Queen Beanie: Jo Nixon at the Festival of the Beanie, Alice Springs. Photo: Louise Southerden Winter nights can be chilly in Alice Springs, making it the perfect place to celebrate the humble beanie. Alice Springs Beanie Festival started humbly too, in 1997 when local teacher Adi Dunlop began showing Indigenous women in the remote Central […]
Australia’s Kangaroo Dundee: Chris Barns at the Alice Springs Kangaroo Sanctuary. Photo: David Whitley An absolute giant of a man approaches, kitted out like he’s about to go on safari, and carrying two satchels around his shoulders. And inside those satchels are Hope and Patrick. They are two of the 13 orphaned kangaroos that Chris […]
Ellery Creek near Alice Springs. Recent rains have turned the desert green and filled the waterholes to the brim. Photo: Mark Fitz/Tourism NT Ellery Creek. Photo: Mark Fitz/Tourism NT Ellery Creek. The MacDonnell Ranges that flank Alice Springs are riddled with gorges that – given enough rainfall – function as waterholes. Photo: Daniel Tran/Tourism NT […]
Magpie geese on Coopers Creek, Mount Borradaile. A prehistoric spine and snout break the surface where some paperbarks and swamp palms are throwing their afternoon shade. In the nearby shallows, a wading egret keeps prodding for fish with a beak that the croc knows can destroy one of its magnificent eyes if it so much […]
Segways take the puff out of a journey around the base of Uluru. SEGWAY AROUND THE ROCK They look, well, awkward. And you will, too, particularly when you are kitted out in the compulsory helmet, knee and elbow pads. However that’s where the awkwardness ends. There are no tricky brakes, gears, pedals or buttons to […]
Chef Mark Olive Photo: Supplied Uncle Leroy Lester is holding court in Australia’s Red Centre at morning tea time. You might think it’d be easy to pull up a pew but big-city backsides are already squished onto the benches lining Ayers Rock Resort’s Town Square lawn. For latecomers, it’s standing-room only. Welcome to the resort’s free […]
The soaring rock walls of Nitmiluk/Katherine Gorge are best seen from the river. Photo: Tourism NT/James Fisher For a while there, as the nation’s closed border saga dragged on (and on), it was looking like the old Northern Territory tourism slogan could well have been adjusted to “you’ll never never know because you’ll never never […]
Bruce Munro’s Tropical Light illuminated sculpture Sun Lily. Photo: Helen Orr Bruce Munro’s Field of Light installation at Uluru has attracted more than 450,000 visitors to the red centre since its 2016 opening. Things get a bit quiet, tourism-wise, during Darwin’s wet season, its “tropical summer”, so why not see if the British installation artist […]
10.6 kilometre walking trail loops around the base of Uluru. Photo: Michele Mossop For a place more than 500 million years in the making, Uluru evolves pretty fast. The Field of Lights now blink across the desert sands at its foot, helicopters and Harleys buzz about its fringes and, most crucially, a ban on climbing […]
Water and what’s in it are central to the tropics so heading to the Darwin Waterfront is a no-brainer. Photo: iStock THE ONE FOOD TOUR Just arrived? Get your bearings and meet fellow foodies on a three-hour Darwin gourmet lunch or dinner trek. Sample fare from places like Phat Mango in Smith Street (Martin the […]
Darwin harbour. Photo: Shaana McNaught It’s a gentle start to an awful day, down on the wharf in Darwin harbour. I can hear the slopping of water against the ship’s hull and the shriek of seagulls. Sunlight dances on white paintwork as I come up onto the deck of the Neptuna. A strange wasp-like buzzing […]
Smith Street Mall. Meteors sparkled in the sky on the evening in 1839 when HMS Beagle entered Darwin harbour. It seemed to the crew an auspicious sign, but it was the first of many dashed hopes for Darwin. Thirty years later, a government surveyor dreamed of pegging out a city gracious with wide boulevards and […]
Waterlilies and wetlands near Mount Borradaile. Photo: Brian Johnston The plane swoops over muddy, crocodile-infested rivers, rust-red escarpments and wide billabongs that shimmer like mirrors in the sun. I’ve come in over the woodland savanna of Kakadu into the stone country of Arnhem Land, rugged and eroded and, for the moment, wanton with wetlands. Birds […]
World Heritage listed Uluru in Australia’s Northern Territory. Photo: Steven Siewert World Heritage listed Uluru in Australia’s Northern Territory. Photo: Steven Siewert World Heritage listed Uluru in Australia’s Northern Territory. Luke Eldridge who is an an indigienous worker at the Sounds of Silence and working in the industry. Photo: Steven Siewert World Heritage listed Uluru […]
Every fisherman’s true passion is talking about fish while waiting for a bite on their lines. Photo: Adrian Brown To hear Paul Salotti talk, today is a done deal. Fish will be caught. A feast will be had. We barely even need to drop a line in the water. In fact, we don’t. Just a […]
A tented camp at Longitude 131. Photo: Supplied Openness and silence. That is what makes the Red Centre special, according to architect Max Pritchard. “Even without Uluru,” he says, the desert would be a special place. “The red earth, the desert oaks, those skies at sunset and sunrise, those stars at night: it is inspiring,” […]
Bamurru Plains is between the Mary River floodplains, Sampan River and the edge of Kakadu National Park. Photo: Supplied The Top End is tops, whether poolside in Darwin or ogling the outback in a luxury swag. BAMURRU PLAINS Mary River Floodplain, Kakadu; 1300 790 561; bamurruplains.com THE LOCATION This lodge is wedged between the Mary […]
Kings Canyon Rim Walk. Photo: Nick Pincott THE PLACE Kings Canyon Resort, Northern Territory THE LOCATION More than 300 kilometres from the nearest town (Alice Springs), Kings Canyon Resort is the definition of remote, but it’s parked beside one of the red centre’s prize natural features: Kings Canyon. The resort is a 10-kilometre drive from […]
A balcony view from Oaks Elan Darwin. Photo: Supplied Our rating 4 out of 5 THE PLACE There’s some colour in the building at ground level, but beyond that, it’s a fairly unimpressive apartment tower from the outside. But it’s on the inside that it works, with expansive views over the city and out over […]
Mala Walk. Climbing is not the only way to experience Uluru. Ahead of the climbing route’s closure on October 26, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park ranger Peter Wilson suggests five other activities that lets travellers explore the Australian icon and its surrounds. See parksaustralia.gov.au/uluru/, northernterritory.com STEP ONE The best place to see sunrise is from the […]
Parks Australia guide Christian Diddams. Photo: Nina Karnikowski The clouds of smoke waft over our bodies as the didgeridoo hums its mournful song. Two men from the Bininj tribe, the traditional owners of the land we stand on here in the Jabiru region of Kakadu National Park, sing to the music they’re creating, while the […]
The Animal Tracks day trip focuses on local fruits, vegies and grubs. Photo: Ben Groundwater “How do you kill a crocodile?” someone asks, wide-eyed. Patsy shrugs. “It’s not that hard. You just shoot it.” This is actually a moment of levity. Everyone has been so serious up until now, not sure how to approach Patsy, […]
Motor Car Falls in Kakadu National Park has an ironic name. SWIM AT MOTOR CAR FALLS Getting to Motor Car Falls is quite a trek (and hence often overlooked by many tourists), but an early start and a one-hour walk is rewarded with a refreshing dip in this picturesque, emerald plunge pool surrounded by tropical […]
Sunset from Ubirr Rock, Kakadu National Park. We’re riding high in what might just be the offspring of an outback 4WD truck, following its affair with a luxury coach. We’ll need the truck’s clearance and versatility to cover some rough ground in Kakadu National Park, but so far, on the highway just out of Darwin, […]
Dusk falls over the Kakadu National Park, NT. Photo: Getty Images Saltwater crocodiles are deceptive creatures. The one I’m admiring is lying on a muddy bank like a statue, completely immobile, not even blinking, but it takes a nanosecond to become a Scud missile, launching itself into the muddy water and emerging with a barramundi […]
Kings Canyon. Photo: Matt Glastonbury In the biblical Garden of Eden there were apples, but in the Garden of Eden inside Kings Canyon, everything is oranges. The canyon’s iron-stained cliffs glow as brightly as flames, and their reflection is stencilled in orange across the dark pool of water at their base. It’s early morning and […]
Trekking along Euro Ridge. Photo: Louise Southerden Waking up at 2am to climb a mountain by torchlight is not something you expect to be doing in the dusty, red-earthed middle of Australia. Yet here I am, with 12 others and our guides, walking in silent single file in the dark to reach Mount Sonder’s 1350-metre […]
The location is unrivalled and magnificent. Our rating 5 out of 5 THE PLACE An icon to match an icon. When Longitude 131 opened almost 20 years ago it immediately became a symbol of the emergence of a bolder, more innovative Australian tourism industry. The self-styled luxury wilderness camp – now operated by the pioneering […]
Dune Pavilion plunge pool. When Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton, stayed at Longitude 131 in 2014, everyone wanted to know just one thing: which tent did they sleep in? With 15 identical luxury tents to choose from, each with front and centre views of Uluru, the royal couple could have chosen whichever they […]
The unspoiled beaches of the Tiwi Islands. Photo: Supplied. This is sponsored content for Tourism NT. *The Northern Territory is open to all of Australia. If you are coming from a declared hotspot you can still enter, but you will need to quarantine for two weeks. Current information is available on www.coronavirus.nt.gov.au. All of those […]
Platinum service cabin: The Ghan. Gold service outback explorer lounge: The Ghan. The Ghan travelling through Alice Springs. View from The Ghan. Gold service twin cabin: The Ghan. Alice Springs to Darwin: The Ghan. Platinum cabin:The Ghan. Journey into the heart of Australia: The Ghan. Gold service twin cabin: The Ghan The Ghan. Gold service […]
Davey Reef. Photo: Andrew Halsall It’s while we’re traversing the phenomenon known as the Hole in the Wall that Michael Hermes, archaeologist and one of the lecturers on this cruise from Cairns to Darwin, talks about the Kentish Affair. The Hole in the Wall (also known as the Gugari Rip) is a quirk of geography, […]
Sails in the Desert is intentionally set well back, though not too far, from the magnificent Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park with the base of the Rock itself a dramatic and awe-inspiring half-hour or so drive away. Photo: Our rating 4.5 out of 5 THE PLACE If there’s something absent from the broader Australian travel experience […]
Hanuman oysters OVEN-BAKED WILD-CAUGHT NT SALTWATER BARRAMUNDI, PEE WEE’S Local barramundi never fails to impress and this dish crusted in macadamia, herb and lemon myrtle gives this delicious fish an amazing taste. Since moving to Darwin, Pee Wee’s has become our place to go for a special night out. See Peewees.com.au KUTJERA AND ANISEED MYRTLE […]
Crocodile laksa provides a true taste of Darwin. Seven dishes you must try in the Top End according to Zach Green of Elijah’s Kitchen MARY’S LAKSA, PARAP MARKET What’s the one dish every Darwinite loves? Laksa from this food truck at Parap Market on Saturdays. I make a mean crocodile laksa, but this has a […]
Alley Cats Patisserie: There’s a brightly painted puss in the leafy courtyard, but you won’t find any mangy felines roaming Alley Cats Patisserie – just great coffee and baked goods, scrumptious brunches and sweet treats. You could pop in here for a loaf of sourdough and a takeaway caffeine hit (the coffee is Campos brand), […]