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Rich & Elaine's Overseas AdventuresOutback Northern TerritoryThe outback Northern Territory is vast, sparsely settled and occupies one sixth of Australia’s land mass. Well known for its rich indigenous culture, stunning land formations, excellent fishing, national parks and tropical weather. The aboriginal people have been traversing the Northern Territory for over 40,000 years and today are still strongly connected to their land, the ancient rock art, tucker tasting and story telling of the sacred sites, along with the local artists working in galleries and art centres across the top end and hearing their stories is a great introduction into their ancient culture. We personally fell in love with Aboriginal art each piece is so different and tells wonderful stories. The colours that are used and especially the earth colors really grabbed us. Our Bookstore for Selected Books on Australia
Outback Northern Territory is renowned for its large escarpments towering above lush billabongs, wet lands, rain forests, deep gorges and thundering waterfalls all make this wonderful land home to many bird species Kingfishers, Jacanas, Sea Eagles, Egrets and Jabirus.  Large rivers meander through ancient woodlands to meet untouched beaches, here fishing is the favoured pastime and barramundi is the most famous fish along with golden snapper, giant trevally and black jewfish. Excellent fully guided fishing safaris are available, a mother ship can be chartered or staying in a remote fishing lodge is another option. The roads in outback Northern Territory are both sealed and unsealed, well maintained and signage is good. Four wheel drive adventure routes allow you to explore at your own pace and take you to beautiful secluded destinations. Do allow yourselves plenty of time, have good maps and information as there is a lot hidden out there as we found out. The capital of the Northern Territory is Darwin. It is a lively cosmopolitan harbour city with a population of over 121,000 and Australia’s northern gateway to world-class nature and cultural activities. .jpg "Dust Storm, Northern Territory") World war two history is a vital part of the cities culture and visiting the underground caves and the military museum is extremely interesting. While it still has the feeling of a frontier town Darwin is very cosmopolitan and buzzes with youth and laughter, taxi drivers tell you N.T. stands for “not today” “not tomorrow” and that sums Darwin up.The tropical out door living is captured in an atmosphere of restaurants, sailing, art galleries, magnificent tropical trees, parks, colourful beach markets and stunning sun sets over the Timor Sea. Excellent cruises and fishing expeditions are available out of Darwin to the Tiwi Islands and surrounds. Litchfield and World Heritage Kakadu National Parks are stunning, the magnetic termite mounds, swimming in the crystal clear pools with cascading water falls, exploring the gorges with amazing bird life, walking over the escarpments visiting sacred aboriginal sights, is all steeped in mystique.  We virtually swam our way through Litchfield National Park in all the stunning water holes and clear running streams.Katherine is a city 314kms south of Darwin, it is situated on the banks of the Katherine River and the star attraction is undoubtedly the Katherine Gorge in the Nitmiluk National Park. You can choose to take a cruise, or kayak through the three gorges see ancient aboriginal rock art high on the cliffs and learn about the food sources and medicines of the Jawoyn people who are custodians of the Park from your Aboriginal guides. We so enjoyed our local guide and the whole trip was an absolute delight. The gorge is a photographers heaven with water reflections, colourful sheer rock faces and pandanas trees. In the tropical heat a soothing swim in the gentle waters leave you with a feeling of being in another world, and I think we were.  Outback Northern Territory is exciting varied there are two distinct seasons, the dry and the wet. The wet is from October to May, the lightening and thunder is spectacular and the rain literally falls out of the sky in sheets, the parched outback earth perks up overnight with green grass and minute flowers popping through the ground where you would never believe any living plant would survive. Outback Northern Territory deserves a special visit, with time to ponder and explore. All pretty special to us, as it is so different from any other place we have been.  Rich & Elaine's Home Page ---> <--- Australia |
