NORTHERN TERRITORY
Calling Code: +61
Just over one percent of Australians live in an area
covering nearly 20% of the continent. Until recently this tiny
population and lack of economic autonomy explained why The Territory
never achieved full statehood. Territorians relish a tough, maverick
image, as well as the extremes of climate, distance and isolation
that mould their temperaments. In this utmost corner of the country,
drifters get washed up, fugitives cower and failed entrepreneurs
pursue another abortive venture or become politicians. That great
Australian institution of the "character" is in his element here,
propping up the bars and bolstering the mythology of The Territory's
recent lawless frontier history in what Xavier Herbert once described
as the "Land of Ratbags."
Within The Territory's boundaries there's evidence of the most
recent colonial presence set among the oldest-occupied Aboriginal
sites in Australia. Darwin,
The Territory's capital, is a prospering tropical town. Travellers
the world over flock here to explore the Top End, as tropical
NT is known, primarily Kakadu National Park. Adjacent Arnhemland
to the east is Aboriginal Land, a never colonized wilderness of
scattered communities.
Heading south is Katherine,
where nearby gorges within Nitmiluk National Park are the town's
principal attraction. At Katherine, the Victoria Highway heads
west, past the Gregory National Park to Western Australia, while
to the south, just beyond the thermal resort of Mataranka,
a road winds east along the palm-fringed Roper River to Gulf Country.
Here, Borroloola, a briefly
thriving and lawless outpost, once on the Gulf stock route from
northern Queensland, has since been bypassed into oblivion.
By the time you reach Tennant
Creek you're out of the interminable light woodland and passing
pastoral tablelands on the way to the central deserts surrounding
Alice Springs. By no
means the dusty Outback town many expect, Alice makes an excellent
base to explore the natural wonders of the region, of which that
famous monolith, Ayers Rock
- or Uluru - 450km to the southwest, is but one of many. This
is one of the finest areas to begin to learn about the Aborigines
of the western desert, among the last to come into contact with
European settlers.
If there's a place you've stayed or something you've done, but we haven't listed, review it for us!
 | Darwin and the Top End
Darwin, Nguiu, Humpty Doo, Kakadu National Park, Jabiru,
Arnhemland, Nhulunbuy, Litchfield National Park, Batchelor,
Adelaide River, Daly River, Pine Creek
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| Katherine to Alice
Katherine, Top Springs, Timber Creek, Gregory National Park, Keep River National Park,
Mataranka, Elsey National Park, Roper Bar, Larrimah,
Elliott, Renner Springs, Three Ways, Borroloola, Barranyi National Park,
Tennant Creek, Wauchope, Wycliffe Well, Barrow Creek,
Ti Tree, Aileron
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| Alice and the Centre
Alice Springs, Glen Helen, Ipolera,
Hermannsburg, Wallace Rockhole, Arltunga, Maryvale,
Kings Canyon, Erldunda, Ayers Rock Resort
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If you know of a great destination we're missing,
review it for us!!
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