Explore the Northern Territory
This is a Magazine that takes you off the beaten track to explore the “great outdoors” that is the Northern Territory of Australia.
We would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of all the different sites that we have already experienced photographed, videoed and written about, and are still to visit. We pay tribute to the way they have looked after the land for thousands of years, and pay our respects to the elders, past, present and emerging.
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste it, to experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences”
Explore the Northern Territory by Region
Looking at travelling in the NT? Check out each of the various regions listed below to obtain an overview of that region. As we develop, we will publish and make more articles available under each region. By providing a more personalised account of what is on offer in each region, we hope to inspire you to stay a little longer and discover what the region has to offer. We encourage you to explore the growing phenomenon of SLOW TRAVEL. Slow travel is essentially about taking the time to value the experience of being somewhere different as opposed to just ticking off a list of sights to see. Investigating slow travel options in the NT may change your entire perspective on life.
Darwin & Vicinity
Darwin is the tropical capital of the north offering all the amenities found in any modern city, but with its own ‘frontier’ personality.
Monsoon rains in the Wet ensure a lush, tropical environment renowned for saltwater crocodiles and barramundi. Close to Darwin is Litchfield National Park, the Peninsula Way, the Adelaide and Mary Rivers, Adelaide River township, Daly River and Douglas Daly region.
Kakadu
A World Heritage-listed site for both its natural and cultural values, this Aboriginal land of some 20,000 square kilometres makes up the largest national park in Australia. The northern region comprises large tidal rivers, extensive flood plains and billabongs, and is home to huge numbers of birds, fish and crocodiles. The southern section is renowned for its escarpment with waterfalls and swimming holes.
Arnhem Land
Just 300km from Darwin, the western border of this vast region of close to 100,000 square kilometres begins. Sparsely populated with just 16,000 people residing within its borders makes this region a wild and rugged encounter. A permit must be obtained to enter Arnhem Land, and the tropical monsoon climate dictates that most of the tourism experience is directed towards the dry season. This area is arbitrarily divided into the western and eastern regions.
Katherine Region
The Katherine region represents the transitional area where the dry central deserts and tablelands of the hinterland transition into the more tropical regions of the north. This is ‘Big River Country’ with the Daly, Victoria and Roper rivers all providing great Barramundi fishing. The area can be divided into three regions: western Victoria River, central Greater Katherine, eastern Roper River, Gulf.
Tennant Creek & Barkly Region
This is the Outback. Covering a huge area of more than 320,000 square kilometres and a population of fewer than 10,000 people, this is cattle country. The black soil plains covered in Mitchell grass make it some of the best beef cattle grazing country in Australia. Here, the cattle stations are not so much big as huge, where herds of up to 50,000 head of cattle are not uncommon. Cattle drive this economy.
This region is centred around the Barkly and Stuart highways, and the region stretches from the old Telegraph Station at Barrow Creek in the south to the historical township of Newcastle Waters in the north, and 620 km east to the Queensland border.
Karlu karlu (the Devils Marbles), Battery Hill Mine, the Davenport Range, Connells Lagoon, the historical Telegraph Stations, Kunjarra (the Pebbles), Art and Culture Centre, Newcastle Waters Township, Tingkkarli (Lake Mary Ann) are but a few of the attractions in this region.
Alice Springs Region
This region covers an area of 545,000 square kilometres and represents about 40% of the Northern Territory. It has a population of about 40,000 people of whom, 25,000 live in this regional hub, the town of Alice Springs.
This desert country with its annual rainfall of about 150 mm a year, hot dry summers, and cool winters features colourful rocks, eroded mesas, and heat-tolerant wildlife. Large sections of the Tanami Desert, Great Sandy Desert and the Simpson Desert lie in this region.
A few hours’ drive from ‘the Alice’, is the main tourist attraction in the NT, the internationally renowned Uluru or Ayers Rock. This is, however, only a small taste of what is on offer in the area, which consists of the Central Desert Region (to the north) and the MacDonnell Region to the south of Alice.