What an adventure we had in the Northern Territories. We did a loop from Darwin to Litchfield National Park, on to Katherine, then into Kakadu.
I think the one thing we would say about it is, it's hard work if you're taking kids there, it does get HOT, and food and water is not abundant so you do have to be prepared - but it's WORTH it! So much beauty and adventure.
We rented a four-wheel drive at Thrifty and we are really glad we had a four-wheeler. Lots of dusty roads.
Kakadu highlights - aboriginal rock art of course, the yellow river cruise,
We stayed at Cooinda lodge, rather $$ for what you get, but there aren't too many choices in the area.
We stayed in Lakeview Park in Kakadu in Jabiru and we HIGHLY recommend this for families, we had a two-bedroom bungalow and we liked it so much we stayed an extra night. Very comfortable and half the price of Cooinda Lodge.
The one night in Litchfield (actually our FAVORITE park b/c of all the watering holes) we stayed in a six-person tent at Litchfield Safari Camp. It was simple, outback, cheap - a little scary - but do-able for one night. Litchfield was our highlight and we could have stayed longer than the 1 1/2 days and one night - we liked Wangi Falls, Florence Falls and Buley Rock hole.
Darwin - we loved deck chair cinemas - we stayed at VIBE Adina hotel (great location, found it on tripadvisor), shopped at great grocery stores, had fish and chips on the wharf, great place to end the trip.
Info from CONSTANCE
Hi Sarah,
Sorry I didn't answer sooner. Have been dealing with a family emergency in the US. Everyone is fine now.
Yes, we just took shorts, t-shirts, etc. Suitable for outdoor walking. Buy insect repellent when you get there.
There
is a small grocery store in Jabiru. There is a small store, more like a
convenience store, at Yellow Water. Can't remember exactly about Pine
Creek, although there was a convenience store there, too. I think we had
wi-fi at the Crocodile lodge, but not at Yellow Water or Pine Creek,
although the restaurant we ate at in Pine Creek did.
There
are very long stretches of driving with nowhere to stop for shopping.
Lots of water in the car a must. We took food in the car that did not
require chilling, because we didn't have a cooler. No chocolate treats
:) Drank warm water when we had to, since we couldn't keep it cold and
it was hot in the car.
I don't think I could
say there was easy access to grocery stores, but some. Another thing to
keep in mind is that stores often close early, like 4:30 - 5:00, so if
you get somewhere at 6:30, there might be a store, but odds are it will
be closed until 8-8:30ish the next day. Having said that, we were there
in the low/wet season, and you are going at a much busier time of year,
so more things may be open with longer hours.
Have lots of fun, it is a beautiful place.
Here are a few (a lot of!) details about our trip to Northern Territory.
We
flew Jetstar which landed at 4:30 am and all rental car places were
closed. We had to take a taxi to our hotel and then taxi back to the
airport later to get our rental car. We stayed in Darwin and went to
church there; that was good. Didn't love either hotel. We stayed at one
when we arrived and stayed at another on our way back. The Travelodge
Mirambeena Resort was better than the Mediterranean All Suite but I'm
sure there are better places than either. Darwin's not very big, so it
isn't much trouble to get around.
Darwin has a lot of homeless/drunk people in the
streets at any hour of the day. They didn't bother us, just different
than other places we've been/lived in Australia. There is an ice cream
place I like called Trampoline. We used to eat at the one in Brisbane.
Will likes to eat Aussie meat pies at a place called Tommo's but we were
never in town when they were open, so I haven't tried them. Didn't eat
any where else in Darwin that was very memorable. It was funny because
we went out walking to find somewhere to eat and there were so many
Asian places, Thai, Vietnamese, etc. and I didn't want to eat Asian
because, well, we live in Asia. We ate Aussie street food, kebabs, fish
& chips, etc. Some was pretty good, some not that great. I like
Austrailian bakeries/coffee shops, so we ate there, too.
We went during the very end of the wet season; you'll be going in the dry season:
We
soon found out after we got there that we will need to visit again
during the dry season, because what you can see and do are very
different and a lot of what you will do, we couldn't. So many roads and
sights were out of reach due to flooding, we had a pretty limited
itinerary. We also had empty roads, empty trails, quiet hotels, small
groups, etc. because it was low season.
Will tells me there is a good beach market,
closed for the wet season when we were there, but you might want to
check it out: Mindil Beach Sunset Market.
A
lot of people like to take the boat ride on the Adelaide River to watch
them feed the crocs and get them to jump. Also closed for the wet
season. Will has been on it and liked it, doesn't sound like my cup of
tea, so wasn't super sad to miss it. It is very popular.
The waterfall flights were advertised as a wet
season attraction. Don't know if they are offered during the dry. They
will still have other scenic flights, but maybe not waterfalls. Kakadu
Air is the main flight company for the small airplanes. We used a
different one, can't remember right now, but they only did helicopters.
There is a tiny airport in Jabiru, a town on the edge of the park where
the flights leave from. There are also flights from Darwin.
We couldn't drive to any of the waterfalls we saw
from the helicopter because they were inaccessible due to flooding. You
should be able to get to some. Some places are only accessible with a
4-wheel drive. We didn't rent one, because roads were flooded anyway,
but if we returned, we would really think about a 4-wheel drive.
Takes 3 hours straight driving to get to Kakadu from Darwin. We made a loop over 4 days - Darwin to Jabiru to Cooinda to Pine Creek back to Darwin.
We used this website to book our hotels and Yellow Water boat ride in Kakadu.
We spent one night at the Crocodile Holiday
Inn and one night at the Gagudju Lodge Cooinda, which were little cabin
type rooms. They were both fine. We didn't use the pools.
We ate at the restaurants at both places. Food was pretty
expensive, but there are only limited other choices in the park. There
is a little supermarket near the Crocodile hotel where we got snacks for
the car ride and yogurt/fruit for breakfast. There's also a small
bakery with sandwiches, etc. Will ate kangaroo at the Cooinda
restaurant. There is barramundi served everywhere, which is a fish I
really like. There is also barramundi fishing at a few places in the
park. We couldn't do it/wet season, but that is a popular activity.
We did the Yellow Water Boat Cruise at sunrise,
booked at the above website. We saw crocs, birds, had a good guide,
really enjoyed it. About 1 1/2 hours on the boat. Sunrise cruise
includes breakfast. They have other times as well; the sunset cruise is
also recommended, but no included breakfast. :)
We did a lot of short hikes in Kakadu to see Aborigial art, scenery, birds, etc. Best place to find out about those is the Kakadu National Park website. We paid AUS$ 25 per person to enter the park.
We
exited the park to the south and went to Pine Creek and spent the night
at Pine Creek Railway Resort. They have refurbished train box cars into
little cabins. People there were friendly and it was kind of a fun,
different place to stay. The railroad cars are unique.
We headed back to Darwin from Pine Creek but if we
had stayed an extra day we would have driven to Katherine. There is
another National Park and the Katherine Gorge but we didn't have time.
They do scenic flights there, too, I think.
Instead, we drove back toward Darwin stopping at
Litchfield National Park on the way. We looked at termite mounds and
lots of waterfalls. There were a few people around swimming and
sunbathing but there were so many empty parking places, it looks like it
could be really busy in high season. It is 100K from Darwin.
We spent a lot of time in the car. Lots and lots of driving.
Hope that helps. Ask me anything and I'll see if I can answer.
