ancient Aboriginal rock paintings dating to 20,000 years ago and then end at a lookout point that offers a view across the vast plain of the Kakadu escarpment until dell'Arnehm Land, the land of no one. The painting had always been a great spiritual significance for Aboriginal people and here you can admire the different styles and some of the most important deities, such as the Man of Lightning, one of the most feared evil spirits.

The distances in the park are endless and to move from one place to another should also be an hour's drive always a road surrounded by a landscape that becomes monotonous ... some of the most spectacular attractions require days of posting on roads dirt, such as Jim Jim Falls and Twin Falls. This is certainly a limit of Kakadu, an extraordinary park, but certainly among the less spectacular from the point of view among those visited so far and which would require much more time available and resources (the helicopter and off) for a complete visit. Moreover, during the dry season, 90% of the land is very dry and the true feature of the park, to be a green alluvial plain during the rainy season, suddenly disappears and the only peculiarity is intuitive browsing on billabong and rivers resist during the dry season.

In short, one of the places that I was not impressed in the Australian territory, and of course, this is my personal opinion, probably not shared by many.



Among the most spectacular of the park is certainly Ubirr (about 50 km deviation from the review must also return), is interesting from the point of view that cultural landscape. This mysterious and impressive rock at the base offers some of the major sites of rock art, with paintings depicting animals typical of the bush, such as wallaby, fish, turtles, but especially the important figure of the Rainbow Serpent, a symbol of enchanting legends and capable to cause violent floods and earthquakes.

The climb to the top is short and steep but with the stifling heat of the afternoon gets quite tiring. The effort is rewarded by one of the few and most impressive views that the Kakadu offers, where the view on the flat plains below and across the escarpment dell'Arnhem Land visible in the background.

After the long day we move all'Aurora Kakadu (€ 120 with breakfast), isolated on the Arnhem Hwy E 'a beautiful resort with cottages arranged in a lush garden with wallabies to skip here and there, a nice pool and a excellent restaurant.

18th day, Kakadu NP - Darwin

Final stage not to be missed, just after the exit of the park towards Darwin, is the spectacular Jumping Crocodile Cruise (about € 40 per family), sull'Adelaide River.
There are several companies that make the trip by boat, all with the same characteristic: to attract the huge crocodiles that live in the river by means of pieces of meat tied to a cane, until they leave the water and perform stunning leaps.
In the afternoon, we continue to rapidly Darwin where we visit a 'center, practically a huge, modern shopping mall, with many rooms where you eat in the afternoon already rivers of beer. A nice promenade, a marina with characteristic restaurants (Cullen Bay), and breathtaking sunsets from the nearby Mindil Beach, where every Thursday and Sunday takes place on typical night market with many food stalls.
We can only reach the airport on the night flight of Tiger Airways (€ 115) which we will return to Singapore.
We welcome this vast continent (the country I call it seems rather simplistic), conscious of having visited only a small part, but he has literally bewitched with its wild places, nature scenery, the colors bright, the spacious and pristine deserts. Every time you take a plane to travel from one place to another, there is a place completely different from the previous year, a succession of unforgettable emotions in close contact with nature, a trip to remember for eternity, a travel which is wonderful how many corners still offers our planet... unevenly.
But the adventure is not over yet ... ...
(continued in Singapore-Redang)