| Top End |
| Frank & Lisa's Amazing Cross-Australia Adventures |
| From Alice Springs we went directly to Darwin for our tour of the Top End. We visited 3 national parks in 3 days! We were in the Top End for what is called the "build up". Apparently they have 2 main seasons - "the dry" and "the wet". The locals say that it is a must to see the Top End during both seasons. The dry goes from May until October and is basically a drought. However, the wet apparently lives up to its name! In October and November the landscape is obviously pretty dry, but humidity is building in the air in preparation for the next 3-4 months of rain. The rain is accompanied by serious flooding that gives the landscape two entirely different looks between the seasons! |
| Litchfield National Park is very close to Darwin and seems to be the park for swimming at waterfalls! We went to Tolmer, Florence & Wangi falls as well as the Bully Watehole that day. The rangers keep close tabs on all swimming spots to ensure that no salt water crocodiles have made their way in there during the wet season floods before opening them to the public! We didn't bring suits or towels, so I didn't swim, but Frank took a dip at Wangi Falls (pic left). |
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| This was also where we saw two rather unique types of termite mounds. One type was Cathedral, the other Magnetic. From the picture with me in it (pic right), you can see how the cathedrals get their names - the magnetic ones get their names from the magnetic north pole because all of them point north-south (pic below). |
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| Next we went to Kakadu National Park. On the way we took a "jumping crocodile cruise" here they coax crocs into jumping up out of the water for big hunks of meat (pic left). It is a natural occurence in the wild. That means that they aren't trained to jump, just to know when the boats come along so they can get a free feed! |
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| That afternoon we went to Ubirr - a major rock art site (pics below) as well as a gorgeous lookout over the tablelands. Huge flocks of magpie geese were gathering there, along with a group of wallabies (two were even having a boxing match)! Unfortunately, the pictures of the views are unimpressive when reduced down to sizes suitable for this little narrative. |
| Some rock art was very old and some very new. Here are two examples. The first is of a tasmanian tiger. Not only has it been extinct since the 1930's, but it had not existed in the Top End for thousands of years before that! It is situated high on a rock wall (notice the top of the tree at the bottom of the picture), with the amount of erosion hinting at its age. The second set of paintings was done in the 1950s by a local artist of various spirits said to inhabit the area. |
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| continue with more Top End ...or |
| Northern Territory: Red Centre , 2 / Top End , 2 NSW & ACT: Hunter Valley / Sydney / Canberra , 2 Queensland Coast: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 South Australia: Barossa Valley / Kangaroo Island / McLaren Vale & Coonawarra Victoria: Great Ocean Road , 2 , 3 / Melbourne New Zealand (North Island): Aukland / Rotorua / Tongariro / Wellington (South Island): Nelson / Westland / Queenstown / Milford / Dunedin / Mt Cook / Christchurch |